On May 16th, at the 9th Annual TI Canada Toronto Day of Dialogue, we were proud to present our first Canadian Integrity Award! The award is intended to recognize Canadians who are making a difference in promoting accountability and transparency, and fighting corruption in Canada. In the future, TI Canada aims to establish an official application process and selection committee for the award. For its inaugural year however, TI Canada saw fit to present the award to former FINTRAC Deputy Director, CRA Director General, and retiring TI Canada Board Member, Mr. Denis Meunier. Please read the prepared speech on the award and the selection of Mr. Meunier from TI Canada’s Chair and President, Paul Lalonde.
TI Canada Executive Director (left), Denis Meurnier (centre left), TI Canada Chair and President, Paul Lalonde (centre right), TI Managing Director, Patricia Moriera (right)
Presentation of the inaugural Canadian Integrity Award by Transparency International Canada Chair and President, Paul Lalonde to Denis Meunier on Thursday May 16, 2019 at the 9th Annual TI Canada Toronto Day of Dialogue:
Now, to the special presentation we would like to close this day out with. Today we discussed many challenges that Canada and the world face on combatting corruption. Despite constant efforts and progress, the scale of corruption and the effort to make change can sometimes weigh down even the most passionate among us. Fighting corruption is not easy. Our foes want to keep things the way they are to profit from corruption and some just shrug their shoulders and say ‘that’s just the way it is.’
But some of our amazing volunteers just refuse to accept that. Notwithstanding the daunting nature of the task and the seemingly remote prospect of success, they push through, persevere and make all kinds of sacrifices to further our mission. And it’s about time TI Canada recognized these efforts and sacrifices.
In that spirt, I would like to announce that TI Canada, at this year’s Day of Dialogue, and going forward, will recognize Canadians who are putting in the effort. Canadians who see our challenges and don’t just say something should be done, but take action, showing that any one of us can take action to combat corruption and make our country better. We want to recognize these Canadians with a Canadian Integrity Award!
In the future, this recognition will come through a formalized process. We want to invite Canadians to nominate their fellow citizens for recognition and have an independent panel review submissions to select an award recipient who we can honour here at the Day of Dialogue.
This year, we are kick starting the initiative to recognize someone who has put in an incredible amount of personal effort to increase transparency even before he was formally involved with TI Canada. This year, we are recognizing Mr. Denis Meunier as the first recipient of the Canadian Integrity Award.
Denis is a member of TI Canada’s Board of Director’s who will be stepping down as of our Annual General Meeting in June. Even before Denis joined the Board, he was our lead volunteer expert for our work on promoting beneficial ownership transparency. Before joining our small team at TI Canada, Denis had a distinguished career as a Deputy Director of the FINTRAC and Deputy Director responsible for criminal investigations at the Canada Revenue Agency. With his technical knowledge in hand, Denis brought his expertise to the International Monetary Fund as a technical expert, the University of Ottawa as lecturer, and to a number of very fortunate organizations as a consultant.
Denis came to TI Canada as a technical expert to help advise on our first report about beneficial ownership transparency, ‘No Reason to Hide: Unmasking the Anonymous Owners of Canadian Companies and Trusts’. I would like to believe that we were the outlet that Denis was looking for, as since that day I’ve been included on the massive flurry of e-mails Denis has sent out to our beneficial ownership working group, flagging new angles to investigate, legislation we should review, and providing his invaluable insights. TI Canada is a small organization. We have a small staff and budget, but punch well above our weight thanks to our dedicated volunteers, of which we have a number in our beneficial ownership working group. Most are here and I of course thank all of them. But I’m sure I’m not speaking out of turn by saying if it was not for Denis’ knowledge, dedication, and passion, TI Canada would simply not be as far as we are on the path towards anti-money laundering improvements and helping Canada to establish a publicly accessible registry of beneficial ownership.
As Chair, I have also very much appreciated his contributions to our board and more generally to our governance. Your always measured voice and wisdom will be missed Denis.
All who have dealings with Denis are struck by his fairness, keen intelligence, and kindness. He’s quite simply the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet.
Following a successful career of hard work, Denis is certainly entitled to start to truly earn his retirement. I know we will still have his advice, but we won’t abuse our requests for ideas. But before you take your foot off the gas a little, this award is to recognize you as a model Canadian working to make this country more transparent.