Committees

A committee is a group of individuals selected or appointed to participate in decision making on a particular issue or set of issues. Usually it assists a parent committee or body in conducting its work and delivering on its responsibilities, or it assists the organizations that its members represent.

What different kinds of committees are there?

Committees are established for many purposes. They may be standing (long-term) management committees at different levels within a federal department, dealing with issues of budgets, staffing, work plans and departmental management. Or, they may be special purpose committees with a finite life, established to do certain work or conduct a review of a certain issue.

There are many different roles that a committee may be mandated to perform (e.g. development, steering, coordination, implementation, or review). The cross section of expertise on a committee may be narrow or broad depending on the scope of the issue being addressed. Committees can operate under a variety of different names (e.g. Council, Commission, Executive Body, Board, Panel, Committee, Working Group, Task Group).

Who sets up committees? Who do committees report to?

Most committees are set up by and report to a parent committee or body at some level within a hierarchy. For example, task groups and working groups with a mandate to perform a particular short-term task are typically formed by and report to a parent committee with broader functions and higher-level decision-making responsibilities.

For instance, the Acidifying Emissions Task Group (AETG) that developed the Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000 was formed by the National Air Issues Coordinating Committee (NAICC). The NAICC approved the mandate and budget of the AETG, provided general direction to the AETG, received and endorsed its work, and recommended to its parent committee (the Environmental Planning and Protection Committee of CCME) that its work be forwarded to Ministers for endorsement and signature.

Some committees, usually committees at the top of a hierarchy, have no parent committee. Their members represent their respective governments or organizations. Examples include the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the Executive Body (EB) for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).

How are committees set up?

When a committee is established, a parent committee will usually prepare a mandate statement defining the work it wants the subordinate committee to perform. It may also lay out in the mandate the size of the committee, the distribution of members among different interest groups to provide balance, and the distribution of members among different areas of expertise to ensure the committee has the capability to conduct the work and deliver the product required.

Members of a committee are often sought through invitation to appropriate groups or appointment by members of the parent committee. A chair or co-chairs (if two organizations or groups of organizations are involved) may be appointed by the parent committee, sometimes from the parent committee's own membership, or the new committee may be asked to select a chair or co-chairs from among its members once it's formed. For standing committees with a long life, the chair may rotate on a regular basis. Committees with a short-term mandate and life will usually have one chair for their duration.

An organizational structure, and the basic rules and criteria for establishing subordinate committees within the organizational structure, is usually established by the committee at the top of the organization or hierarchy.

How do committees operate?

Committees operate by holding meetings, either face-to-face or via conference call, and through written communication. Initial meetings are usually introductory "getting to know you" meetings, where members often air or table their initial positions and basic information is shared to help members understand the issue. Between meetings, committees will usually have certain pieces of work done by committee members, by subgroups, or by contractors. Committee members will report and seek input from their organization or constituents. The committee chair(s) will periodically report to the parent committee.

Most committees addressing significant air management issues will consult with interested stakeholders and the public as part of their mandate. Committees whose membership is multi-stakeholder will at least partially achieve this through the make-up of the committee and the commitment of members to liaise with their constituent communities.

However, even with multi-stakeholder committees, consultation with a broader stakeholder community is often undertaken by distributing key material and holding consultation workshops or other forms of consultation. Some committees that do not have stakeholders as members may set up an associate stakeholder group to periodically meet jointly with the committee and provide stakeholder input and advice.

Eventually, drafts of the work the committee was established to deliver are prepared and tabled for review and debate. Draft work usually goes through several rounds of debate and revision before a final product acceptable to all or a majority of committee members is produced. If all members do not accept the final product, the dissenting member(s) may file a minority report. While some committees may use voting, most committees work on a consensus basis.

When a committee has completed its work, the final product is submitted to the parent committee for approval and forwarding up the line in the organization to the committee level, where final adoption and/or signature and public release takes place. If the parent committee wants changes made before forwarding the product up the line for final adoption, it may refer the product back to the originating committee.

What kind of work do committees do?

Committees produce a wide range of work. Some examples are:

• Work plan and budget proposals
• Agreements (e.g., Canada-wide Standards (CWSs) for particulate matter (PM) and ozone, Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000)
• Guidance documents (e.g., Guidance Document on Achievement Determination (GDAD) for the CWS on PM and ozone)
• Consultation documents and consultation reports
• Science assessment reports
• Economic analysis reports
• Recommendations to governments

How long do committees exist?

When a committee with one specific job to do has completed its task, it will usually be disbanded. A committee addressing multiple or ongoing issues, or one that is key to the ongoing functioning of an organizational structure, will usually have a longer life, sometimes permanent (e.g., Air Quality Committee, Canada-U.S. Air Quality Agreement).

Standing or long-lived committees will undergo membership and chair changes as staff in the organizations represented on the committee change. Some standing committees will have a requirement for chair change or rotation as part of their mandate.