Government Official Directed Accounting Firm to Work With GC Strategies on ArriveCan

A smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app is seen in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

A key figure at the centre of the ArriveCan scandal encouraged a major accounting firm to work with GC Strategies, a two-man company that received $19.1 million to work on the controversial application.

According to KPMG Partner and National Service Leader in Cybersecurity Hartaj Nijjar, the company was contacted by former Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) official Antonio Utano, who encouraged it to work under GC Strategies on the app. Mr. Utano was suspended from his government position without pay in January over allegations of misconduct related to ArriveCan.

When asked by Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné why KPMG, which has 10,000 employees, chose to subcontract under GC Strategies to work on the ArriveCan app, Mr. Nijjar responded that the company follows “rigorous client acceptance processes.”

“At the time, GC Strategies was an organization that had been working in the government sector for a number of years successfully and they had a large government contract,” Mr. Nijjar said. “And our checks did not indicate any adverse implications of engaging with GC Strategies.”

Auditor General Karen Hogan’s Feb. 12 report on ArriveCan, which was used to track the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers entering Canada, found that contracting and management practices around the app were improper and key records were inexplicably missing. The report also found there was little documentation to show why GC Strategies was chosen for the project.

MPs on various committees have also raised questions about who exactly at the CBSA chose GC Strategies to work on the application. The CBSA’s former Chief Technology Officer Minh Doan said in November 2023 that he was not responsible for choosing GC Strategies, but that he “chose a strategic direction that met our urgent needs for speed and agility at the time.”

Later on, former CBSA employees Mr. Utano and Cameron MacDonald said that Mr. Doan was responsible for choosing the company, and that he also threatened to blame them for the decision. Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Utano were both suspended from their government positions without pay in January over allegations of misconduct related to ArriveCan, and claimed this was an attempt to silence their criticism.

Mr. Doan is also accused of taking unusual steps that led to the deletion of 1,700 emails related to the ArriveCan app, which he said was done accidentally. The CBSA is conducting an internal investigation on ArriveCan that involves attempting to retrieve the deleted emails.

The RCMP has also confirmed it is currently investigating the ArriveCan app.