Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Fisheries and Oceans
Issue No. 2 - Evidence - March 8, 2016
OTTAWA, Tuesday, March 8, 2016
The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, to which was referred Bill S-208, An Act respecting National Seal Products Day, met this day at 5:08 p.m. to give consideration to the bill.
Senator Fabian Manning (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Honourable senators, I welcome you all here, and I would like to welcome the honourable senators and members of the public with us in the room this evening. We are meeting to consider Bill S-208 and may soon be at the stage to proceed with clause-by-clause consideration of the bill. However, I would draw your attention to the usual practice of committees, which is to hear from sponsors of the bills prior to conducting clause-by-clause consideration. In that respect, Senator Hervieux-Payette joins us this evening in her capacity as sponsor of Bill S-208.
Senator Hervieux-Payette, do you have some opening remarks you would like to make regarding the bill?
Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette, P.C., sponsor of the bill: I think, having fought the battle for the seal hunters for so many years, maybe I have a little bit of historical perspective.
The Chair: The floor is yours, and then we'll open the floor for questions.
Senator Hervieux-Payette: My comments will be in French.
[Translation]
I hope that people in the Magdalen Islands are listening to us. They are my friends. It is a beautiful part of the country. Of course, I am not overlooking the people from Nunavut and from Newfoundland, where I visited plants and took seal hunting courses. I did not write the exams but I took the courses.
I gathered information about all the ways to process the product. I am taking this on like David against Goliath. We are talking about a tiny part of Canada against the European Parliament. I feel that it is an unequal struggle, but let me explain to you why I am standing up for the basic principles and the rights of our seal hunters.
In a difficult context where the legitimacy of the seal hunt is still contested by lobby groups, the European Union has a boycott of Canadian seal products. In addition, there is a delay in opening the Chinese market to those products. National Seal Products Day is intended to be a symbol, showing the Parliament of Canada's unfailing support for this activity and for the people who make their living from natural marine resources. National Seal Products Day will provide an opportunity to celebrate our coastal communities, to pay tribute to their hard work and to direct Canadians' attention to the high-quality products that are made in Canada.
Seal hunting plays a critical role in many communities. It provides work, economic growth and jobs to those living in isolated regions where opportunities are lacking. Since the Royal Commission in 1986, seal hunting has been conducted in a sustainable and humane way that contributes to the balance of marine ecosystems. It could contribute to them even more. Finally, seal hunting is practiced by fishermen who make their living in and from their environment.
A good number of Canadians depend on the seal hunt to meet their needs, especially those living in rural communities along our coasts where jobs are few. Some hunters state that the income they obtain from the seal hunt can represent a major part of their total annual income. Sealing is a perfectly legitimate industry and a major economic and cultural activity for communities in the Atlantic, Quebec, and Arctic regions.
In Canada, the seal hunt is one of the most regulated and supervised hunts in the world. As for all other Canadian fisheries, Fisheries and Oceans Canada supports and regulates seal hunting and is committed to ensuring that it is conducted in a sustainable, positive, cruelty-free way. I have to point out that the commercial seal hunt is managed under solid conservation principles. In 2013, the harp seal population was estimated at about 7.4 million animals, more than three times the population in the 1970s. There is no reason to end this hunt for conservation reasons. Indeed, some conservation groups agree that a regulated and responsible hunt of a seal herd is quite acceptable provided it is sustainable in the long term. Seal hunters, processors, craftsman and Canadian Inuit produce some of the best products in the world and contribute to Canada's economic prosperity.
The value of those products for northern communities is critical, not only because of the dollars they bring into local economies but also because of their cultural and traditional importance. Some native people in Canada have a right, protected under the Constitution Act, to hunt marine mammals, including seals, for their livelihood, if the hunt meets the needs and the other requirements of conservation. According to estimates made by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, between 5,000 and 6,000 people earn income from the seal hunt. That represents about 1 per cent of the total population of the province and 2 per cent of the active population. Given our small, rural communities, that is a significant number.
I must also emphasize that seals have been hunted for food, fuel, clothing, and other products for hundreds of years. You can see that I am wearing a lovely sealskin pin that was given to me by craftsmen in the north. Today, sealskins are being processed into a number of end products, such as coats, vests, hats, boots — I encourage you to buy some because they are very warm — mittens, trimmings, seal leather products and fashion items.
