Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) published a report on Monday stating that some parliamentarians collaborated with foreign governments to engage in “foreign interference activities.” Evidence the NSICOP gathered suggests that these unnamed parliamentarians engaged in interference activities as “semi-witting or witting participants.”
The report suggested that the parliamentarians engaged in foreign interference by:
- “Communicating frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain support from community groups or businesses which the diplomatic missions promise to quietly mobilize in a candidate’s favor;”
- “Accepting knowingly or through willful blindness funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies which have been layered or otherwise disguised to conceal their source;”
- “Providing foreign diplomatic officials with privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow Parliamentarians, knowing that such information will be used by those officials to inappropriately pressure Parliamentarians to change their positions;”
- “Responding to the requests or direction of foreign officials to improperly influence Parliamentary colleagues or Parliamentary business to the advantage of a foreign state; and”
- “Providing information learned in confidence from the government to a known intelligence officer of a foreign state.”
The report further acknowledged that criminal prosecution in respect of the aforementioned actions is unlikely, although the nature of such actions is often illegal. Additionally, the report urged parliamentarians to consider the ethical consequences of engaging in interference activities.
The report listed China and Russia as among the primary perpetrators of foreign interference in Canada. It also listed India, Pakistan and Iran as states that engaged in interference activities.
Relatedly, on May 3, Canada’s Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions concluded in its Initial Report that while foreign interference was present during the last two federal elections, it did not alter the final election results or the party that formed the government. The report stated that the integrity of the electoral outcomes was maintained, although interference did affect public perception and the electoral process itself. Nonetheless, the report identified significant concerns about the integrity of pre-vote processes.
