OTTAWA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mother and brother have been paid a total of 282,000 Canadian dollars (about 207,610 U.S. dollars) to appear at WE Charity events, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Thursday.
Trudeau's mother, Margaret Trudeau, spoke at approximately 28 events and was paid 250,000 Canadian dollars (183,970 U.S. dollars) in speaking honorariums between 2016 and 2020. His brother, Alexandre Trudeau, spoke at eight events from 2017 to 2018 and was paid approximately 32,000 Canadian dollars (23,550 U.S. dollars).
The charity group is at the center of a Canadian parliamentary ethics investigation into Trudeau.
Canadian Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion announced last Friday that he was investigating into a possible breach of federal conflict of interest act by Trudeau after his government's decision to award the WE Charity the contract to administer a summer student grant program of 900 million Canadian dollars (664 million U.S. dollars).
Trudeau and his Liberal government have been under fire since the charity was announced as the manager of the Canada Student Service Grant program last month, because of Trudeau's close relationship with the group.
Trudeau and his mother have appeared at a number of WE Day events, while Trudeau's wife Sophie, hosts a podcast for the group called "WE Well-being."
WE Charity has provided CBC with details of the speaking fees paid to both individuals for their participation at events between 2016 and 2020.
WE Charity announced last week that it was pulling out of administering the program.
Some 35,000 students and recent graduates have applied for the program, which connects them with volunteering opportunities in exchange for payments of between 1,000 and 5,000 Canadian dollars, depending on the number of hours worked.
WE Charity has said in the past that members of the Trudeau family don't receive fees or honoraria when they appear at WE events.
Earlier this week, opposition MPs on the House of Commons finance committee passed two motions meant to pry more information out of the Trudeau government about the process that led to the decision to task the WE Charity with administering the federal program. Enditem