Seal oil is used in health products containing omega-3 — we have a company producing them on the west coast of Canada — in paint, and as fuel in northern and Inuit communities. Seal meat is sold in various forms, raw, as well as for human and animal consumption. Seal products are known to be useful. You can even eat some here, on Parliament Hill, if you ask the chef in advance.
My bill proposes that National Seal Products Day be celebrated each year on May 20. There is a story behind that. The date marks the end of seal hunting season; the hunt goes essentially from the end of March to mid-May. There is another reason. May 20 is the day on which the European Union celebrates its Maritime Day. This is the same European Union that uses moral considerations to prohibit the import of Canadian seal products. The commercial use of seal populations was judged immoral, and that is why it was banned. To me, that is nonsense.
However, the position was upheld by the World Trade Organization when Canada and Norway complained to that body that the European Union had not complied with free trade rules, especially in terms of product exemptions. Though it upheld the embargo, the World Trade Organization found that the European Union had not complied with free-trade rules. It therefore found Canada partially in the right. However on September 8, 2015, the European Union toughened the language of its embargo on seal products. The European Parliament limited the exemptions that Inuit currently enjoy by strengthening the conditions around animal welfare and showing that the spirit of colonialism continues to haunt us. But these are the Europeans who came to settle and start colonies here, taking full advantage of our coureurs de bois and the people who lived here before — the First Nations — to provide pelts to all those European clients.
We must act. One of the steps we can take is to pass this bill to send a clear message to the Europeans that we will not abandon our Inuit and coastal minorities in Canada. In its role of the protector of minorities, the Senate of Canada has always shown itself to be favourable to the seal hunt. That is why I hope that May 20 will be confirmed as National Seal Products Day.
[English]
The Chair: Thank you. Are there any questions from the senators?
Senator Hubley: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
And thank you very much, Senator Hervieux-Payette, for being with us this evening. For the many reasons you have outlined in your presentation I am certainly a strong supporter of this bill. I would also like to congratulate you on bringing the bill forward and encourage you to continue this important work.
In your speech on this bill you mentioned that La Presse had reported in 2015 that only 10 per cent of the quota was harvested the previous season. Has it become the norm since the EU ban was put in place that harvesters are only taking a fraction of their quota?
[Translation]
Senator Hervieux-Payette: It is actually true to state that the seal hunt has not used its allowable quotas because it needs a market for its exports. In addition, members of various vegetarian associations have conducted campaigns all across China, Europe, Mexico and other countries seeking to ban the seal hunt.
However, those same people who do not eat meat have never organized campaigns against the cruelty to chickens kept in cages. They have not conducted campaigns against beef or against fattening pigs. They attacked the smallest and easiest target. It is a blatant injustice and a way of expressing contempt for our local populations who make their living from those products. Personally, I am very proud that I have stood up for this issue for a good number of years, because I feel that it is an issue that Canadians understand. Canada has supported seal hunters from the outset, and I am grateful to my colleagues for taking the responsibility of supporting them.
[English]
Senator Stewart Olsen: Thank you, senator, for bringing this bill forward. I support it strongly in the main because I believe that our rural industries need our support, and I think that's one thing that the Senate can do. This industry is particularly grueling, hard physical labour, and it's dangerous. I think we should give our support to the people who are engaged in it. Even though there hasn't been a market for seals, it has also been terrible sealing weather in the last few years that I'm aware of, and we still have sealers who go out. We lose some of the sealers on the ice. It is not an easy job. I especially loved your comment that Europeans were fine to exploit our natural resources like beaver hats.
In particular, seal oil — and I think this is a point that bears repeating, if you wouldn't mind going a bit further into it — is a very high source of omega-3, perhaps one of the purest that there is. Do you have any way of getting this across the country, actually marketed across the country? Because I think that is hugely important for the health of Canadians.
[Translation]
Senator Hervieux-Payette: I actually sat on a committee on grey seals. They are a problem on the east coast of Canada. They are not at all the same size as the seals we are talking about. Harp seals are small but grey seals are huge, bigger than a steer even. They are dangerous too.
I think the government can support industries in all areas. The grey seal, given the quality of the meat and the product, could be used for animal food. They come from a natural environment, they have not been fed food supplements or chemical products and they have not been injected with hormones. They are really pure animals who have lived free in nature.
