Secret files reveal CSIS warnings over foreign interference

OTTAWA Newly released secret documents show the country’s top intelligence agency was concerned there are “no consequences” for foreign interference in Canadian democracy, as a parliamentary committee calls on the federal government to strengthen criminal laws to crack down on the threat that is the focus of an upcoming public inquiry.

The recommendation came Tuesday as the Star obtained a trove of documents from the national spy agency under access-to-information law.

They show the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) repeatedly included its concern about a lack of consequences for foreign state interference in material prepared for briefings to top government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“State actors are able to conduct (foreign interference) successfully in Canada because there are no consequences, either legal or political,” said a CSIS document prepared for a briefing with Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser and dated Sept. 9, 2022.

“(Foreign interference) is therefore a low-risk and high-reward endeavour.”

Another document, prepared for a CSIS briefing with Trudeau and dated Oct. 26, 2022, also said there are “no consequences” for foreign interference in Canada.

The heavily redacted, “top secret” documents provide a window into the national intelligence agency’s growing worries about state-sponsored foreign interference in Canada over the past four years, with Beijing’s alleged activities a foremost concern. They detail how CSIS has tried to respond by delivering “defensive briefings” to numerous politicians and staffers, and how the agency perceived alleged foreign interference activity targeting federal, provincial and municipal governments, politicians from various parties, academics and people in diaspora communities.

CSIS had not responded to questions about the documents by Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, JeanSébastien Comeau, said in a written statement Tuesday that the Liberal government has set up “a series of robust mechanisms to combat foreign interference” since it took power in 2015. the government’s existing pledge to create a national registry of foreign agents, Comeau said it is “always looking at ways to further strengthen” how to confront other states’ interference in Canadian democracy.

“We will take the time to get it right, as we will also take the time to closely examine the recommendations made by the House ethics committee.”

Comeau was referring to a report on foreign interference that was published earlier on Tuesday by the House of Commons ethics committee. Prompted by accounts of China targeting MPs and their families abroad, the report included 22 recommendations to improve how Canada responds to foreign interference. Among other things, it called on Ottawa to direct CSIS to more regularly release “relevant information” to the public, improve ways for “victims of harassment or intimidation” by foreign entities to report this activity, and ensure CSIS provides “more training and information” to MPs and bureaucrats on the threats and tactics of foreign interference.

The committee also called for the government to add penalties to the Criminal Code “that cover all foreign interference operations, including harassment and intimidation by a foreign state.”

The CSIS documents the Star obtained through an access-to-information request made clear how CSIS has prepared to communicate its concerns about foreign interference — particularly from the authoritarian regime in Beijing — to senior government officials.

A national security assessment, prepared by CSIS and dated Oct. 31, 2022, said foreign interference “networks are active throughout Canada, and at all levels of government. Many elements of these networks are deeply embedded in Canada’s political and social fabric.”

Another top-secret document, labelled “talking points” for a briefing of federal cabinet ministers and dated Feb. 17 of this year, described China as “Canada’s most significant foreign interference threat actor,” with activities “at all levels of government.” The document said China targets “influential Canadians” in an effort to get public support for the Communist government in Beijing, while it also tries to “control Chinese diaspora and Chineselanguage media” to propagate Beijing’s messages and “limit political dissent.”

CSIS also said, in a document prepared in February 2021 to brief the prime minister, that some foreign states are “monitoring the views expressed by students and academics, and in some cases threatening retribution if those views are deemed inappropriate.”

Earlier this year, a political firestorm erupted over alleged Chinese meddling in Canadian politics, with media reports on leaked intelligence appearing from Global News and the Globe and Mail. While officials in Ottawa, including top security figures, stressed there is no evidence that the results of the past two federal elections were compromised, the Liberal government appointed former governor general David Johnston to look into and report on the intelligence published in the media.

Johnston’s first report, released in May, concluded that foreign interference is a growing concern, even as he determined specific instances reported in the media were less concerning than the stories suggested. And while he repeated public statements from government that there is no basis to doubt the results of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, Johnston concluded there were “serious shortcomings” in how intelligence is shared from agencies like CSIS through the government.

Johnston later resigned under allegations from opposition MPs that he was too personally close with Trudeau to be trusted. At the time of his resignation, Johnston said the partisan atmosphere that surrounded his work undermined his efforts to build trust in Canada’s democratic institutions. He also rejected a public inquiry, something opposition MPs demanded.

The government has since called a public inquiry to study the threat of foreign interference.