ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS — Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Committee Authorized to Replace Twenty-first Report of Committee on Study of Issues Relating to Social Affairs, Science and Technology Generally with Corrected Version
October 24, 2024
Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(k), I move:
That the twenty-first report, interim, of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, entitled Act Now: Solutions for Temporary and Migrant Labour in Canada, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on May 21, 2024, and adopted by the Senate on May 30, 2024, be replaced with a corrected version of the report, adopted by the committee on October 10, 2024.
The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?
Honourable senators, I would like the senator to explain why a report that has already been adopted and is already on the website needs to be replaced with another document. I would like to know what the changes are and why they had to be made.
Thank you for asking for that clarification, Senator Plett. Over the summer, a stakeholder identified an error in the Social Affairs Committee report I’m referring to, and the report had been adopted by the Senate on May 30, 2024.
The error specifically concerns the number of temporary foreign worker program work permits delivered for New Brunswick in 2023. While the report stated that there were 59,175 permits, the actual number should be 4,410. This error was caused by a misinterpretation of open data provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC.
After further review of the report by the Library of Parliament, six sentences with misinterpreted data have been identified for correction, as well as one figure. The largest data deviation occurred with the New Brunswick number, but some numbers for Prince Edward Island and Yukon were also erroneous, as were the total figures and provinces identified.
Earlier this month, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology’s website was updated with a correction document highlighting these changes. The committee also adopted a corrected version of the report on October 10, which includes an appendix identifying the corrections made.
We apologize for these errors but wish to correct them fully and transparently, not just on the website but by approving a new, corrected version of the report. I ask you to adopt this motion with leave.
Thank you, Senator Omidvar. I accept your explanation. Clearly, the committee has re-evaluated this.
What is the time sensitivity around us giving leave now versus letting us look at and review this until Tuesday of next week? I’m not suggesting we do this; I’m asking about the repercussions of us doing it. This has been on the website for some time now. Could you please enlighten us?
Senator Plett, I believe the urgency relates to being transparent and accountable to the stakeholders whom we met. I note that it was a stakeholder who pointed out the errors in the report. There is urgency whether it is today or Tuesday of next week; I will not argue over that point. The urgency is related to the rapid changes in policy directions that the government is making. Every day, there is a new announcement coming out, whether it is on temporary foreign workers, immigration plan numbers or international students, and we believe it is urgent to correct this as soon as we can to reflect appropriately the work that the committee has done and the quality of the work that the Senate has a reputation for.
Your Honour, I am prepared to give leave, but I want to be on the record that I have a real issue with a mistake of this magnitude being made and, indeed, that stakeholders across the country have to point out errors that we never should have allowed to happen. With that on the record, we give leave.
Honourable senators, could I ask Senator Omidvar for a clarification? Did you say that the changes were made on the website before you asked for leave from the chamber? Have the changes to the statistics actually been made on the website?
Yes, changes have been made on the website, and I understand that was within the rules but that changes to the report must be approved here.
I would love to know what rule gives whom the authority to change a report on the Senate website without it being given leave by this chamber.
Is that a question or an observation?
That’s a question.
Okay. I’m not sure what the rule is. We debated this a great deal at committee and in the steering committee. A protocol was presented to us and backed up by the clerk of the committee that this was the right procedure to do.
We wanted to correct the error as soon as possible because of its seriousness — and I agree, it is serious — so we corrected the error within the rules and the protocol of the chamber. I’m sorry I cannot quote them back at you. We are now doing the next step of asking for permission to table a corrected report and have it approved.
Unless we can get better clarification than that, Your Honour, respectfully, I will change my opinion on giving leave. I would like to look at this and deal with this next week.
Did you want to respond to that, senator?
We put a correction document on the website, but we did not correct the report. To be clear: We put a correction document and not the report.
That is not really a convincing argument, but nevertheless, we will —
Is leave granted, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Are honourable senators ready for the question?
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to.)
