Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 26th, 2023

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I've just come from the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, just in time to speak to my good friend Minister Sajjan.

Welcome to the committee. Thank you for being with us today.

Minister, you may wonder where this question came from, but recently, an article in the Globe and Mail told us that Global Affairs Canada asked you to highlight the significant benefits of purchasing light armoured vehicles during your visit to Qatar. I thought the purpose of this visit was to talk about human rights, among other things. Now I hear that you were told that one of the key messages was to tell the Qatari authorities to buy Canadian armoured vehicles.

How does selling arms to Qatar fit with your mandate as Minister of International Development?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm sorry, but I didn't catch the last bit of the interpretation.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

How does it fit with your mandate as Minister of International Development to go to sell arms to Qatar?

I thought that was a good question.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

The interpretation is not coming through.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I assume this will not be cut from my time, Madam Chair.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

It was working just fine; it just cut off at the last sentence.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

That was the best one.

So, I'm starting over, and you gave me my time back, Madam Chair. That's nice.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Can we just test the interpretation? I'm still not getting anything. Can you hear me?

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

You heard all of the preamble, right?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Now it's working.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

How does it fit with your mandate as Minister of International Development to go and sell arms to Qatar?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I think you're referring to my briefing binder.

When I go on trips, I usually have a binder like this for briefing notes. In this case, for my visit to Qatar, this was in my notes. Even with the good work that officials do during my meetings, that advice was ignored and that was not raised.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

In your briefing notes, it says “key messages”. That's what we knew. So, as I understand it, as the minister responsible for Canada's diplomatic mission in Qatar, you are not delivering the key messages that you are asked to deliver as a minister.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

As I said, I have great respect for department colleagues and the work they do, but what is actually raised is ultimately my decision and it was not raised.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Were you alone on this diplomatic mission, Minister, or did others accompany you?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I was the only minister on the trip.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Did any staff participate in meetings in your absence with people responsible for diplomacy in Qatar?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

All of the meetings that were conducted were conducted with me. I can assure you of this.

These points were not raised. I stayed focused on my international development file from that region.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

All right. Thank you.

I understand that when you go on a diplomatic mission and are asked to deliver key messages, you don't deliver them.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

No. I have to make that clear.

When it comes to the advice and the stuff in there, ultimately we as the ministers decide on the points we want to raise. There's always information in the book. There are various reasons. Sometimes I don't even get a chance to dig into them. Ultimately, when I'm in the meeting, I decide what points I'm willing to raise.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

When you returned, then, you must have written a mission report in which you indicated that you did not deliver the key message regarding the Canadian arms sale to Qatar.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Fortunately, I don't have to write the reports. I have teams there to fill them, but yes, we have somebody to do that.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Do you think it was in the briefing notes because the diplomatic channels that Canada uses to talk to the Taliban go through the people in Qatar?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'll be honest with you. When this case came before Global Affairs Canada, there were three different ministers—trade, me and foreign affairs—in there. Sometimes there's information that could be for other reasons, but I can assure you that for this one, it was not raised.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

All right, thank you.

We agree that getting humanitarian aid into Afghanistan is critical. I've just come from the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which is working on Bill C‑41, that we've talked about several times, Minister, and which your government has been far too slow to introduce.

Today, the daily La Presse tells us that Prime Minister Trudeau is going to the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York, which some NGOs are complaining about, given that Canada's humanitarian aid budget was recently cut by 15%. Yet we send a Prime Minister to strut his stuff at this summit in New York alongside some influencers, comedians and musicians.

Don't you find it contradictory that we are sending the Prime Minister to strut his stuff at this summit while we are cutting the international aid budget?