Canada-China Relations Committee on Feb. 4th, 2020

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Has there been one consul since their detention?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Do you mean in terms of the consular officer in particular?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

That's correct, like one consul.

[Heather Jeffrey]

We have a consular team.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Could we get the name of the consul since their detention—if there has been more than one, the names of those consuls—and have those brought to the committee? That would very much be appreciated.

Who was the head of mission at the time of their detention?

[Heather Jeffrey]

At the time of their detention, it was our previous ambassador, Ambassador McCallum.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. Whom did the head of mission report to in Ottawa regarding these two cases?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Heads of mission are appointed by the Prime Minister and—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. Whom did they report to in Ottawa? Did they report to the geographic officer, or did they report to a more senior officer than the desk officer?

[Heather Jeffrey]

I'd like to explain that the consular strategy we apply in cases is developed by the consular team in consultation with our colleagues. We develop those strategies and consult, then, across the government and—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I think it would be helpful if we could find out here in the committee whom the head of mission reported to in Ottawa at the time of the detention in these two cases and throughout these two cases.

Who was the deputy head of mission at the time of the detention of Kovrig and Spavor?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Our deputy head of mission is Mr. Jim Nickel.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Was he the deputy head of mission at the time of the detention?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Yes.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. Excellent.

Which officers were assigned to Kovrig and Spavor during this time?

[Heather Jeffrey]

I'm happy to get.... I don't have all the details of the staffing of the embassy. We're happy to work with the clerk and the chair of the committee to provide that information.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. That's great.

I understand the privacy information that you provided previously, but during my time in the operations centre from 2004-05, I recall my colleagues specifically working on the case of Omar Khadr in an attempt to provide that information, certainly with redaction as necessary.

With that, I would ask if it would be possible for the committee to have all CAMANT notes tabled from the two cases, please.

[Heather Jeffrey]

The Privacy Act governs what we are able to release publicly. We'll work with the clerk of the committee to respond to whatever requests are made.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. I've asked for a lot here in terms of names and information, but certainly if we could receive this two weeks from today, Mr. Chair, whatever date that is, I would genuinely appreciate it.

Now, I'll move to the greater consular issue, which of course at this time is the coronavirus. I would like to know why our response lagged behind other nations so significantly.

[Heather Jeffrey]

I will say that we responded very quickly to the outbreak. We've been tracking it since it began. We have been tracking as well the needs of Canadians as they developed. As I mentioned earlier, we don't have a consular presence on the ground—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Which consulate does Hubei province report to?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The witness was just talking about the consular presence on the ground in Wuhan, but I'd like to hear the answer and then go on.

You've just heard the question Mrs. Kusie asked.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Heather Jeffrey]

As I mentioned, we do not have a consular presence in Wuhan. The area of Wuhan is under the governance of our consulate in Shanghai and we're providing consular services through the consular section there.

As reports came in that Canadians might be having difficulty leaving the area, we tracked those. We engaged with those Canadians, but actually it was not until the beginning of last week or midway through the week that it became apparent there was a systemic problem with a very large number of Canadians who were going to need assistance. We immediately took action to engage options to charter a plane or work—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Perfect. Thank you. If we could get the consular plan from Shanghai tabled for the committee, that would be excellent as well.

Finally, who is currently leading the standing rapid deployment team out of GAC, please?