Some or all, sir?
Evidence of meeting #9 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was laws.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #9 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was laws.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
We'll see. I think we have to assemble them and go through them and see which ones we can produce without breaching some laws. Our hope is that by the end of the month we'll be able to pull those together.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Did you conduct other consultations with departments and agencies to seek advice?
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
As I said, I participated in meetings with client departments throughout this, from mid-February—
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Would you be willing to provide the committee with details of the consultations you had with other departments pertaining to this as well?
June 7th, 2022 / 7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
As I said, we're going to be pulling documents together we can provide in order to respond to the motion that—
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
Excuse me...?
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Which documents are you unwilling to provide or refusing to provide?
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
As I explained, my minister appeared on the 26th and said that he wouldn't be providing legal opinions, so those are the instructions I have right now. If the government is going to decide otherwise, before the 30th, we'll let you know.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Notes on consultations and briefing documents would not be legal opinions, necessarily. Would you be willing to provide those?
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
As I said, I am working with Public Safety and other departments to pull those documents together. We will be providing a set of documents to help the committee with their deliberations.
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
I don't know if it's going to provide security assessments. You'll have to ask Public Safety and the other departments responsible for those reviews.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Of course, given the stories.... You stated on the record, in your opening remarks, that there were no special orders in council. You said that emphatically. Then, of course, there was a story of two that were within the dates of the Emergencies Act. Is there a possible scenario where secret orders in council wouldn't have come to you, or you wouldn't know about them?
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
I can guarantee you that there are no secret orders related to the Emergencies Act.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
As far as I can tell, it's a coincidence. I haven't looked at the other two secret orders, those two orders that are reported, but I can tell you that all of the orders related to this have been made public.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
You haven't looked at them, but you can state with assurance that they're not part of this. How is that so, sir?
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
Because I've been involved in all of the orders related to the Emergencies Act.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
7:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice
If there were another order related to the Emergencies Act, whether secret or not, I would know about it. I don't know about a secret order and, therefore, it doesn't exist.
7:10 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Thank you very much. We will now go on to Senator Boniface.
Senator, the floor is yours, for five minutes.