Evidence of meeting #51 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was conservative.
A recording is available from Parliament.
7:25 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
How was this job that you applied for described to you? What was your responsibility in this job?
7:25 p.m.
As an Individual
I've known the minister since at least 2000. I've been involved in ethnic outreach and promoting ethnic outreach for the Conservative Party of Canada and other Conservative parties before then. I think it's important for people who have difficult-sounding last names like mine and who come from places like I do to be reached out to. I think it was a series of conversations back and forth over the years. When the job became open, I had, I believe, a telephone call from the minister saying it was open if I was interested and--
7:30 p.m.
NDP
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
From the best I could tell, the position existed before I showed up, yes.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
The minister offered you the job, but did he describe the job in any way? What were you hired to do? What did the minister hire you to do specifically?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
My job involved three parts. The multiculturalism branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration does three things in multiculturalism and I helped oversee that for the minister. The first is to make sure that the Government of Canada engages the ethnocultural groups across various services. The second is to ensure that various members of those ethnocultural groups are integrated well into society. The third is to oversee the compliance with the Multiculturalism Act.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Was the minister your direct supervisor or did you have another supervisor in the minister's office?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I reported to the minister's chief of staff, who reported to the minister.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
So was it usual for you to have a direct meeting with the minister, as you did in the case when he asked you to do this letter, or was that request directed to you through someone else?
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Did the minister ask you to do this letter directly, and was that the usual process that he would ask you to do something directly, or did the chief of staff communicate that request to you?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I can't really speak to what is the usual process. I spoke with the minister from time to time. We both kept fairly odd hours.
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I think this request came from him. I believe he was in London or Paris or Dubai. I don't know.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Okay.
Did anyone train you in how to do your job? Were you offered training in your position?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I received various types of different training, both from the department and from sources outside the department.
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I received I think--if I had to guess--about 10 or 12 briefings from the department on various things the department does. I received a briefing from the ethics commissioner and a briefing from the lobbying commissioner. I believe it's fairly frequent for the minister's staff to go through those two briefings. I got one I think about two weeks after I started--those two back to back--with everyone else in the office.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Did anyone train you in the importance of keeping track of partisan activity or doing partisan activity in the minister's office?
Who trained you in that aspect of the job? Who talked to you about those issues?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I was told by the minister himself that I was not to use my position or abuse my position for personal, private ends. That included using my position improperly to further various causes, I believe, then, including my political party of choice.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Did you see the letter that you drafted for the minister as furthering the interests of the Conservative Party?
7:30 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes, I did. I should point out that I believed and do believe that it was entirely improper for parliamentary letterhead to be used to send that letter out. I apologize for it. It was a mistake that was made under my watch.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Yes, I appreciate that.
Now, in your statement today, you said that you recently learned that the minister's office also.... And I'll quote it directly:
The office also, I learned recently, stocks from time to time two different Parliamentary letterheads....
When did you learn of that, because you mentioned earlier that you hadn't had contact...?