As for using their skin, the last I heard, the seats in our cars are also made with animal skin and people have not gone to the barricades yet. I do not believe that the seats in European cars are all made from fabric at the moment. Anyway, if they were made from fabric, it might be a petroleum product. I feel that basic natural products can be used in various ways.
There has been research on using their veins for transplants and I hope the government can continue along those lines. The bottlenecks have to be opened up. Perhaps we do not have access to 900 million Europeans, but we still have a market of one billion people in China. We should be able to meet their needs with our seal population.
Before Don Cherry and company get involved, they should perhaps become better informed. Pamela Anderson is certainly better known for her role on Baywatch than for her knowledge of seals. The people expressing their opinion on the subject up to now have nothing like the skills of the scientists in the laboratories in Nova Scotia. Veterinarians and biologists who work in the area support the way in which seals are hunted and they have studied it scientifically. When I took a seal hunting course, our teachers were veterinarians, people with PhDs.
As things stand now, the government of Quebec and the Maritime provinces have approved a code of ethics; there are even special terms of reference for all provinces where seal hunting is conducted.
Two million deer are killed in Germany each year. Hunting is done with bows and arrows, so the hunters must be really skilled if they have never injured an animal. I feel that we have no lesson to learn from such people and I find it a shame that the rights of Canadians are being attacked based on false information.
Thank you in advance for passing this bill. By doing so, you will be giving our hunters a glimmer of hope.
[English]
Senator Raine: I want to follow up on an experience I had and to draw it to everybody's attention. I have been taking seal oil for many years for omega-3. I find it very good, and I went to my local health food store and was surprised to find they were no longer carrying it. I went to every health food store in town and all of them said that, when they carried it, they were picketed by animal rights groups. There should be something we can do to prevent that because it is a legal product. It is a good product. And it's being harmed commercially by activists who are ill- informed. Who knows why they are doing it. Is there anything that you know of that can be done against this kind of activism even in Canada? We're not talking about the European Union now; we are talking about Canada.
Senator Hervieux-Payette: I will propose that those who are fabricating it put it online. I don't think they will be picketing your computer if we could order them directly from the producer. How do we stop people who don't act with their brains? They just act with their feelings.
It is a big concern for me. I went to New York. I tried to hire a lawyer in New York to stop the promotion of stopping that by one of the associations. They had shots that were taken 25 years ago when the white seal was being clubbed. Well, this has not existed since 1986, but they still use these images. I wanted them, but they told me that, even with $1 million for legal fees, I would not succeed. Just to tell you that it is a force. The people in charge of these organizations are making millions of dollars, are asking people to send money on this question. That's how I got involved because I received a letter from an American citizen saying: "I will not take any holiday in Canada if you continue to do seal hunting, and I will do this. I will do that.'' I wrote back and said, "Well, if you have spare time for good action, start doing this and that in your country. Stop sending Black people to jail.'' I outlined a series of things, and that's how the dialogue started on this question. All senators' offices received this letter. And then I wrote a letter probably with my heart. I distributed the letter to all of the senators. So one senator asked me, "Do you mind if I give it to the media?'' I said, "Once 100 people have my letter, it is not very confidential, so yes, do it.'' Of course, it blew up out of proportion, but, as far as I'm concerned, I think the media reacted immediately and positively in Canada. The media are on our side. In this case, I was very surprised that they would be very supportive, and they were and still are. This is probably one of the things that we have achieved. They don't want to hurt the small, local population, and they are, in fact, siding with us.
On this, everybody is putting a foot outside of this. I look at the commentator Don Cherry. I can tell you that nobody gave him compliments about his criticism. Almost everybody told him that he didn't know what he was talking about. That's not only place he doesn't know what he's talking about as far as I'm concerned.
I know one of the producers in your province because some of them are produced in British Columbia. It's a chief. It's a First Nations person, a great guy. He contributed to the ethical code. I guess I want to make sure that you will remain healthy as long as you are here.
Senator Munson: She is healthy; that is for sure.
