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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 118

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 26, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 118 - Oct/26/22
Ms. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion (Housing), Lib.)
  • Oct/26/22 7:20:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Battle River—Crowfoot is referring to the information requested in the previous Parliament about the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Our government respects the role that parliamentarians play in holding the government to account. However, our government must also respect the laws that Parliament has passed when it responds to orders for the production of papers, especially when the records include classified information. When disclosing information to Parliament, the government is guided by its statutory obligations to keep some information confidential under statutes like the Privacy Act, the Security of Information Act and the Canada Evidence Act. Our government always seeks to balance these interests so that parliamentarians are provided information to hold the government to account. The original request for documents from the National Microbiology Laboratory was first raised at the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations on March 31, 2021. At that time, PHAC played a lead role in the government's response to the pandemic. PHAC worked diligently to produce the requested records and submitted them to the special committee on April 20, 2021. The records were redacted because they included information that PHAC was bound by statute to keep confidential. This included national security information that would have been injurious to Canada's reputation if it was disclosed. However, the special committee was not satisfied and reported the matter to the House. Despite the government's opposition, the House adopted a Conservative opposition day motion on June 2, 2021, to order the production of the unredacted documents within two days. Our government explored options to balance the right of parliamentarians to access information with its duty to protect classified information. PHAC provided the redacted documents to the law clerk's office on the timeline set out by the order. At the same time, the Minister of Health referred the matter to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, or NSICOP. The unredacted documents were submitted to that committee. Our government believes that this committee is the appropriate mechanism to allow parliamentarians to review unredacted documents while protecting national security information. The NSICOP has members from both the House and the Senate and a broad mandate to review national security and intelligence activities. Members hold top secret security clearance, swear an oath or solemn affirmation not to disclose confidential information and are permanently bound to secrecy under the Security of Information Act. With these safeguards, committee members are able to receive classified briefings and materials. However, opposition parties did not support this approach in the last Parliament. In the current Parliament, our government remains committed to working collaboratively with opposition parties. On December 2, 2021, the government House leader proposed the creation of an ad hoc committee to allow parliamentarians to scrutinize confidential national security documents. The government based its proposal on the approach the former government proposed, and the House agreed to, in 2010 to give access to information about Afghan detainees. Members of the ad hoc committee are required to undergo security screening and agree to confidentiality undertakings. A panel of arbiters will mediate questions where the disclosure of confidential national security documents would jeopardize Canada's interests. The New Democratic Party has agreed to participate in the ad hoc committee to review the information that the member for Battle River—Crowfoot is referring to. I urge the member and his party to reconsider their participation.
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Context: House Hansard - 118 - Oct/26/22
Ms. Soraya Martinez Ferrada
  • Oct/26/22 7:25:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government has proposed reasonable options to the House. The NSICOP and the ad hoc committee would allow the members to scrutinize confidential national security and intelligence information in a venue where the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the information is not publicly disclosed. Both options worked. A similar ad hoc committee was established by the previous government in 2010 to allow parliamentarians to access classified information about Afghan detainees. This is what Speaker Milliken was referring to when he urged members, in 2010, to find a compromise between complying with an order of the House and protecting classified information from public disclosure. The committee is another mechanism that responds to Speaker Milliken's appeal to the House. Since 2017, parliamentarians from both Houses have worked across party lines to examine and report on national security and intelligence activities. Members undergo the appropriate security measures to ensure that classified information is not disclosed. Again, I heard the member—
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