(Ottawa) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) carried out a search on Tuesday at the home of Kristian Firth, one of two associates of GC Strategies. The company has been in the news for several months due to its role in the scandal ArriveCAN. Mr. Firth must also testify before the House of Commons on Wednesday, an extremely rare procedure which has not been used since 1913.
The RCMP confirmed The Press that the International and Sensitive Investigations unit carried out the search at an address west of Ottawa which turns out to be the one where Mr. Firth and his family reside. The police force clarified that it was not linked to the investigation opened in the wake of the scandal on ArriveCAN. No charges have been filed at this time.
The International and Sensitive Investigations group fights international corruption, domestic corruption and political investigations, war crimes and torture, and cybercrime.
This news comes as Mr. Firth is called to the bar of the House of Commons to answer questions from elected officials. His testimony before the government operations committee left MPs wanting more last month. He notably refused to name the officials with whom he had developed the criteria for one of the contracts for the development of the application ArriveCAN which his company subsequently obtained without a call for tenders, under the pretext of the investigation opened by the RCMP.
His company GC Strategies had obtained the largest share of contracts for ArriveCAN, or 19.1 million, according to a report from the Auditor General. Mr Firth had disputed this figure in his last testimony, but still admitted that his two-person company had pocketed 2.5 million thanks to these contracts.
The app ArriveCAN developed in the emergency of the pandemic was used to check the vaccination status of travelers arriving in the country. It is still used in major airports across the country for customs and immigration declarations.
It is extremely rare for the House of Commons to call a citizen to testify at the bar. The last time was in 1913. A man named RC Miller was summoned by the House after refusing to answer questions from the Public Accounts Committee. He appeared there twice, but did not provide the requested information. He was then found guilty of contempt and imprisoned until the end of parliamentary proceedings approximately four months later.