Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 19th, 2023

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

You also said it was for the purpose of being presented to Canadian soldiers at the airport. Is that correct?

[Marilou McPhedran]

That was my understanding.

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

How did you have any assurance that those weren't people who posed a threat to the lives of Canadian soldiers?

[Marilou McPhedran]

Women, athletes, many of them—

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

Did you know it was women?

[Marilou McPhedran]

Yes, of course. I was working with a feminist network.

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

You personally saw every name on all of those letters.

[Marilou McPhedran]

I did not, but—

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

You see what I'm saying.

[Marilou McPhedran]

—I personally trusted the advocates who chose those women.

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

You trusted them, but you had no assurance that those persons—

[Marilou McPhedran]

I didn't need any assurance. I trusted the advocates. They knew them.

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

Did they validate identity? Did you validate identity?

[Marilou McPhedran]

They knew them. They didn't need to validate identity.

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

On the concept of authentic and inauthentic letters, you have a background in constitutional law. Is that correct?

[Marilou McPhedran]

I do.

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

As a parliamentarian, I understand that I am not the executive branch of government, so I don't have the authority to authorize certain things like issuing letters like this, because there's due process that needs to go on. You are claiming, if I understand correctly, that you believe the letters are authentic because somebody emailed you a template.

[Marilou McPhedran]

It was not “somebody”. It was the chief of staff to the Minister of National Defence.

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

You do understand that for them to be authentic they have to be issued by the government. Is that correct?

[Marilou McPhedran]

I do understand that. They were issued by Global Affairs.

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

The fact that you issued them and the government did not.... Are you a member of the government?

[Marilou McPhedran]

I conveyed them. I received them from the chief of staff to the Minister of National Defence, and I conveyed them to trusted advocates who helped women get out and lives were saved.

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

However, the government never knew because you didn't know. The government never knew. Is that right? Did the government know whose names were going on there?

[Marilou McPhedran]

We had a rolling list of names and, as much as we could, we put those.... They wrote back and said they were in the system.

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

In terms of its being authentic, you're not a member of the government. Is that correct?