Skip to main content

ETHI Committee Meeting

Notices of Meeting include information about the subject matter to be examined by the committee and date, time and place of the meeting, as well as a list of any witnesses scheduled to appear. The Evidence is the edited and revised transcript of what is said before a committee. The Minutes of Proceedings are the official record of the business conducted by the committee at a sitting.

For an advanced search, use Publication Search tool.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of this publication, please contact us at accessible@parl.gc.ca.

Previous day publication Next day publication

Minutes of Proceedings

44th Parliament, 1st Session
Meeting 113
Thursday, April 18, 2024, 11:02 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
Webcast
Presiding
John Brassard, Chair (Conservative)

• Rhéal Éloi Fortin for René Villemure (Bloc Québécois)
• Richard Martel for Larry Brock (Conservative)
• Hon. Robert Oliphant for Pam Damoff (Liberal)
Library of Parliament
• Alexandra Savoie, Analyst
• Maxime-Olivier Thibodeau, Analyst
Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
• Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner
Pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), the committee resumed consideration of the Main Estimates 2024-25: Vote 1 under Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, Vote 1 under Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Vote 1 under Office of the Senate Ethics Officer, Votes 1 and 5 under Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada, referred to the committee on Thursday, February 29, 2024.

It was agreed, — That the committee observe a moment of silence to mark four years since the Nova Scotia mass shooting.

The Chair called Vote 1 under Offices of the Information

Caroline Maynard made a statement and answered questions.

On motion of Matthew Green, it was agreed, — That the Committee send a letter to the Department of National Defence recommending that the Department comply to the order of the Information Commissioner within a month of the reception of the letter.

Questioning of the witness resumed.

Matthew Green gave notice of the following motion:

That, in relation to the testimony provided by Google during their committee appearance on December 13, 2023, in which Ms. Jeanette Patell stated that Project Nimbus is not directed at highly sensitive or classified military workloads that are relevant to weapons or intelligence services, and recent reports that the Israeli military is using artificial intelligence for surveillance and to identify targets for air strikes in Gaza, and contracts signed in December 2024 between Google and the Israeli ministry of defence for the further build-out of the Google Cloud platform, the committee write to Google and seek clarification on their previous testimony and information on whether Project Nimbus or other Google Cloud services are being used to support AI-targeted air strikes in Gaza; that Google respond in writing within 15 days of receiving the committee's letter; and that, should Google fail to meet this deadline, the committee request the following people to appear before it at the earliest opportunity: Sabrina Geremia, VP and country managing director for Google Canada, and Sam Sebastian, VP and country manager for Google Cloud

Questioning of the witness resumed.

The committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to committee business.

It was agreed, — That the proposed budget in the amount of $2,000, for the study of Main Estimates 2024-25: Vote 1 under Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, Vote 1 under Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Vote 1 under Office of the Senate Ethics Officer, Votes 1 and 5 under Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada, be adopted.

On motion of Iqra Khalid, it was agreed, — That the committee write a follow-up letter to the Department of Industry, asking for more clarity on the timelines in relation to the national security review of the Tik Tok application.

At 12:10 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.



Nancy Vohl
Clerk of the committee