Key ArriveCan Emails Were Deleted as Part of Treasury Board Policy, Border Services President Says

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

The head of the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) has revealed that the agency deleted key emails about the $59.5 million ArriveCan app after the agency’s former chief information officer left.

During a government operations committee meeting on Oct. 22, Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie read out a communication from CBSA President Erin O'Gorman. The committee had asked the agency to present all emails and text messages of Minh Doan, former CBSA chief information officer.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, O'Gorman said Doan’s email account was deleted as part of the Treasury Board Secretariat’s service and digital directive. The CBSA also said it did not have access to text messages between Doan and former CBSA director Cameron MacDonald.

“Are Canadians to believe you can conduct shady business–action which may be not be favourable to the people of Canada, leave your job–and just have none of your actions follow you?” Kusie asked. “You can commit wrongdoing in your position as a public servant in Canada, leave your position, and the trail behind you is deleted.”

MPs on the government operations committee have been investigating the ArriveCan app, which was used to track the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers entering Canada. The auditor general found in a Feb. 13 report that Canadians did not receive value for the app and that the CBSA’s documentation, financial records, and controls were “so poor” that the precise cost of ArriveCan could not be determined.

Doan previously told MPs that he had accidentally deleted around 1,700 emails from his laptop when attempting to transfer files from his old computer to a new one in 2023. The emails concerned the awarding of sole-sourced contracts to ArriveCan contractors.

During the investigation, questions have been raised over who chose the company GC Strategies to work on ArriveCan. Doan had said 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.”

MacDonald testified that Doan was responsible for choosing GC Strategies but that Doan had threatened to blame MacDonald and former executive director Antonio Utano for the decision during a heated phone call. This came at a time when then-Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was upset with news reports about ArriveCan’s exorbitant costs .

MacDonald and Utano have also testified that Doan purposefully deleted thousands of ArriveCan-related emails as part of a coverup by CBSA managers. Doan has denied this, calling the allegation an attempt by government employees to blame him for their own actions, despite “growing evidence that demonstrates I had no relationship with any of the vendors in question.”