Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 5th, 2024

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

GHI claimed to be a wholly indigenous-owned company in a bid bid made in June 2020. You had not stepped aside at that point. You were involved in the operation of the company when it claimed to be fully indigenous-owned.

Were you aware of the bid to the federal government for masks in June of 2020?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

No. Mr. Anderson was uniquely and totally responsible for federal contracts. It would have been inappropriate for me to work on any federal contracts. I confirmed that with the Ethics Commissioner, and it was the same approach I used—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Boissonnault—

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, Mr. Anderson—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

—we are talking about a time. Let's underline the date. It was June 2020. We're talking about a time when you were not elected. You have said—and this is obviously disputed—that you stepped back from any involvement in the company after you were elected, but we're talking about a time when you were not elected and therefore a time when the company was still claiming to be wholly indigenous-owned.

In June of 2020, were you aware of a bid to provide masks to the federal government?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, I have been very clear that I worked with the Ethics Commissioner, and I was very clear with Mr. Anderson that any federal contracts were entirely his responsibility—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You're saying that included the time when you were not elected.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Absolutely. There was a wall in our company so that I would not have anything to do with federal contracts. It would be inappropriate. I was still governed by lobbying provisions. I took my code of conduct—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

At no point in that bid, did he ever even ask you if you were indigenous?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Chair, do I get to finish?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Just answer the question.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Mr. Genuis has the floor.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Did he at any point ask you if you were indigenous? How did he come to the conclusion that you were indigenous?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

He did not. None of our company was certified indigenous. He should not have done this at all, and I'm glad that the provisions, the safeguards, prevented the company from getting the contract.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

All right. I guess we're to believe that Mr. Anderson sat down with the Liberal Party of Canada, and they both decided to falsely claim that you were indigenous without ever consulting you.

Mr. Boissonnault, you've said that your Cree name means “strong eagle man”. Now, I've consulted with indigenous leaders on this. I understand that being gifted a traditional name has a very specific cultural and ceremonial context. I wonder if you could share with the committee what that name is, when you were given it, who gave it to you and what the ceremony involved was.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Absolutely. That was a gift of a name and an eagle feather by elder Ed Lavallee of the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society. It was done in a medicine blanket ceremony the Friday before the election in 2021. It was elder Ed Lavallee who presided at that ceremony. My mom attended that ceremony. I really respect that gift. The Cree name is maskawi kihêw nâpêw. It translates to “strong eagle man”. The Edmonton 2 Spirit Society conferred this great honour on me because they said that I gave voice to the voiceless.

They chose “strong eagle man” because I would be flying back and forth to Ottawa after the election, and it was my responsibility to take care of—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay, well, we'll be able to verify that. I do thank you for providing that context.

Finally, you said that you participated in the Liberal indigenous caucus “as an ally”. Were there ever any other non-indigenous people who were counted as members of the Liberal indigenous caucus? All of the public representations of the Liberal indigenous caucus exclusively show members of Parliament who are or have claimed to be indigenous. Why is it that no other people were invited into the caucus on the same basis that you were?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm not sure that other allies made the same representation that I did.

When we met as a caucus between 2015 and 2019, we frequently—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Can you just confirm that that's a “no”, that you were the only one?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Genuis, we frequently opened the meeting up to other allies.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

But you were a member, right?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I was a regular attendee.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Time has just expired.

Do you still have a point of order?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes.

With all due respect to Mr. Genuis, if he wants to join our Liberal caucus, he can join. We'll explain to him how we work inside our caucus. However, our caucus is none of his business.