OTTAWA -- The House of Commons Health Committee has voted unanimously to issue a formal summons to one of the World Health Organization’s senior advisers to testify about the group’s contested response to COVID-19.
During a virtual meeting on Thursday, committee members from all parties chose to escalate their ask for Canadian epidemiologist Dr. Bruce Aylward to appear by video conference – an invitation extended twice before.
Conservative Health Critic Matt Jeneroux said outside of Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, Alyward is a key witness to the judgments made internally at the WHO, which informed Canada’s decision-making on COVID-19.
In February, he was appointed to lead the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 by the WHO’s Director-General.
"We want to ask questions on some of the advice they gave related to: person-to-person transmission – which they originally said couldn’t happen, we now know it does – patrolling the borders; the use of masks; all advice they gave that has changed," said Jeneroux.
House of Commons' committees have the power to summon witnesses if they feel their evidence is prudent to an issue up for study. Their power does not extend outside of Canada, which means Aylward could be issued the summons when he sets foot on Canadian soil.
Summoning a witness isn’t a common procedural practice. More recently, the House of Commons Ethics committee summoned Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to appear following Cambridge Analytica’s global data breach.
Earlier in the month, Aylward abruptly cancelled his scheduled appearance before the committee which was followed up by another invitation from MPs to appear by video on April 29.
The WHO’s legal team proposed instead sending over written responses to questions posed by MPs.
"Over the past weeks, we have received requests for information from several different Governments, parliamentary bodies and officials. With a few to facilitating the work of the Committee, WHO stands ready to consider any list of technical questions which may be provided in writing by the Committee," reads an email from a WHO legal representative to Liberal MP and Chair of the Health Committee Ron McKinnon, obtained by CTVNews.ca
Jeneroux said committee members agreed this wouldn’t suffice.
"It’s imperative that we have the ability to ask him these questions, simply sending us a written statement is, in my opinion, one way communication from the WHO to us. There should be no reason why he shouldn’t be able to appear especially with the virtual setting we’ve gone to," Jeneroux said.
During the meeting on Thursday, NDP Health Critic Don Davies doubled down on this sentiment suggesting that while a written statement is "helpful," it pales in comparison to a live question-and-answer session.
"Dr. Aylward has done interviews in exactly that format with media outlets so clearly he has been willing and the WHO has been willing to make Dr. Aylward available to answer questions," said Davies. "I would also point out that Canada is a member of the WHO and I think that the WHO ought to operate with transparency and accountability to its members"
This comes amid mounting concerns about the WHO’s leadership navigating COVID-19 – with some arguing they were slow to act on initiating key public health provisions– and their relationship with and reliance on information out of China, where the outbreak originated. As reports surfaced about misinformation propagating from China, world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump argued the WHO should be more forthcoming in condemning their actions.
Trump has since announced a pause on WHO funding pending an investigation into their handling of the pandemic. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said it will be important to study the international response to the virus once it settles, he has repeated his team is focused on present day efforts to mitigate spread and has trust in global health authorities.
