Put your text into the record of Parliament

Brief filed 29 August 2026 · published by the Committee 8 September 2026 · Danilo Dzyuban, Ottawa

Any person may send a brief to a committee of the House of Commons. It costs nothing and needs no invitation. On 29 August 2026 I sent one by email to the Standing Committee on National Defence for its study Arctic Transformation: Opportunities for Security, Defence, and Partnerships in the North. On 1 September the Committee’s office confirmed in writing that the brief would be translated, distributed to the members and published. On 8 September it went up on the Committee’s website as brief BR14222626.

The dates

Date	What happened
29 Aug 2026	Brief sent to the clerk at [email protected]. Five recommendations. Receipt acknowledged by the clerk’s office the same day.
30 Aug 2026	Supplement sent to the same address. Recommendations 6 and 7.
1 Sept 2026	The Committee’s office confirms translation, distribution to the members and publication of both parts.
8 Sept 2026	Brief and supplement published together on the Committee’s website as brief BR14222626, under my name.
26 Sept 2026	Second supplement sent, on statements made after publication.
28 Sept 2026	The clerk: the second supplement will be added after translation, as “one last exception”. The study accepts no further submissions.

The kit

Find a study that is open. Every committee of the House lists its studies on ourcommons.ca under Committees. A study that takes briefs carries a “Submit a brief” link. The committee’s own mailbox is its acronym at parl.gc.ca: [email protected] for National Defence, [email protected] for Government Operations and Estimates, [email protected] for Justice and Human Rights.
Write to the study. Put the exact title of the study at the top. The House guide asks that a brief not exceed ten pages. State each fact with its source. End with numbered recommendations, each one an act the committee itself can take.
Send it. Through the study’s submission page, or by email to the clerk with the text in the body of the message.
Hold the dates. Keep the acknowledgment. Note the date of publication and the brief number. A fact that arrives after you file goes to the committee as a supplement.

The template

BRIEF TO THE [FULL NAME OF THE COMMITTEE]

Study: [exact title of the study, as the committee writes it]

Submitted by [Name], [City, Province]
[Date]

SUMMARY

[The question the study rests on and that the Government has not
answered in writing. Two sentences.]

THE FACTS

1. [Fact.] Source: [document, date, link].
2. [Fact.] Source: [document, date, link].

WHAT IS MISSING FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD

[The record that should exist and does not appear anywhere.]

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That the committee require [department] to provide, in writing,
   any [assessment / record / plan] it holds on [subject], and to
   state expressly if it holds none.

2. That the committee require [department] to identify the specific
   instrument in which [obligation] is recorded.

3. That the committee report expressly whether [question], and
   name which.

[Name]
[Mailing address]

“State expressly if it holds none” is the line that does the work. It leaves the department two answers: the record, or a written statement that none exists. Both go on the record of the committee.

Sources

Brief BR14222626, Standing Committee on National Defence, 45th Parliament, 1st Session: DzyubanDanilo-e.pdf. House of Commons, Guide for submitting briefs to House of Commons committees.

Citation: Danilo Dzyuban, “Put your text into the record of Parliament” (Workshop, Kit 01, 29 September 2026).