To follow up on that, the bill is for a National Seal Products Day. What we are trying to get at here is that when you walk into a major pharmacy — not an online place — the companies like Weber and all those others are proud to display specific salmon oils for Omega 3, and it is salmon, salmon, salmon. There is nothing that obliges these companies to advertise or sell seal oil, which as we all know is quite beneficial. You never see that. Is it your hope that this National Seal Products Day, as well as being a reminder to protect the seal industry and the harvest, would be a wake-up call to encourage companies to step out from behind their curtains and say, "Yes, we have this product in this country. We will sell this thing and take the lumps where they fall''? In terms of picketing, you just don't see it. You cannot go to Shopper's Drug Mart, or any place in this country, and say, "I want to have the product there that says, 'seal oil.'''
Senator Hervieux-Payette: I know that it is not produced on a large enough scale to provide it to every gigantic pharmaceutical company. We saw last week that 1,000 Rexall pharmacies were sold to a large American company. And, in Quebec, we have a big pharmaceutical group called Jean Coutu. I don't think they can supply all of these stores. That is why they were distributed in small places selling natural food.
In fact, these people are not big multinationals, except those producing it. I agree with you that if there was a market, the grey seal could provide a lot of oil. In Newfoundland, I saw the equipment that removes the skin. You have a thick layer of fat, and then the meat, but the quantity of fat in a seal is immense compared to the animal in general. That is why they don't freeze in the water. If we put the grey seal in that business, you would have a very large amount of oil. With the oil from small seals, I think that, yes, your company will exist, but you will not be able to supply the large cross-Canada pharmacy chains.
Senator Enverga: Thank you for coming here, senator.
I know that seals are always compared to cows or sheep. They are all the same; sometimes we have to utilize what nature provides us. That is why I believe that marketing seals will be good, and I believe that it will help our Aboriginal people. I am a member of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee and I have heard many stories about how much our Aboriginal communities need a source of income and that this would be a good one.
Can you quantify how much it will help our Aboriginal people? Have you thought about that?
Senator Hervieux-Payette: For quantity, in terms of income, I had figures from the Magdalene Islands where it represented about 25 per cent of their revenue. They started making money with seal hunting and raised funds for their fishing and lobster businesses afterwards. They have to put fuel in their boats to finish the season and make a living. The seal business is the one that started their businesses in the other products of the sea and that is why it is important.
It is also the most dangerous one. In Nunavut, I saw people, at a distance, using firearms. In the Magdalene Islands, they have to go directly to the animal and, of course, people don't like them to hit the seals on the head, but this is the way they have done it for farm animals, too, for as long as human beings have eaten animals. Why do they do it like that? Because it is the proper way and because they do not want the animal to suffer, that is the purpose of it.
Just imagine walking on pieces of ice that are moving in the ocean and trying to catch the seals one by one. I can tell you that it is not a picnic there. As mentioned before, people lose their lives doing that. It is a very dangerous business.
Senator Enverga: To let you know, I support your bill.
Senator Hervieux-Payette: Thank you.
Senator McInnis: I like the bill as well. I have nothing profound to say, but I am really intrigued — which may not be a surprise — with your enthusiasm. I may have missed something at the beginning of your presentation, but you obviously were a federal cabinet minister at one time. Where was your riding?
Senator Hervieux-Payette: In the east end of Montreal.
Senator McInnis: I thought it was Montreal, and I thought, "How did this MP, cabinet minister, and now senator get so involved with seals, the Magdalene Islands, and all that?'' How did you get involved in all this?
Senator Hervieux-Payette: You should ask Senator Watt, because we are partners in everything that deals with native people. I am a great fan of the Magdalene Islands; I can tell you this is one of the nicest places on earth. People there are certainly not living on above-average income. It is a matter of protecting the minority. Maybe as a man you don't know what it is like to be a minority, but as a woman —
Senator McInnis: I knew my question would sound sexist. I knew the danger of asking that question.
Senator Hervieux-Payette: It depends. I got into politics to protect the people who need protection. As far as I am concerned, I am not very much for fighting for the multinationals; they can protect themselves quite well. But my family was among the little people. My father's highest income was $100 per week. I know what it is to fight for every dollar and cent in order to make a living. In this case, this is the minimum that we can do to make sure that these people can use their resources.
You also have to know that people have been writing to me about cruelty to animals for as long as I can remember. There is now a new lobby for cruelty to animals.
I replied to them, "When we pay as much attention to our children as we do the cats and dogs, I will totally support you.'' In this case, it is not poor treatment of animals; it is a matter of human resources. Senator Enverga said that. It is a God-given product. We eat lobster and fish and they eat our fish. I was in the House of Commons when the cod crisis started and when we had to stop fishing almost completely. The cod disappeared because of the Europeans. So you know my sympathy for the Americans in this case. The Europeans overfished all of our fish and now they want to tell us what to do with our seal hunters.
