I have a point of privilege to raise before we adjourn, Mr. Chair.
I would like to move a motion that this committee inquire into reports that a witness appearing before the health committee, Dr. Amir Attaran, may have been threatened, punished, intimidated or otherwise harmed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada or the federal government in some other form, because of testimony he has given at the health committee, and to determine if a prima facie issue of privilege has been raised and, if so, report such findings to the Speaker of the House.
Mr. Chair, I'm quoting from Bosc and Gagnon, which says this:
...the intimidation of a committee witness has also been found to be a prima facie breach of privilege. In 1992, a witness who had testified before a subcommittee was advised by a Crown corporation employee that the issue of her testimony was being referred to the corporation's legal department. The witness informed a Member, who raised a question of privilege in the House. The matter was found by Speaker Fraser to be prima facie contempt and was referred by the House to the Standing Committee on House Management for consideration.
In its report, the committee said this:
The protection of witnesses is a fundamental aspect of the privilege that extends to parliamentary proceedings and those persons who participate in them. It is well-established in the Parliament of Canada, as in the British Parliament, that witnesses before committees share the same privileges of freedom of speech as do Members. Witnesses before parliamentary committees are therefore automatically extended the same immunities from civil or criminal proceedings as Members for anything that they say before a committee. The protection of witnesses extends to threats made against them or intimidation with respect to their presentations before any parliamentary committee.
Mr. Chair, I could go on. There are many more. I move that there has been a violation of my privileges as a member of this committee, and I would ask that you act on the motion that I have moved.