The Canadian
Section of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA) participated in
the 18th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA) in Miami, United States of
America on December 18, 2008.
The Chair of
the Canadian Section of FIPA, Mr. James Bezan, M.P., also Member of the
Executive Committee of FIPA, the Honourable Céline Hervieux-Payette, P.C.,
Senator, Former President of FIPA and Ms. Danielle Labonté, Association
Secretary attended the meeting.
The FIPA
Executive Committee had a full agenda, which included regular business items
such as the election of the corporation's officers, the approval of the budget
and the presentation of activity and financial reports. Two agenda items,
which were of particular interest, were the Plenary Assembly of FIPA and the
relations between FIPA and the OAS.
Mr. James
Bezan, M.P., Chair of the Canadian Section of FIPA, explained that during a
recent meeting of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Section of FIPA he
had raised the possibility of Canada hosting the next Plenary since no host
country had been identified and this despite requests being made to several
countries. He indicated that the Executive Committee of the Canadian Section
of FIPA agreed to explore the possibility of hosting the Plenary in Ottawa in
2009. Mr. Bezan then explained the approval process that needs to be followed
before the Parliament of Canada could commit to hosting this event. Mr. Bezan
also requested that dates be considered for this event. The members of the
Executive Committee of the International Section of FIPA agreed that holding
the event from June 21 to 24, 2009 would be most convenient. Mr. Bezan
indicated that the Canadian Section would bring this proposal forward and would
provide the committee with further details as soon as he receives further
information.
During the
discussion on this event, the themes for the next plenary meeting were
discussed and it was decided that the program will include economic and
financial crisis, food crisis and migration and human rights.
The International Executive
Committee discussed the status of OAS relations and possible attendance at the
Summit of the Americas, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in April
2009. On this subject, Mr. Bezan reported on the missions of the Canadian
Section of FIPA in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in March 2008 and at the 38th
OAS General Assembly in Colombia in June of the same year. In both missions
the delegations received favourable responses during the meetings and witnessed
the interest and support for a formal recognition of FIPA and for stronger
mechanisms for cooperation.
It was recommended that FIPA
consider making a request to participate in an upcoming meeting of the Summit
Implementation Review Group (SIRG) in order to be present and possibly
participate in the discussions on the Summit. The Canadian delegates
recommended highlighting how FIPA can bring efficiency to the Summit process
and how it could serve as an important partner in communicating its results in
their respective countries. The delegation also received ideas on how to
proceed to formalize the cooperation between the two organizations. The members
of the delegation concluded that a combination of two approaches would be most
fruitful: first that the membership adopt a resolution to gain support to
designate FIPA as the parliamentary representative of the member-countries at
the OAS, and, second that it adopt a resolution to develop a Memorandum of
Understanding with the OAS describing the mechanisms of cooperation.
During the
meeting, Members of the FIPA Executive Committee reviewed and approved a
resolution to share with H.E. Luis Alberto Rodriguez,Ambassador, National Coordinator, Secretariat for
the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Summit Implementation Review Group
asking that FIPA be recognized for its work in the Americas with
parliamentarians, and be allowed to become a permanent participant in OAS and
Summit of the Americas meetings. The resolution is attached (Appendix 1).
Other
discussions that took place during the meeting regarded the participation of
members of the Congress of the United States of America to FIPA activities and
the initial meetings with COPA. The members also discussed strategies
for consolidating FIPA’s finances and diversifying its sources of funding. Senator Hervieux-Payette accepted to be part of the working group
responsible for the review of FIPA’s financial diversification strategy
and approach potential contributors.
The report
of the 18th Meeting, with further details on the discussions, will
be posted on FIPA’s web site (http://www.e-fipa.org/EC/ec_rep_en.htm) as soon
as it becomes available.
Respectfully
submitted,
Mr. James
Bezan, M.P.
Chair
Canadian Section
of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum
of the Americas (FIPA)
Hon.
Céline Hervieux-Payette, P.C., Senator
Vice-Chair Canadian Section
of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum
of the Americas (FIPA)