Justice committee  Thank you very much. I can assure all members of this committee that I will tell the truth. Thank you for having me here today. I would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands of the Algonquin people. I am not here to quarrel with the former attorney general,

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I just want to point out that my written statement is longer. I did my very best to shave it all down to meet the time frame. The written statement has additional detail in it.

Justice committee  Let me make sure I state that point clearly. The proposal was informed by a justice department memo, which I suspect you're going to want to talk to the deputy minister of justice about later. I believe it was an options memo, Ms. Raitt.

Justice committee  I have no idea.

Justice committee  No.

Justice committee  I don't think so. No.

Justice committee  I remember it in the context.... Excuse me. Sorry.

Justice committee  I respect your question, Ms. Raitt. We've known each other a long time I believe it was in the context of the meeting of November 22, I think it was, between Elder Marques and Mathieu Bouchard and the minister, I believe.

Justice committee  Yes. I had legal counsel assist me, and some friends who have nothing to do with the provincial—not the “provincial”, but the present—government. You guys are used to this; I'm not.

Justice committee  No, I did not.

Justice committee  He called me once to wish me well. I will say, Ms. Raitt, this is the longest I've gone in 30 years without talking to the Prime Minister.

Justice committee  These were with my PMO phone.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  No. We looked through my calendar when I was preparing this testimony. I guess someone at the office looked through my calendar while I was preparing this testimony. We could find only one meeting I had on this file, internally.

Justice committee  Yes. I want to be clear on that, Ms. Raitt, because I don't want to put Ms. McLachlin or anybody in the government in a difficult position. In no way.... That was meant in the context of the Jessica Prince meeting. I said it's someone like Beverley McLachlin.