RCMP has ‘multiple investigations’ into ArriveCan, but few details

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OTTAWA – RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told MPs on Tuesday that his force has investigations underway probing the ArriveCan scandal, but declined to provide any details about them, including precisely what police are looking into and when they might have finished their investigating.

Testifying before the House of Commons committee on public accounts, Duheme confirmed there were several investigations connected to government procurement, but he said the RCMP would not be sharing any information about them.

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“The RCMP has multiple investigations underway into these matters. The principle of police independence is fully respected through all investigations,” he said.

Opposition MPs asked Duheme for details about whether anyone connected to ArriveCan had been arrested or charged, whether there had been search warrants served, information about who had been interviewed, and whether the RCMP is investigating government officials or contractors.

Duheme said he could not say anything about where the investigations were headed.

“We look at investigations whether there is merit to it and once we begin investigations we maintain the integrity of that investigation,” he said. “I’m not going to comment on the avenues that we are investigating.”

He also said it was impossible to know when the investigations would finish, because it is unclear where they will lead.

“When you interview one person, that might open 10 different people that you must interview afterwards,” he said.

ArriveCan was the mobile app the government required returning travellers to use at points during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor COVID testing, quarantine plans and vaccine status.

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Auditor General Karen Hogan found costs for the app had severely ballooned to roughly $60 million and that the app’s development showed “a glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices.”

GC Strategies, the contractor that received about a third of ArriveCan funding, was a two-person shop that appears to have acted as a middle man, linking the government to other IT contractors who could do the work.

Two senior public servants have been suspended as part of the investigation and GC Strategies has been suspended from bidding on government contracts.

The Mounties have confirmed they searched the home of Kristian Firth, one of two owners of GC Strategies. Firth was also called to be admonished at the bar of the House of Commons for refusing to answer questions from MPs at a committee.

Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn told MPs that the police went public about the search warrant served on Firth’s residence because the home was easy to see from a public road and it would have been clear to anyone walking past.

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Liberals on the committee asked Duheme about whether police had acted under political pressure. MP Iqra Khalid said the Conservatives had not only been pressuring the RCMP to open investigations, but also questioning the Mounties’ independence.

“It is becoming increasingly disturbing watching individuals question the operational independence of law enforcement in this country,” she said.

Duheme said the RCMP is not under any political influence and opens investigations when it believes there is merit to pursue them.

“Never once have we been subjected to interference or suggestions or pressure to do something. I can confirm that across 37 years of my career,” he said.

National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com

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