III. The process
Following our appointment, we retained a third party, Investigative Solutions Network Inc., to assist us to locate publicly accessible information.
In the course of this Investigation, we interviewed the individuals that attended Mr. Dattani’s June 17, 2022 interview for the position of Chief Commissioner of the CHRC, which consisted of five members of the Selection Committee and one scribe. We also interviewed Mr. Dattani, who was represented by counsel, Muneeza Sheikh and Saba Khan of Muneeza Sheikh Law Professional Corporation, throughout this Investigation.
Each of the individuals interviewed were advised: (i) of the importance of being honest in the course the Investigation; and (ii) to keep the contents of our interview(s) confidential until the conclusion of our mandate, so as to maintain the integrity of our review.
Each person interviewed was provided with an opportunity to review the summary that we prepared from the notes of our interviews with them so that they could revise or provide any additional information they felt was necessary.
In advance of our interview with Mr. Dattani, we provided the following written information to Mr. Dattani’s counsel, which included: (i) a summary of our mandate; (ii) detailed particulars of allegations against Mr. Dattani; (iii) the Media Reports we had reviewed; and (iv) publicly-accessible information we had obtained (including publicly accessible materials which were sent unsolicited to us by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (“CIJA”) on July 22, 2024), which we deemed relevant to our mandate.
The above-noted information was provided in advance, so that Mr. Dattani could prepare to discuss these matters with us. We requested that Mr. Dattani provide us with any additional information that he would like us to consider in advance of our interview. We also requested that Mr. Dattani provide us with any of the following documents that may be relevant to the Investigation in advance of our interview, which specifically included:
- copies of any academic articles written by Mr. Dattani;
- copies of any presentations given by Mr. Dattani;
- a copy of Mr. Dattani’s PhD thesis;
- a list of any and all of Mr. Dattani’s speaking engagements or conferences, including the names and topics of the speaking engagements or conferences;
- copies of any and all materials Mr. Dattani deleted from the internet or social media, including but not limited to Twitter (now referred to as X),Footnote 2 LinkedIn, etc.
While Mr. Dattani was able to provide us with some of the materials and information requested, we were advised that he could no longer access certain materials given the passage of time and as those materials would have been stored on earlier corporate emails and accounts that he used while at the School of Oriental and African Studies (“SOAS”), University of London.
We then met with Mr. Dattani and his counsel to obtain any further information from him in respect of the matters relating to our mandate. In addition to the information provided in his interview with us, Mr. Dattani, through counsel, provided us with supplementary materials (the “Supplementary Materials”) for our review and consideration.
We reviewed and considered all of the information provided to us by Mr. Dattani and others, as well as the information and documentation referenced below. When making our factual findings, we did so on a balance of probabilities, which is the standard applied in civil matters. In other words, we determined whether something was more likely than not to have occurred.
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