Evidence of meeting #69 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was foundation.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
—upon receipt?
I'm sorry. Could we talk one at a time, sir?
3:55 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I'm sorry.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Did you receive a receipt or some type of acknowledgement from Millennium that they, in fact, received $140,000 directly into their bank account?
3:55 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Not to my knowledge.... It was confirmed to us by the bank that the funds had been deposited into that account. To my knowledge, there was no response from Millennium.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Did you exercise any due diligence, sir, to determine who the directors of that corporation are?
3:55 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I did not, but I believe people at the foundation did. They determined who was in charge.
I know a letter was also sent informing Millennium...to Millennium's Canadian address. I don't believe we received a response to that letter.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
June 8th, 2023 / 3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for appearing today and for your fulsome opening statement that provides a lot of background.
Building on that, as someone who has been involved with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation since its inception in 2001, can you provide a summary of how the foundation was created, what its initial mandate was and how its mandate and operations have evolved over the past 22 years?
3:55 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Thank you.
Its mandate was to essentially do what we're doing today, which is to provide a four-element program: scholarships, mentorships, fellowships and public interaction programs. We were to provide our scholarships as doctoral scholarships in the social sciences and humanities. The reasoning at the time was.... I believe it remains even more true today—we are awash in doctoral scholarships in the fields of applied science, technology, engineering and so on. However, what's lacking is adequate support in the social sciences and humanities, which are, arguably, the backbone of a democratic society and an advanced society: studying human rights, civil liberties, foreign policy and Canada's place in the world. These issues don't get studied in technology school.
That was the rationale behind it and essentially our program. Where's the value added? Why is a Trudeau scholarship different from any other? The big element is our leadership program, which takes scholars out of their comfort zone and introduces them, through mentors, fellows and other people, to aspects of Canada and the world that they would not otherwise be introduced to. We call that “engaged leadership”. We believe that adds a certain value to a Trudeau scholarship that isn't necessarily obtained in other cases.
We've done 295 of those scholarships. They're very substantial, very highly regarded and very sought-after. We had many hundreds of applications for a dozen openings last year.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Can you expand on “very substantial”? Can you quantify that?
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Yes, it's $60,000, or $40,000 in straight scholarship money. There's a travel allowance of, I believe, about $10,000.
Here's another value-added aspect. There's $5,000 to improve the scholar's language capabilities. Usually, scholars spend that in the official language other than their mother tongue. We've had some amazing results with that money. We have people, particularly those who are bilingual and didn't really need to do work in another official language.... One of them, I remember distinctly, was learning Huron, the indigenous language.
I think it's a testament to the quality of the people we are bringing in as scholars and to the value-added of our program.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
There are 12 of these scholarships awarded every year.
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
That's correct. We had 13 scholars in total, I believe, this past year, of which 12 were straight Trudeau scholars and one was under the Trudeau-Green scholarship program. A benefactor has agreed to sponsor one additional scholarship.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you.
To refresh our memories, did all political parties support the creation of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation?
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
There was no vote in the House, but there were statements of support. They were overwhelmingly in favour, but there was one party that, predictably, was a little lukewarm. The NDP, the Conservatives and the Liberals, etc., were very supportive.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
You've already stated that it's a non-partisan charitable foundation.
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
That's correct.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Are the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholarship recipients vetted according to their partisan or ideological leanings?
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Absolutely not.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
What about the foundation board members? Are they vetted according to the—
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
No. Do you mean for political involvement?
4 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
What about the foundation staff? Is it the same situation?
4 p.m.
Chair of the Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
No. No way.
