We've heard from a number of witnesses, including you, with respect to this study, and in general you've all talked about a fair, transparent and robust appointment process with respect to the hiring of the disgraced former chair of the SDTC, Annette Verschuren. Clearly that was a failure, and it was seen by Canadians as a failure. In fact, it shattered the trust that Canadians have in our public institutions.
On the issue of failure, I want to talk about another colossal failure that your office had an interest in, and that was the hiring of the new human rights commissioner, Birju Dattani, who made anti-Israel posts under a pseudonym during his graduate school year. We know he was placed on leave, and then he ultimately resigned. Your office is responsible for vetting all federal appointments. Your office has acknowledged that an “administrative oversight” led to an incomplete background check. Now, to me, that means, “Whoops, we screwed up.” Clearly someone in your office did not do a thorough background check.
Canadians are wondering what this is going to cost us. When reporters asked Attorney General and Minister of Justice Virani whether or not Dattani was paid during his leave or received a compensation package after resigning, his spokesperson replied, “No comment.”
If the Attorney General and Minister of Justice doesn't want to respond, I'm going to ask you: Was Dattani paid during his leave, and if so, how much?