Quoting documents

<div class="DecisionMain" role="main"> <p class="decision-chapter">Rules of Debate / Miscellaneous</p> <p class="d-DecisionDate"> <time>May 14, 1973</time> </p> <p class="e-Debates">Debates <a href="https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC2901_04/280?r=0&amp;s=1">p. 3726</a></p> <div> <h2 class="f-ContextResoEdNotePostscriptTitle">Background</h2> </div> <p class="g-contextResoEdNotePostscript">During second reading debate on Bill C-2, an Act to amend the Criminal Code, Mr. Reynolds (Burnaby-Richmond-Delta) sought to read a letter from an employee of the parole service. The Deputy Speaker intervened to ask the identity of the correspondent. Mr. Reynolds explained that he did not have the name of the author at hand; alternatively, he was willing to paraphrase the letter. The Deputy Speaker was reluctant to have the letter read and invited comments from Members before ruling.</p> <h2 class="f-ContextResoEdNotePostscriptTitle">Issue</h2> <p class="g-contextResoEdNotePostscript">Can a Member quote from a document without identifying the author?</p> <h2 class="f-ContextResoEdNotePostscriptTitle">Decision</h2> <p class="g-contextResoEdNotePostscript">No, to quote a document without attributing it is out of order. (The Deputy Speaker again interrupted Mr. Reynolds when he quoted from the document in question, and warned him that it would not 'help debate in this Parliament if reports ... of which there is no authorship are put on the public record".]</p> <h2 class="f-ContextResoEdNotePostscriptTitle">Reasons given by the Deputy Speaker</h2> <p class="g-contextResoEdNotePostscript">The practice of the House is to require that the authorship of a document be identified. A Member must attribute the document to a person or persons responsible for the content. Failing this, a Member can paraphrase the document, and the Member's comments then become his or her own responsibility.</p> <h2 class="f-ContextResoEdNotePostscriptTitle">References</h2> <p class="g-contextResoEdNotePostscript">Debates, May 14, 1973, <a href="https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC2901_04/278">pp. 3724-6</a>.</p> </div>