Ex-CBSA employee's ArriveCan emails destroyed days after info request: Report

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Federal records show that ArriveCan emails were destroyed by Canada Border Services Agency’s former chief information officer days after an access-to-information request was made for them, according to Blacklock Reporter’s.

The Access to Information Act forbids destruction of records with a maximum penalty of a two-year jail term and a $100,000 fine.

Minh Doan, the ex-chief information officer for the CBSA, reported on Feb. 27, 2023, that he accidentally destroyed emails on his government-issued laptop.

That was after Doan was told of a request for “all records of communication” with GC Strategies Inc., a Woodlawn, Ont., contractor, now being investigated for fraudulent billing.

Doan said that he destroyed his laptop files accidentally.

“I lost all my data. I had to change laptops. On the allegation that I moved files around to intentionally delete emails to hide evidence, this is false,” testified Doan on June 5.

“I needed to change my laptop because the battery on my current one was failing. When transferring files from my old computer to my new one, files were corrupted and the emails were lost. I personally reported this to my team.”

Auditor General Karen Hogan said in a Feb. 7 report that numerous rules were broken when it came to ArriveCan.

“The bookkeeping I looked at is the worst I have seen,” Hogan testified Feb. 12 at the public accounts committee.

“We paid too much for this. Was it efficient and provided good value for money? That’s where I would tell you no. The government has paid too much.”

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