Evidence of meeting #130 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was videos.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
No, I'm just asking you whether you have any personal feelings that your online content was aiding in those objectives.
As an Individual
I do not. I disagree with that. I think I have very normal opinions that were all coming from myself. No one told me to have my views. No one forced me to have my opinions. My opinions are based on living and growing up in this country.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Okay.
Have you ever been in direct or indirect contact with Russian government officials, organizations or agents?
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Okay.
Can you provide more information about the nature of these interactions, if any?
As an Individual
I've done contributions to RT before, as many did pre-war, including Larry King and Michael Moore. I think the only interview I ever did that even had anything to do with Canada was a brief interview on the trucker convoy, which was a live report on events happening around me. I would have been just as willing to share that report with the CBC if it had asked me.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqwinder Gaheer
Mr. Johns, that does conclude the first round. Thank you.
We'll move on to the second round now.
Mr. Shipley, you are first.
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Southern, for being here today.
Some of these questions have probably already been asked, but we'll make it a little repetitive. Could you give us a little more context to these?
My first question is this: Were you ever employed by a digital media company to create content before signing on with Tenet?
Conservative
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Before signing on with Tenet, had your content ever been monetized on YouTube?
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
What was your relationship with Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan? How did they pitch this platform to you? What were you offered, and what due diligence did you do before signing on?
As an Individual
They were colleagues of mine in the media sphere working for various different companies. We had brushed shoulders at political events before, maybe only a handful of times.
Lauren and I were fairly friendly. She called me and told me that they were starting up a new company, that they had an investor who was in the tech realm. I wasn't that interested at first, to be honest. Then she called me a few more times and told me that it would be a totally free speech contract, that I could do whatever I wanted.
They sent me the offer. At that time, I was looking to expand and hopefully be able to hire some staff to improve the quality of my videos. Being able to do so while having total freedom and control over the content I produce is, quite frankly, something you get at almost no media companies—very few, anyway. That's why I haven't worked at very many over the last 10 years, other than Rebel, which had a similar contract. So, yes, I considered myself pretty lucky to have found a start-up company that was looking to give its creators full creative control.
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
You did travel to Russia in 2018 and published an extensive interview with Aleksandr Dugin, a man who is referred to as “Putin's brain”. During your trip to Russia, did you engage with any other political actors? Have you maintained any relationship with any individuals that you met in Russia?
As an Individual
Yes. During my trip to Russia, I did interview quite a few other subjects. I decided against publishing those interviews as I felt there might be some influence on the direction of them. I only published the Dugin one because I totally arranged that one.
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Have you been back to Russia since February 24, 2022?
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
You unlisted several videos from your YouTube channel on the topics of the war in Ukraine and of your travels to Russia. When did you unlist these YouTube videos and why?
As an Individual
I actually unlisted significantly more videos than just those. There were things that had to do with just life, relationships and various different topics. I made a decision a few months ago that I want to take a break from social media altogether. I think the entire thing has become very unhealthy. One of the ways I engage with it now is that if I go on social media, I remove content instead of add it.
If you find my Instagram, there have been lots of selfies of me removed. If you look at my Twitter, there have been lots of tweets of mine removed. I go back and choose a video or a post to remove instead of adding to it, since I think we have really lost the thread of sanity on the Internet these days.
Conservative
Doug Shipley Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
There's definitely some truth to that.
I want to keep asking some questions, but I'm going to take a brief moment aside from that. I want to put verbal notification of a motion, and that motion is this:
Given that it was reported this week that the families of Paul Bernardo's victims had been denied the right to deliver their impact statements in person at his upcoming parole hearing, and that the parole board is now saying it is “currently working to accommodate the in-person presentation of statements by victims” who wish to appear at the November 26 hearing,
The committee invite:
The Minister of Public Safety
The chairperson of the Parole Board of Canada
The Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime
To appear separately, for an hour each, to testify on how these decisions are made, and the process of determining whether they are “unable to ensure safety and security of all hearing attendees”; and
That these appearances occur before December 17.
I'll speak very briefly to this because I do want to get back to Ms. Southern.
Obviously, everybody is aware of what has happened this week with the French and Mahaffy families being barred from attending Paul Bernardo's parole hearing in person. Frankly, I was shocked and disgusted to hear that this had taken place.
The parole board stated they were “unable to ensure safety and security of all hearing attendees”. I'm not sure why that would be different now. When he was in maximum security, they were allowed to attend. Now that he has been moved into medium security, they're saying that security is going to be an issue.
We did hear from the lawyer for the families, Tim Danson. He stated that it “was nothing short of gut-wrenching to experience the painful and heartbreaking reaction of Debbie Mahaffy and Donna French when they learned that the PBC was prohibiting them from representing their daughters (and themselves), and denying them the right to confront Paul Bernardo, in person.”
An article in the Toronto Star states, “He went even further in his letter, calling the PBC's decision 'bone chilling,' and argued that it runs contrary to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which he said enshrines the right to in-person victim impact statements.”
Mr. Danson also stated, “It is incredible how the 'system' is there to assist and benefit Canada's most notorious sadist, sexual psychopath and murderer, but not his victims, who suffer every day.”
As I said, Chair, I just wanted to put that on verbal notification, please.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqwinder Gaheer
Thank you, Mr. Shipley.
It's on notice, and your time is up.
Next, we will move to Ms. Damoff.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Southern, for being here today.
I want to go back to the trip you took to Russia in 2018.
Who paid for that trip?