On motion of Rechie Valdez, it was agreed, — That Emmanuel Dubourg be elected Chair of the committee.

At 6:35 p.m., Emmanuel Dubourg took the Chair.

On motion of Anna Roberts, it was agreed, — That Frank Caputo be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

On motion of Darrell Samson, it was agreed, — That Luc Desilets be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition parties and two members of the governement party, but when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statement; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statement 72 hours in advance; that at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows for the first round:

Conservative Party

Liberal Party

Bloc Québécois

New Democratic Party

For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows:

Conservative Party, five minutes

Liberal Party, five minutes

Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes

New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes

Conservative Party, five minutes

Liberal Party, five minutes.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That only the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee and only when such documents exist in both official languages, and that witnesses be advised accordingly.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two representatives per organization; and that in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff member at in camera meetings and that one additional person from each House officer’s office be allowed to be present.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk’s office for consultation by members of the committee or by their staff; and that the analysts assigned to the committee also have access to the in camera transcripts.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That a 48-hour notice, interpreted as two nights, be required for any substantive motion to be moved in committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that:

(a) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. (ET) from Monday to Friday;

(b) the motion be distributed to Members and the offices of the whips of each recognized party in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and

(c) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day; and that when the committee is holding meetings outside the Parliamentary Precinct, no substantive motion may be moved.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That in relation to orders of reference from the House respecting Bills:

(a) The clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an order of reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the committee consider;

(b) Suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill; and

(c) During the clause-by-clause consideration of a bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That all documents submitted for committee business that do not come from a federal department, member’s offices, the office of the clerk of the committee and the office of the analyst or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau be sent for prior linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That the clerk inform each witness who is to appear before the committee that the House Administration support team must conduct technical tests to check the connectivity and the equipment used to ensure the best possible sound quality; and that the Chair advises the committee, at the start of each meeting, of any witness who did not perform the required technical tests.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That, House of Commons approved headsets be required for all witnesses appearing before the committee at the Chair’s discretion.

Luc Desilets gave notice of the following motions:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee undertake a study on uneven service delivery for anglophone and francophone veterans as well as for male and female and members of LGBTQ+ by the Department of Veterans Affairs; that the Committee invite the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Minister of National Defence and government officials to follow up on this issue, and that the Committee hold a minimum of three (3) meetings to do so; and that the Committee report its findings and recommendations to the House.

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee undertake a study on the benefits and services offered to veterans who were victims of sexual misconduct during their military service; that the Committee invite the Minister of Veterans Affairs and government officials to follow up on this issue, and that the Committee hold a minimum of three (3) meetings to do so; and that the Committee report its findings and recommendations to the House.

On motion of Sean Casey, it was agreed, — That notices of motion presented by Luc Desilets and any other notices of motion for future business of the committee be referred to the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure for consideration and that the subcommittee report back to the committee.

On motion of Rachel Blaney, it was agreed, — That the committee invite the Minister of Veterans Affairs and department officials to brief the committee, at the earliest convenience, the Minister for the first hour and department officials for the next hour.