Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 19th, 2023

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Was this—

[Marilou McPhedran]

Also, there was quite a bit of communication about women parliamentarians in a very separate stream.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I apologize for cutting you off because of time. I don't know whether—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. Your time is up, Ms. Kayabaga.

We will now proceed to Ms. Rempel Garner for five minutes.

You can please begin.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Did any minister ever directly communicate with you on the matter of your issuing the second template to Afghan nationals?

[Marilou McPhedran]

No.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

When was the first time you were made aware that any person in the government felt that these letters were either inauthentic or shouldn't have been issued through your office?

[Marilou McPhedran]

In July 2022, I started to receive requests from The Globe and Mail—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Was this after I copied you on the issue of my...? I did copy you on an email that I sent to the minister of Global Affairs as well as the Minister of Immigration, because I didn't know where this letter came from.

[Marilou McPhedran]

You did copy me on it.

Interestingly enough, when we spoke in person in June, you never raised any of your concerns or criticisms with me.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Right, because you fooled me. You fooled me. It's tough to do.

[Marilou McPhedran]

I fooled you...? You fooled me. Why didn't you ask me the questions?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Because we hadn't heard back from the government yet.

This is why I'm trying to ascertain who knew what when, and I'm trying to ascertain, after a year of my office asking where this letter came from, how nobody knew and how my constituent's family weren't allowed to apply for regular programs, even though they had a bona fide claim to Canada because they thought they had been let in by this letter. It fooled me.

I didn't want to cast aspersions on you. That's why I wrote to the ministers and said, “Hey, what the heck? Where is this coming from?” That's me, but this is about you today. I want to know....

You said earlier that Minister Sajjan knew and Minister Mendicino knew. You said that Minister Garneau knew.

I just want to be very clear. You believed that they knew you were issuing the second template to trusted organizations. They knew this.

[Marilou McPhedran]

They were copied on correspondence that was dealing with this situation.

Since this is about me, I would also like to say it's interesting that you were comfortable casting aspersions on me and then sharing that with The Globe and Mail, and—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Now you're putting aspersions on me.

[Marilou McPhedran]

I'm describing what you did.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I don't know the reporting methods at The Globe and Mail. I just try to stay out of their crosshairs. I would recommend the same for anyone else in this room.

[Marilou McPhedran]

They used your letter in following up with me.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I would say this. I can tell you honestly that whoever leaked this issue on the front end was not me, but let's keep going.

[Marilou McPhedran]

No. They were anonymous sources within IRCC.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

There we go.

I want to know. You sent this list of people—

[Marilou McPhedran]

Lists...rolling lists.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

When did you send this list?

[Marilou McPhedran]

Many times over several days.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You were sending the rolling list. Were you saying that these are people who need to get out, or that these are people I'm issuing the letters for?