Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Honourable senators, on February 27, 2020, Senator Housakos made an important motion before this house, in order to provide the Internal Economy Committee, Budgets and Administration with access to a previous report that is important in the consideration of the consequences and the potential indemnification of the victims of Senator Meredith. I think time has come for that motion to be adopted, in order for Internal Economy to complete its work as soon as possible and get full access to the report in order to have closure on this unfortunate chapter of our history.

An Hon. Senator: Hear, hear.

Senator Dalphond: That report goes back to 2015. That’s already five years ago, and the current Internal Economy Committee has been prevented from having access to it. Victims have been waiting for years for indemnification, and they have been very patient. I appreciate the fact that we are a big institution and that we work at a pace that is not necessarily the pace of the private sector, and that we have to face COVID and postpone the debate on some issues, including some routine business, but that should not delay important business, like indemnifying the victims of Senator Meredith.

I believe that the time has come to bring this terrible matter to a close.

There were several victims, and the report from the Senate Ethics Officer documents the circumstances in detail. However, what we still have not been apprised of is the other report on these issues, which also identified some victims and unacceptable conduct.

To bring this terrible matter to a close, the time has come for the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration to have all the information it needs, for discussions with victims and their representatives to come to an end and for them to be given a copy of this report, as Senator Housakos himself mentioned during the debate. He wanted the document to be made available to everyone to whom CIBA made it available, and it is time that it happened. Therefore, I invite all my colleagues to vote in favour of this motion today.