Thank you very much, Chair.
On November 4, 2019, two young entrepreneurs, Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv, were contacted by Kristian Firth of GC Strategies regarding a Government of Canada project.
On November 30, Firth stated that he had had a great chat with Cameron from CBSA and that they would act as fast as they could to get Botler a commitment.
Over the course of their interactions, Ms. Dutt stated that Firth had repeatedly stated that the CBSA was very interested. Firth repeatedly communicated that Cameron MacDonald would need to receive benefits as consideration for his role and influence in bringing Botler to the Government of Canada.
Firth stated that MacDonald had then CBSA president, John Ossowski's ear, and that for MacDonald, it was more than credit. Firth just wanted to be sure that MacDonald was taken care of.
The principals met with MacDonald several times. During a meeting called by MacDonald on January 22, 2020, at the Marriott Spin café, MacDonald confirmed over drinks with the principals Firth's statements regarding implementation of Botler as a CBSA pathfinder for the entire Government of Canada-wide implementation.
During another in-person meeting, called by MacDonald on February 6, 2020, which was also attended by Antonio Utano and others, MacDonald provided precise instructions and wording on how to pitch Botler to the president to ensure success.
During the period, MacDonald continued to provide intelligence to Firth on internal high-level executive meetings regarding Botler that were above his pay grade. MacDonald provided direct instructions to be provided via Firth to Botler and the principals in order to guide interactions with other CBSA employees. MacDonald also assigned work delegated to him by his superiors to Botler for completion at the last minute.
Firth regularly asserted MacDonald's influence and insisted that Botler provide whatever was asked by the CBSA, as MacDonald had what he called a very big stick and could get what he wanted. Firth said the CBSA knew where MacDonald was going in the organization and how fast.
Over multiple years of interactions with both Firth and the CBSA mid-management, it has become evident that conscious efforts were made by both parties to isolate and control the flow and narrative of information to the CBSA executive leadership. In this instance, the leadership is defined as the agency's president, vice-president and C-level executive.
As early as November 2019, while Firth was actively communicating messages from MacDonald to Botler, as discussed earlier, Firth stated that Vice-President Doan didn't know that they'd been communicating back and forth with MacDonald.
Firth, on behalf of MacDonald, intervened on multiple occasions when Dutt communicated important information with Ossowski that was targeted at the ministerial and deputy ministerial levels.
Imagine that you are a young entrepreneur, and you've been promised by your contact that the sky is the limit. Your concept and technology can be implemented across the entire Government of Canada, because he knows the man. The man works together with your contact to create magic. The man has contacts and knows what he wants. The man owns a chalet, or is it a cabin?
Picture now that you enter into what you thought was a contract. You'll work hand in hand to create your idea across government, and what do you have to worry about? It's the Government of Canada.
Suddenly, things start to go wrong. You complete some work. You complete some more work, but you don't get paid, so you inquire. You do a little digging, and you're concerned by what you find, so what do you do? You do the right thing. You file a complaint, because when you file a complaint, it will be taken seriously. It will go through the right channels, and it will be addressed, because it's the Government of Canada. Or will it?
Mr. Utano, what did you do when you received the first misconduct report?