Who is habilitated to speak on Inuit issues? Evidence from Canadian parliamentary commissions under the Harper and Trudeau governments - Jean-François Savard and Emmanuel Sael

The House of Commons and Senate in Canada have parliamentary commissions in order to study bills presented for their consideration. Both institutions also have the power to draw on external actors to provide them with knowledge and expertise about the issues under study. These external actors can be experts, civil society leaders or business leaders and are invited by senators or members of Parliament (MPs) sitting on these committees.

The identity of these experts is interesting to inquire who is habilitated to speak on Inuit issues. The worldviews and perceptions of MPs and Senators alike have the potential to be influenced by ideas and messages delivered by these experts, in turn influencing public policy. This communication has for objective to study the identity of and ideas expressed by external actors appearing in front of parliamentary committees. The Harper majority government (41st parliament, June 2011-August 2015) will be compared to the Trudeau majority government (42nd Parliament, December 2015-September 2019) to evaluate we can denote a significant change in the actors called to speak about Inuit issues on parliamentary committees.