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Minutes of Proceedings

44th Parliament, 1st Session
Meeting 29
Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 12:05 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.
Televised
Presiding
Pat Kelly, Chair (Conservative)

• Élisabeth Brière for Hon. Greg Fergus (Liberal)
• Yasir Naqvi for Lisa Hepfner (Liberal)
• Brenda Shanahan for Ya'ara Saks (Liberal)
• Martin Shields for Damien C. Kurek (Conservative)
Library of Parliament
• Sabrina Charland, Analyst
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), the committee commenced consideration of the request by four members of the committee to undertake a study of device investigation tools used by the RCMP.

Motion

René Villemure moved, — That the committee undertake a study of at least 4 meetings beginning no later than Monday, August 8th, 2022 to determine and identify which "device investigation tools" are being used by the RCMP, which have technological capabilities similar to Pegasus, and provide the committee with the name(s) of such software and the terms and conditions of its use;

That the committee request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, that the RCMP provide a list of warrants obtained, if any, for each use of such software, as well as the scope of the warrants and the reasons for the monitoring;

That the committee also request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, a list of warrants or any other information related to the wiretapping of Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Assistants or any other employee of the Parliament of Canada;

That, to this end, the witness list for this study include, but not be limited to:

  • RCMP officers who have decided on the use of "device investigation tools" or any other surveillance tools;
  • The Minister of Public Safety;
  • The current and former Privacy Commissioners of Canada;
  • Ms. Sharon Polsky, Privacy Specialist, Privacy & Access Council on Canada;
  • And that any additional witness lists be submitted to the Clerk of the committee within 7 days of the adoption of this motion; And that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House by September 19, 2022.

Debate arose thereon.

Amendment

Élisabeth Brière moved, — That the motion be amended by deleting the words“The Minister of Public Safety”.

Debate arose thereon.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment and the result of the vote was announced:

YEAS: Parm Bains, Élisabeth Brière, Iqra Khalid, Yasir Naqvi, Brenda Shanahan — 5;

NAYS: James Bezan, Matthew Green, Martin Shields, René Villemure, Ryan Williams — 5.

Whereupon, the Chair voted in the negative.

Accordingly, the amendment was negatived.

The committee resumed consideration of the motion of René Villemure.

Amendment

Yasir Naqvi moved, — That the motion be amended by replacing the words “at least 4 meetings” with the words “no more than 2 meetings”.

Debate arose thereon.

Subamendment

James Bezan moved, — That the amendment be amended by replacing the word “meetings” with the word “days”.

Debate arose thereon.

After debate, the question was put on the subamendment of James Bezan and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Parm Bains, James Bezan, Élisabeth Brière, Matthew Green, Iqra Khalid, Yasir Naqvi, Brenda Shanahan, Martin Shields, René Villemure, Ryan Williams — 10;

NAYS: — 0.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Yasir Naqvi, as amended, and it was agreed to.

Debate resumed on the motion, as amended, of René Villemure.

Amendment

Iqra Khalid moved, — That the motion be amended by deleting the paragraphs “That the committee request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, that the RCMP provide a list of warrants obtained, if any, for each use of such software, as well as the scope of the warrants and the reasons for the monitoring;

That the committee also request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, a list of warrants or any other information related to the wiretapping of Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Assistants or any other employee of the Parliament of Canada; ”.

Debate arose thereon.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment and the result of the vote was announced:

YEAS: Parm Bains, Élisabeth Brière, Iqra Khalid, Yasir Naqvi, Brenda Shanahan — 5;

NAYS: James Bezan, Matthew Green, Martin Shields, René Villemure, Ryan Williams — 5.

Whereupon, the Chair voted in the negative.

Accordingly, the amendment was negatived.

Debate resumed on the motion, as amended, of René Villemure.

Amendment

James Bezan moved, — That the motion be amended by adding after the words “any other employee of the Parliament of Canada” the following: “for each use of such software”.

Debate arose thereon.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of James Bezan and it was agreed to.

The question was put on the motion, as amended, and the result of the vote was announced:

YEAS: Parm Bains, Élisabeth Brière, Iqra Khalid, Yasir Naqvi, Brenda Shanahan — 5;

NAYS: James Bezan, Matthew Green, Martin Shields, René Villemure, Ryan Williams — 5.

Whereupon, the Chair voted in the affirmative.

Accordingly, the motion, as amended, was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the committee undertake a study of no more than 2 days beginning no later than Monday, August 8th, 2022 to determine and identify which "device investigation tools" are being used by the RCMP, which have technological capabilities similar to Pegasus, and provide the committee with the name(s) of such software and the terms and conditions of its use;

That the committee request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, that the RCMP provide a list of warrants obtained, if any, for each use of such software, as well as the scope of the warrants and the reasons for the monitoring;

That the committee also request, by Thursday, August 4, 2022, a list of warrants or any other information related to the wiretapping of Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Assistants or any other employee of the Parliament of Canada, for each use of such software;

That, to this end, the witness list for this study include, but not be limited to:

  • RCMP officers who have decided on the use of "device investigation tools" or any other surveillance tools;
  • The Minister of Public Safety;
  • The current and former Privacy Commissioners of Canada
  • Ms. Sharon Polsky, Privacy Specialist, Privacy & Access Council on Canada;
  • And that any additional witness lists be submitted to the Clerk of the committee within 7 days of the adoption of this motion; And that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House by September 19, 2022

At 1:40 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.



Tina Miller
Committee clerk