Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I first want to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
As executive director of the professional integrity division at the Canada Border Services Agency, my responsibilities include providing an independent investigation function for the agency. My team conducts investigations into allegations of employee misconduct and provides management with reports of our findings to allow them to address instances of misconduct in the workplace.
The process of investigating allegations takes time and requires a systematic approach to ensure that all evidence is properly gathered and considered prior to final conclusions being made.
Policies and procedures relating to internal investigations are issued under the authority of the chief security officer of the CBSA and are aligned with the policy on government security, which requires that we ensure that any significant issues regarding policy compliance, suspected criminal activity, national security concerns or other security issues are assessed, investigated, documented, acted on and reported to the deputy head and other investigative bodies, as appropriate.
I have been a security practitioner in the federal public service for 15 years, working in the fields of intelligence, security screening, misconduct investigations and security operations. During this time, I have conducted, directed and overseen hundreds of administrative investigations, both relating to employee misconduct and as part of reviews for cause of employee security screening.
Key to my current role is ensuring the integrity of investigations, procedural fairness and due process for those under investigation. It is for these reasons that it would be inappropriate for me to speak to you about certain details or matters that remain under investigation.
As the committee is aware, the current CBSA investigation into allegations first brought forward by Botler AI is still ongoing. I am therefore limited in what I will be able to share about that process.
What I can speak about is our investigation process and investigations in general terms.
I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.
Thank you.
