Records show that crucial emails related to the ArriveCan app were destroyed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) just days after an Access to Information Act request was submitted. Blacklock's Reporter says the Act prohibits the deliberate destruction of records, with penalties including up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.Minh Doan, the agency's then-chief information officer, reported on February 27, 2023, that emails on his government-issued laptop were lost in an accidental file corruption during a laptop transfer. Just days earlier, on February 23, Doan had been notified of a request to produce “all records of communication” with GC Strategies Inc., a contractor under police investigation for alleged fraudulent billing practices. Doan said, “I lost all my data,” explaining to a parliamentary committee that he “needed to change [his] laptop because the battery was failing.”The committee members, however, were skeptical. Liberal MP Majid Jowhari pressed Doan, asking if government emails had indeed been stored on a local folder drive where they were later corrupted. Conservative MP Larry Brock was even more blunt, stating, “You are very good at telling lies.”The email destruction incident raised further concerns in the wake of an Auditor General’s report that identified significant overspending and rule-breaking related to ArriveCan contracts. “The bookkeeping I looked at is the worst I have seen,” Auditor General Karen Hogan testified, noting that GC Strategies Inc. amassed $2.5 million in profits. “Was it efficient and provided good value for money? That’s where I would tell you no,” Hogan added, underscoring that the government paid excessively for the project.MPs questioned Doan on how many emails were lost and whether the deletions were intentional. Doan maintained his innocence, saying, “I have nothing to hide,” and clarified, “On the allegation that I moved files around to intentionally delete emails to hide evidence, this is false.”
Records show that crucial emails related to the ArriveCan app were destroyed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) just days after an Access to Information Act request was submitted. Blacklock's Reporter says the Act prohibits the deliberate destruction of records, with penalties including up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.Minh Doan, the agency's then-chief information officer, reported on February 27, 2023, that emails on his government-issued laptop were lost in an accidental file corruption during a laptop transfer. Just days earlier, on February 23, Doan had been notified of a request to produce “all records of communication” with GC Strategies Inc., a contractor under police investigation for alleged fraudulent billing practices. Doan said, “I lost all my data,” explaining to a parliamentary committee that he “needed to change [his] laptop because the battery was failing.”The committee members, however, were skeptical. Liberal MP Majid Jowhari pressed Doan, asking if government emails had indeed been stored on a local folder drive where they were later corrupted. Conservative MP Larry Brock was even more blunt, stating, “You are very good at telling lies.”The email destruction incident raised further concerns in the wake of an Auditor General’s report that identified significant overspending and rule-breaking related to ArriveCan contracts. “The bookkeeping I looked at is the worst I have seen,” Auditor General Karen Hogan testified, noting that GC Strategies Inc. amassed $2.5 million in profits. “Was it efficient and provided good value for money? That’s where I would tell you no,” Hogan added, underscoring that the government paid excessively for the project.MPs questioned Doan on how many emails were lost and whether the deletions were intentional. Doan maintained his innocence, saying, “I have nothing to hide,” and clarified, “On the allegation that I moved files around to intentionally delete emails to hide evidence, this is false.”
