China, Hong Kong and Foreign Interference

Hill Times NEWS: Foreign interference bill passes, but online harms and citizenship bills left on hold until House comes back

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, told The Hill Times that she is frustrated with needing to wait longer for progress on Bill C-71.

“The issue around lost Canadians has been going on for literally decades. People have lost their status, families have been separated, some have been rendered stateless. It’s created significant, undue hardship for Canadian families, and this is primarily as a result of Canada’s archaic immigration citizenship laws,” said Kwan. “The Liberals, time and again, they say one thing and then they do another, and this is yet another example of them dragging their heels in fixing the lost Canadian issue.”

Kwan attempted to put forward a unanimous consent motion in the House on June 10 and on June 11 to urge parties to expedite passage of Bill C-71, but the motions did not receive unanimous consent.

“On the second occasion, I barely uttered my words before the Conservatives said, ‘No,’” said Kwan. “[Passing Bill C-71] is the right thing to do not only morally, but legally. It needed to be done and it should have been done.”

 

Global NEWS: RCMP commissioner urges ‘caution’ on naming alleged foreign state colluders

NDP MP Jenny Kwan is the latest federal politician to call for their identities to be revealed.

“I think we’ve got to be cautious about a right to know and the need to know,” said Duheme, who has read the unredacted version of the NSICOP report.

But Kwan says keeping the names secret damages the reputation of all members of the House of Commons, and the trust Canadians have in their elected officials.
The MP for Vancouver East raised a question of privilege and requested the matter be referred to a parliamentary committee to “explore options” on how to disclose who the parliamentarians are without “compromising national security.”

Kwan received a briefing from Canada’s spy agency that she was targeted by China over her criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses.

The RCMP commissioner warned that investigations could be compromised if names are revealed.

“If we start disclosing a lot of secret and top-secret information, there's tradecraft involved in that,” Duheme said.

“We have to be mindful about the impact we’ll have on the international partners who are supplying some of that information.”

 

Hill Times NEWS: Trust versus transparency

Conservative MP MICHAEL COOPER and New Democrat JENNY KWAN were among the MPs who pushed LeBlanc the hardest to explain why the government wasn’t giving Hogue what she had asked for. (Hogue’s commission has said it is in talks with the government over getting the unredacted documents.)

LeBlanc returned several times to the following points:

1. That Hogue already had everything she needed, in the opinion of the government. The information that had been withheld or redacted wasn’t relevant to the Commission.

(Kwan asked: Shouldn’t Hogue decide for herself which documents are relevant? Neither LeBlanc nor Drouin really refuted this suggestion, but Drouin assured the committee that the government had not withheld any information about a specific “incident” of foreign interference.)

National Post: Trudeau's security adviser plays down concealing documents from foreign interference inquiry

Opposition MPs remained unconvinced by Drouin’s testimony and proceeded to press Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc over why the government is withholding information from a commission that is working under a tight deadline to have a final report completed by Dec. 31.
“Ultimately, what we all want coming out of this inquiry is to have faith in the process and in the inquiry and its outcome. If documents are withheld, you are going to undermine and undercut the work of the commissioner,” said NDP MP Jenny Kwan.

LeBlanc reiterated that public servants, not politicians, were involved in deciding what information is considered a cabinet confidence.

 

Canadian Press: National security adviser defends cabinet confidence in foreign meddling probe

The opposition demanded the meeting to ask questions about the redactions and what else the government hasn't handed over.

"The commission is now asking for the unredacted cabinet documents in order to assist them with their work," NDP MP Jenny Kwan said.

"So if the commissioner is asking for this, if they did not feel that it was important to fulfil their mandate, they wouldn't ask for it."

Kwan said a big part of Hogue's mission is to determine what the government knew about foreign interference, when it knew about it and what it did to respond. She questioned why it wasn't up to the commissioner to decide what was relevant.