I think the World Trade Organization did some damage to its image by falling into the trap of the moral question. There is no moral question related to this. I don't think there is any catechism that says you cannot eat seal. If we eat fish, well, they are simply in the food chain. Seals actually have very few predators. We know that the polar bear population is not necessarily eating enough of these seals to really control the population. The population is growing at a high speed and it is to the detriment of the other species. It is a logical thing.
As I say, yes, it started with maybe a cry from my heart for these people. But I can tell you that the case is built on real science and on real exploitation by the state of people people who are good citizens of the country. They can earn their money very well if we are providing them with the possibility of selling their goods. That is where I am.
Senator McInnis: I commend you.
Senator Hervieux-Payette: Thank you.
Senator McInnis: You have done a great job.
Senator Hubley: I, too, take seal oil, and I am able to get it from Newfoundland and Labrador. I rely on it a lot.
Aside from the recognition of the day itself, how do you imagine that a national seal products day might be celebrated and how would you like to see Canadians involved?
Senator Hervieux-Payette: I guess I would need to work with the provinces because the provinces are onside. I can tell you that I participated in a nice celebration with Quebec MPs two years ago. There was a big event, and it was in the media all over the place and so on. The National Assembly held a reception and encouraged this.
We are talking about four provinces and one territory, so I guess it has to be done at that level. What will the Ontario and the Manitoba people and so on do? I guess they can be sympathetic to their fellow citizens, but, at the same time, I think it is more of an eastern thing. They know what we are talking about in the East. In the rest of Canada, if we keep explaining and having that day, we will have the support of the rest of Canada. That is the important message. We don't want the West to be against the East, and this is a way of getting all together and supporting a very tiny group in the Canadian population.
Senator Watt: As you know, you always have my support. I know what you have been doing over the last number of years on this particular file.
We have to bring this matter to the point where we need to find some solution to the problem that is being created by the outside world.
I, too, have an unlimited number of tapes in my office that I have collected over the years, ever since the ban was established by the European Economic Community. Somehow, we need to find a way to turn that around because what is important to the people in the North is the value of goods that we need to produce and transport to the international community. When you don't have the value it is not economically viable. This is one of the reasons why I, along with my colleague here, have always indicated that we need to support not only the Inuit but also the Maritime seal hunters. If the European Economic Community finds a crack that we are starting to accept the notion of that exemption that was applied to the Inuit so that it would not be looked at by the international community, by the animal protectionists, as if the Inuit are involved with the people that are clubbing the seals — they have their traditions, and we also have our traditions — I think it is very important at some time down the road. Maybe we should even consider seriously establishing some kind of instrument that would do the marketing, not only do the marketing but also try to turn the European Economic Community around to understand that they have made a big mistake. What this means to the Inuit in the North is that, if we do manage to get the value back again, then there is a good chance for people in the international communities looking at Canada, Alaska, Greenland, including Siberia. When you look at their graveyards, it is an unlimited number of people that have taken their own life because they cannot provide goods to their own families anymore. I am talking about people committing suicide on account of the fact that they don't have a way of economically feeding their families anymore. I am talking about people somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30, 35, 45, 50 years old, maybe even up to 60 years old. Graveyards are full of it. If you really wanted to see that, maybe that is one angle that we might want to look at to see how we can sensitize the international community.
I, too, have some information. I have been dealing with the subject matter ever since I have been in the Senate. I was very moved by the fact that, when she became a senator — because I was here before she was, and she was a minister at the time that I got here — it was very helpful. She too has very strong support from the Inuit community and I think she also has strong support from the international community because people like us interact with international communities. We talk, trying to make some sense out of certain things that are happening.
To me, putting a ban on the seal hunt is not the way to go because you also have to understand that the harp seals, for example, are the competitors to human society in the ocean. What is happening to cod today and to the bottom seafood, fish and things of that nature? Those are all being gobbled up by the seals. There is urgency and that urgency has been in existence for quite some time. We need to find, whatever it is, a way to market it better, not only for the market; we may have to look at the side factors.
Thank you. You have my support.
The Chair: I think you have full agreement on that, Senator Watt, around the table.
