Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is in hot water again over the same company he once co-owned, Global Health Imports, for claiming it was Indigenous-owned while bidding on federal contracts.
Boissonnault, who had previously identified as Indigenous at the time of bidding, has recently stated that he is white.
The latest information regarding GHI’s bids comes while parliamentary hearings review the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, a federal procurement program designed to boost the Indigenous economy.
The hearings are part of an inquiry launched in response to suspicions that the program was being exploited by companies falsely claiming they were Indigenous-owned businesses.
“Global Health is a wholly owned Indigenous and LGBTQ Company,” wrote Boissonnault’s former business partner, Stephen Anderson, in a bid by Global Health Imports Corporation for a contract to supply face masks June 2020.
The bid was obtained through an access-to-information request filed by National Post.
This marks the second scandal that both Boissionault and Anderson have become embroiled in over GHI’s dealings with the federal government, with the previous one being known as the “Other Randy” scandal.
In a separate bid submission to Public Services and Procurement Canada for a contract to supply face shields, Anderson again called the company “Aboriginal” twice.
According to the federal government’s regulations, potential suppliers are only permitted to identify as “Aboriginal” if they meet the listed eligibility qualifications.
The primary requirement being that a company be at least 51% owned by people who are citizens of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities. Additionally, any member of a group affiliated with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which represents Indigenous people living off-reserve may qualify.
Since Boissonnault co-owned the company with Anderson in a 50-50 split, both would have to be Indigenous for GHI to meet the program’s criteria.
Indigenous suppliers are to be registered on an official list as well, which GHI had not completed either, according to a government spokesperson.
Boissonnault has made contradictory statements about his identity and heritage in the past, including in an interview with the online LGBTQ magazine Xtra, where he was quoted as saying he was “a white, cisgender member of the community.”
Boissonnault was among nine MPs in the Liberals party’s Indigenous caucus in 2016 during his first term, however, he was not included in a Liberal press release identifying the eight Indigenous Liberals who won their seats in the September 2015 federal election.
Additionally, Bossonnault told the Canadian Press that he was “non-status adoptive Cree” in 2017 and that his heritage could be traced back to a maternal great-grandmother in the family that adopted him.
Boissonnault routinely referenced his great-grandmother in Parliament before being voted out in the 2019 election, however, upon winning the Edmonton Centre seat in 2021, his name was removed from the Liberal Indigenous caucus list.
Indigenous employers have skyrocketed to the tune of a 40% increase since the Trudeau government introduced the PSPC program.
Over 800 new businesses registered for enrollment in the Indigenous Business Directory over the past year, a database which lets eligible companies participate in the federal government’s procurement strategy.
The spike in enrollment led to some community leaders fearing that the government’s overly broad criteria left the door wide open for exploitation.
For example, the database which held only 1,900 businesses last year, has 2,700 as of May 2024.
The Trudeau government promised to have at least 5% of the total value of federal contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses in 2024.
The program’s total value has increased to $862 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, more than four times its worth five years ago, at $170 million.
Boissonaul did not respond to True North’s request for comment.
