(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office says it was unaware that International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan had taken steps earlier this year to be exempted from various security screening measures at Canadian airports before flying.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
The Press reported on Tuesday that Minister Sajjan was finally able to obtain a partial exemption after an unusual move by senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Transport.
This request submitted on January 26 was intended to allow him to “bypass security checks at Canadian airports on Canadian commercial flights when he is in possession of secret documents”.
But this request was rejected by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and gave rise to email exchanges between the Department of Transport, the Department of Foreign Affairs and this organization.
Finally, Minister Sajjan obtained a partial exemption in February: only Cabinet documents that are in a secure briefcase would not be subject to a security check.
Under security regulations at Canadian airports, a limited number of Canadians are exempt from passenger screening measures before boarding a plane, including the Prime Minister and his immediate family as well as the Governor General.
“The Prime Minister’s Office is not involved in this process,” it was reported Tuesday evening.
Since entering federal politics, Mr. Sajjan, who is of Sikh faith, has complained to some of his cabinet colleagues that he sometimes receives secondary searches of his turban after the alarm goes off when it passes through passenger checkpoints before they enter the secure area of the airport.
Discontent among other parties
The Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois and a security expert had the same message for Minister Sajjan: no one is above the law.
“There are elected Sikhs in the Conservatives and the NDP, and approximately 500,000 Canadians are of the Sikh faith. This is a free pass for an elected Liberal who obtains privileges that his other colleagues who are in the same situation do not have,” commented Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus.
Again, we hear about Minister Sajjan for the wrong reasons. It is clear and clear that there should be no special privileges or any preferential treatment for screening at airports, whether you are a minister, an MP or a citizen.
Kristina Michaud, Bloc Québécois MP
Security consultant Michel Juneau-Katsuya argued that Minister Sajjan is sending a very bad message to the population. “Elected officials must lead by example. No one is above the law. The idea that he should be exempted because he is carrying secret documents does not pass the mark,” he said.