The last portion of the donation was due on July 1, 2018. I started my mandate on July 9. The former CEO, Morris Rosenberg, had not asked to receive that part of the donation.
I read the contract. I didn't have much in the Chinese donation file, but I read the contract and saw immediately that money had to be spent only to organize conferences around China and around the relationship between Canada and China. Given the fact that I was adopting a new strategic plan and going in the field with different cohorts, I had no intention of organizing conferences on China.
The last portion of that donation was not asked for. This was prior to my mandate. It had nothing to do with the new strategic plan, so I did not do anything in that regard until I received a letter from the dean of the faculty of law at the Université de Montréal.
This was a letter addressed to Alexandre Trudeau himself that had been physically sent to the foundation. Then it had been sent to my email address, but with a request that I deliver it to Alexandre Trudeau. In this letter, the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal asked that the money sent to the University of Montreal be returned. Apparently, Alexandre Trudeau had had conversations with people at the university.