OTTAWA — The office of former foreign affairs minister John Baird said Monday neither he nor the Canadian government were consulted on a 2014 seminar invitation list that included convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Baird’s name appears in documents related to Epstein recently released by the U.S. Justice Department, including work-related guest lists and a document inviting Epstein to a one-week seminar in Austria that was supported by the foreign ministries of Canada and Norway.
That document appears to be signed by then-minister Baird, by Norway’s foreign minister of the day Borge Brende, and by the heads of the International Peace Institute and the Salzburg Global Seminar.
Epstein’s name does not appear on a list of participants for the 2014 event.
“To the best of his recollection, Mr. Baird does not believe that either the government of Canada or his office, in his capacity as minister of foreign affairs, was consulted on the seminar’s invitation list,” said a statement sent by Michael Ceci, Baird’s chief of staff at the law firm Bennett Jones.
The statement said the invitations were managed independently by the International Peace Institute, and approval for the guest list was not sought from the Canadian government. It also said the invitation was a “standard form letter distributed to hundreds of recipients and was not individually signed.”
The statement said Baird only became aware in 2020 that Epstein had previously made charitable contributions to the International Peace Institute. It said Baird has had no involvement with the organization since leaving his role as foreign affairs minister in February 2015.
“To be clear and categorical, Mr. Baird had never heard of the individual referred to in your inquiry at the time and had no reason to believe he had ever met him,” the statement said. “Accordingly, Mr. Baird had no knowledge whatsoever of the individual’s 2008 conviction in South Florida.”
That conviction, part of a plea deal Epstein made in an initial case against him, saw the one-time investment banker convicted of soliciting prostitution with a minor. That case ultimately led to civil lawsuits against him by victims, and further investigations as more victims came forward. In 2019, he was charged with sex trafficking of minors and later that year was found dead in his New York jail cell.
The U.S. Justice Department has announced the release of some 3.5 million pages of redacted documents related to Epstein.
The documents were disclosed under a law U.S. President Donald Trump enacted in response to mounting public pressure that compels the U.S. government to release information it collected on Epstein.
Baird was also named in other documents, including guest lists for a World Economic Forum annual meeting in 2013 and a working dinner on the Middle East in 2014, though none of them show any connection to Epstein.
“None of the documents provided indicate that Mr. Baird engaged in any wrongdoing or had any foreknowledge of this individual’s criminal conduct,” said the statement from Baird’s office.
