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The Public Health Agency of Canada said a 2024 national security incident at an emergency stockpile warehouse was “not related in any way” to a previously reported loss of $20 million worth of medication.

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The statement was issued as a correction about a week after top officials testified at a House of Commons committee that was investigating the loss of the medication, The Canadian Press reported.

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The loss of the pharmaceutical products in December 2024 was previously blamed on a “temperature deviation” at a storage warehouse, PHAC said late last year after the $20-million loss showed up in the public accounts.

The agency did not disclose details at the time, including what types of pharmaceutical products were affected and how the deviation happened, “due to national security implications.”

Federal committee probing drug loss

Since then, a federal committee has been investigating the loss of the medication, which has been blamed on a freezer door that became ajar, and that some discussions have been held behind closed doors over national security concerns.

The public portion of last week’s meeting, however, saw the director general of PHAC’s emergency management branch questioned about “hostile foreign actors” who may have tried to access the facility after the incident.

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In response to Conservative MP Dan Mazier’s questioning, PHAC’s Stacey Mantha said they were “aware, through a vendor that we work closely with, that there was interest from a foreign national in obtaining access to our warehouse location.

“They did not,” Mantha said.

Mantha said PHAC did not believe the incidents were related, but that she would report back on which country the individual was from.

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Security incident reported to ‘lead’ agency

A PHAC spokesperson, however, told The Canadian Press that the attempt to access the warehouse was made a month before the pharmaceutical products were lost and that the incident was reported to a “lead security agency.

“PHAC received a request to access a warehouse in the context of equipment maintenance,” Anna Maddison told CP in a statement. “This access was denied and the inquiry was flagged to corporate security as a suspicious incident.

“As access was denied, the nationality of the individual seeking access was not further verified.”

The agency also said in the statement that it was unsure if the individual involved was a foreign national and that the freezers in question were different units than the ones involved in the $20-million loss.

— With files from The Canadian Press.

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