The Liberal government is asking the Federal Court to prohibit disclosure of documents related to the firing of two scientists at Canada’s highest-security laboratory.
House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota reprimanded Public Health Agency of Canada head Iain Stewart on Monday over his repeated refusal to provide the unredacted documents to MPs on the Canada-China relations committee.
Court records say Stewart advised the attorney general Sunday in a notice under the Canada Evidence Act that sensitive or potentially injurious information would be disclosed should the documents be given to the committee.
After considering the matter, the attorney general filed an application in Federal Court requesting an order confirming the documents should remain under wraps.
The filing, which says a public hearing may be necessary, names Rota as the respondent in the matter.
It says next steps will be decided by the Federal Court judge assigned to the case.
Opposition parties joined forces earlier this month to pass a motion in the Commons ordering PHAC to turn over all unredacted documents related to the firing of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her biologist husband, Keding Cheng, who were escorted off the premises of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in 2019 and were officially fired in January of this year.
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