ArriveCan contractor Kristian Firth‘s summons to the bar of the House of Commons was the first punishment of its kind since 1913, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The last contractor named and shamed by MPs was jailed for months as a “prisoner of parliament” for being in contempt after he told them to go to hell. “It is my private business,” Richard Miller, president of the Diamond Light and Heating Company of Montréal, told the Commons Public Accounts Committee in 1913. “I claim to be an honourable man.”Ottawa Evening Citizen reported at the time Miller was a “prisoner of parliament.”“Miller declares it was his private business and not even the Parliament of Canada has a right to pry into his affairs,” wrote editors. “So he refuses to tell and becomes a prisoner of Parliament as a result. There can be little doubt of the right of Parliament to know.”“The offence is a grave one. The penalty should be severe.”The committee at the time uncovered evidence the Diamond Light board of directors approved a $41,926 (equivalent to $1.1 million in today’s dollar) payment to Miller to “get business” for the firm.Diamond Light was subsequently awarded a federal contract for lighthouse fixtures.Miller denied bribing any federal official — yet he refused to disclose his contacts within the Government of Canada or explain what became of the $41,926. Asked to name names, Miller said, “I am not prepared at the moment to answer questions.”Miller was taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms on February 18, 1913 and ordered to appear in the Commons three days later. He was silent as MPs demanded he identify his contacts.“What are we going to do, stand still and say to the witness, ‘You are supreme, the Public Accounts Committee has no power, no authority behind it,’” said then-Conservative MP William Middlebro.“Are we going to take that position? We have been defied at the bar of this House. We have nothing to do but pronounce such judgment as this House thinks proper.”Miller was immediately taken to the Carleton County Jail on a warrant from the Speaker of the House and held for contempt. He spent 106 days in custody until the Commons adjourned for summer recess. More recently, a federal employee was summoned to the bar of the House. On June 21 2021, then-Public Health Agency President Iain Stewart was subpoenaed over his refusal to release records regarding a security breach at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Stewart was the first employee cited for contempt of Parliament since 1891. He stood quietly for 27 minutes as MPs joined the Speaker of the House in reprimanding him for contempt. Stewart was not permitted to speak.
