Evidence of meeting #16 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was asked.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
Thank you.
I'm going to be very quick here. Did you have a conversation with Agatha Mason of Intercede about this issue?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
Thank you very much, Rick, because I want to clarify this particular question that's been going on.
I have learned subsequently that Intercede is an agency that helps caregivers. I did receive a call from the Intercede agency, as has been stated publicly, in regard to a passport. That call was facilitated and directed by Ms. Tongson herself. When that call was made to my Ottawa office, Ms. Tongson and the woman from Intercede were advised to contact the employer, who was my brother. I originally received the phone call and redirected it to the appropriate person, unlike a circumstance where you would have a child picking up the phone at home and giving the phone to their dad or to their mother.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
So you've never had a conversation outside of redirecting the call. That's the only conversation you've ever had?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
From my recollection, I just had that one phone call, which was redirected to my brother, who was the employer.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
You're out of time.
Okay, now each caucus will have two minutes, which means one question.
Ms. Minna.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was going to thank you for the clarification on the Intercede discussion, because they claim you had the passport and came down.
I wanted to ask one other question. The agency you consulted to get the nannies said all their dealings were with you. Is that the case?
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
The agency you called for referral says all their dealings were with you. Is that the case?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
No, it's not. I had made the initial phone call. Again, I can't remember the exact number of times. I think a few times, perhaps, the woman called me. She was redirected to my mother and my brother. My mother and brother had all the subsequent dealings with the agency.
Ms. Minna, can I just bring up the passport issue at Intercede? Again, the woman has clearly stated in signed documentation that the passport was received back from Dr. Neil Dhalla.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Ms. Gordo claims that when she quit, she told you first. Do you have any recollection of that conversation?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
The day Ms. Gordo quit, I actually wasn't even at home.
Ms. Gordo stated as fact today that when she started, a few days later it was my birthday. My birthday is actually February 18. Ms. Gordo started on February 4, and the day Ms. Gordo started I was actually in Ottawa for that particular week. So there's a lot of inconsistency going on in the facts and the allegations, unfortunately, that are being made.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
During all this time, did you have any knowledge of complaints from either of these women or that there were problems at the home? Did you ever, throughout the overall time of the two women working...?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
From my interaction, from feedback from my mom, my mom used to be the one who used to cook for them many times—
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
But from the women? Sorry to interrupt. We are running out of time. Did they ever complain to you when you were at the house?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
To myself, no, and I can unequivocally state this: neither to my mother nor to my brother. Some of the caregivers actually accompanied my mom to concerts. My mom paid for the tickets to take them with her, because my mom is usually by herself because my brother and I are extremely busy working.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Dhalla, in the context of my previous question, I asked you what your position was with regard to the possibility, a request that has frequently been made of us during our hearings, of making employers who deal with recruitment agencies responsible in order to help people who have been swindled by these agencies so that they can recover their money more easily. If I understood rightly, you told me that you would like to study the question, that you do not, a priori, have a position on this subject. This is surprising, because your three colleagues from the Liberal Party to your right are clearly against this measure.
Recently a report was produced that contains a whole series of recommendations. Among these recommendations, which ones do you find the most interesting for improving the quality of life of these live-in domestics?
Liberal
Ruby Dhalla Liberal Brampton—Springdale, ON
I think the recommendation that the committee has made.... There are a number of them, and I think that everyone around this table is going to be on the same page when it comes to providing fairness for the workers, providing fairness for the employers and also for the particular agencies.