On September 17, 2021, two Labrador fishermen, Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins, went missing, and, sadly, they have never been located. Marc’s parents, Jeanette and Dwight, came to Ottawa last fall, pleading for a federal inquiry into fishing vessel safety.

Minister, can you tell us today if and when your government is going to conduct this much-needed inquiry?

Thank you, senator, for that question.

My understanding is that much of the vessel safety aspect has to do with Transport Canada. We work closely with Transport Canada to review any incidents such as the one that cost Marc and Joey their lives and look for measures that we can put in place to improve vessel safety with Transport Canada. Harmonizing regulations is one thing that we’ve been doing.

I would say one thing that is really important is that people on the vessel are using the safety equipment, are using their life jackets and are doing the very best they can so that if there is an incident, the Canadian Coast Guard can do a rescue, and not a search and rescue.

That includes having the beacons always active and in good form so that if there is an incident, we can quickly find them; we’re working on promoting that kind of compliance as well.