Madam Chair, we have indeed on more than one occasion—on several occasions since I've been there the last four years—come across situations involving indigenous peoples in particular, where we received some representations. I used to be involved myself. I had several dealings with aboriginal people back in the early 2000s when I was at Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada. We've secured some clear legal advice, and it's perfectly appropriate to consider, per subsection 14(2) of the code, “normal expression of courtesy or protocol”. Of course, that varies depending on who the donor is, what the culture of the donor is [Technical difficulty—Editor] comfortable to take that into consideration, and it could have an impact on the acceptability of the gift. We would never force an MP to return a gift unless it was clearly abusive, even under those protocols and rules of that particular community.
On February 3rd, 2022. See this statement in context.