That is it for the questions I have been notified of.
I certainly want to take the opportunity to congratulate Senator Hervieux-Payette on her advocacy for the seal industry over the years. I know your time in the Senate is coming to an end in short order, but you are known far and wide for your work on this particular file. Certainly, I have had the opportunity to work with you in the past. On International Women's Day, to have your bill come before the committee here, which I believe will be full of cooperation and support for your bill around the table, is a step in the right direction and something for you to be proud of.
We will proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, which shouldn't take too long.
Before we begin, I remind senators of a number of points. If, at any point, a senator is not clear where we are in the process, please ask for clarification. I want to ensure that, at all times, we all have the same understanding of where we are in the process.
In terms of the mechanics of the process, I wish to remind senators that when more than one amendment is proposed to be moved in a clause, an amendment should be proposed in order of the line in the clause. Therefore, before we take up an amendment in the clause, I will be verifying whether any senators had intended to move an amendment earlier in that particular clause. If senators do intend to move an earlier amendment, they will be given an opportunity to do so.
One small point: If a senator is opposed to an entire clause — I don't anticipate this, but just in case — I'll remind you that, in committee, the proper process is not to move a motion to delete the entire clause but rather to vote against the clause as standing as part of the bill. I refer to Beauchesne's citation 698(6) which notes:
An amendment to delete a clause is not in order, as the proper course is to vote against the clause standing part of the bill.
I would also remind senators that some amendments that are moved may have a consequential effect on other parts of the bill. I refer senators, again, to Beauchesne's citation 698(2), which notes the following:
An amendment must not be inconsistent with, or contradictory to, the bill as so far agreed to by the committee, nor must it be inconsistent with a decision which the committee has given upon a former amendment.
In the spirit of this statement it would be useful to this process if a senator moving an amendment identified to the committee other clauses in this bill where the amendment could have an effect. Otherwise it would be very difficult for members of the committee to remain consistent in their decision-making.
Staff will endeavour to keep track of these places where subsequent amendments need to be moved and will draw our attention to them. Because no notice is required to move amendments, there can, of course, have been no preliminary analysis of the amendments to establish which ones may be of consequence to others and which may be contradictory.
If committee members ever have any questions about the process or about the propriety of anything occurring, they can certainly raise a point of order. As chair I will listen to the argument, decide when there has been sufficient discussion on the matter of order and make a ruling. The committee is the ultimate master of its business within the bounds established by the Senate and a ruling can be appealed to the full committee by asking whether the ruling shall be sustained.
As chair, I will do my utmost to ensure that all senators wishing to speak have the opportunity to do so. For this, however, I will depend upon your cooperation and I ask all of you to consider other senators and to keep remarks to the point and as brief as possible.
Finally, I wish to remind honourable senators that if there is ever any uncertainty as to the results of a voice vote or a show of hands, the most effective route is to request a roll call vote, which obviously provides unambiguous results.
Senators are aware that any tied vote negates the motion in question.
Are there any other questions on the above? If not, we shall proceed.
Is it agreed that the committee proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of the bill?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the title stand postponed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the preamble stand postponed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall clause 1, which contains the short title, stand postponed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall clause 2 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall clause 3 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall clause 1, which contains the short title, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the preamble carry?
Senator Watt? I think this is your opportunity.
Senator Watt: I have an amendment that I have put forward.
The Chair: Okay. Senator Watt has proposed an amendment.
Senator Watt: Removing "Aboriginal'' and replacing it with "Indigenous.''
The Chair: The preamble reads now:
. . . whereas Canada's Aboriginal Peoples and coastal communities have developed traditional knowledge of how to use ocean resources.
The senator is asking that we change that to:
. . . whereas Canada's Indigenous peoples and coastal communities. . .
That would change in a total of four other places in the amendment.
Senator Watt: But has no impact on the bill itself.
The Chair: No, just "Aboriginal'' changed to "Indigenous.'' Everyone is all set?
Senator Munson: Sorry, chair. It is also at the very end.
The Chair: Yes, we got that. That is the fourth one. Does everyone understand the amendment that the senator has put forward?
Shall the amendment carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the preamble, as amended carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the title carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the bill carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Is it agreed that I report this bill, as amended, to the Senate?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Thank you for your cooperation and thank you, Senator Hervieux-Payette.
(The committee continued in camera.)