CPAC VIDEO: Scrum on June 19, 2024

SCRUMS
Canada's Population, Caribou Protection – June 19, 2024

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is asked about Statistics Canada's new numbers about Canada's population, which has now surpassed 41 million people in the first quarter of 2024.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and NDP deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice respond to questions about the federal government's plan to protect boreal caribou in Quebec.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan discusses the government's response to foreign interference concerns. (no interpretation)

Parliament VIDEO: Citing MPs privilege and calls on Parliament to identify those cited in NSICOP report

HANSARD: Foreign Interference and Alleged Reputational Harm to Members of Parliament

Outside this chamber, just yesterday, there were individuals shouting, questioning and jeering about who the traitors may be. Members of Parliament had to walk past these individuals on the members' way to the House to do their work. I believe we must find a way to disclose which MPs are knowingly, intentionally, wittingly or semi-wittingly engaging with foreign states or their proxies to undermine Canada's democratic processes and institutions. I believe this can be done in a way that does not compromise national security.

If there are no consequences for MPs who knowingly help foreign governments act against Canadian interests, we will continue to be an easy target. This will further erode the trust and faith Canadians have in our democratic processes. If allowed to continue, it will further impugn the integrity of the House. Revealing any member of Parliament, former or present, who is a willing participant in foreign interference activities would have the effect of deterring this kind of behaviour. Moreover, it would send a clear message to those foreign states that this cannot continue and that they will not be able to continue to use parliamentarians in this way. This will further reassure the public of the integrity of the House.

I strongly believe that the House should refer the matter to the procedure and House affairs committee. A possible way to deal with the issue would be for committee members to undergo the necessary security screening to examine the unredacted report and look into the allegations about parliamentarians who were “‘witting or semi-witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.” We could allow the named parliamentarians to be informed and to come before the committee as witnesses; we could then explore options on how to disclose the named parliamentarians without compromising national security or police investigations of the matter.

CBC: NDP MP says interference report has cast suspicion on all MPs, calls on House to release names

An NDP MP is calling on the House of Commons to find a way to release the names of the MPs implicated in a foreign interference report released earlier this month.

Jenny Kwan raised a question of privilege in the House on Tuesday, suggesting that the report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) had damaged the reputation of all sitting members.

That report alleged, based on intelligence reports, that some parliamentarians have been "semi-witting or witting" participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics. The unredacted version of the report did not specifically name any MP.

Kwan said that while the names of the MPs identified in the report remain secret, Canadians will lose trust in their elected officials.

"The report did not provide any names and as such all 338 members of this House, including those who have since left this chamber, are under a cloud of suspicion," Kwan said Tuesday.

She said the matter should be referred to the House procedures committee to explore possible ways of releasing the names from the report without compromising national security.

"In the face of such alarming revelation without knowledge of who the elected official is associated with each allegation, it means that all members are tainted and that the reputation of the whole House is put in question," Kwan said.

The Conservatives have been pressing the Liberals to release the names of the MPs in the report. But Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has insisted that it would violate national security law, even suggesting that he could be arrested for revealing top secret information.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn confirmed during a House committee meeting on Tuesday that if a government minister were to release the names of MPs in the NSICOP report, they would be charged with a crime.

 

Globe NEWS: NDP MP Kwan calls on Parliament to identify MPs implicated in foreign interference

New Democratic MP Jenny Kwan called on the House of Commons Tuesday to find a way to publicly name the politicians identified in a secret report as being compromised by hostile foreign states, saying the revelations have left all parliamentarians under a cloud of suspicion.

Ms. Kwan raised a question of privilege in the Commons, telling Speaker Greg Fergus that the only way to stop MPs and senators from betraying their country is to disclose their names.

A report earlier this month from the National Security Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), an oversight body set up by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017, revealed that some current and former parliamentarians have been unwittingly or wittingly collaborating with foreign states. NSICOP did not name the politicians in the redacted report released to the public.

“I believe we must find a way to disclose who are the MPs knowingly, intentionally, wittingly or semi-wittingly engaging with foreign states or their proxies to undermine Canada’s democratic processes and institutions,” Ms. Kwan told the House.

Ms. Kwan, who the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last year revealed has been targeted by the Chinese government, argued that the matter should be referred to the Procedure and House affairs committee to figure out how to reveal the names without compromising national security.

“If there continues to be no consequences for MPs who knowingly help foreign governments act against Canadian interests, we will continue to be an easy target,” she said.

As it stands, Ms. Kwan said all 338 MPs, including those who left the House, are “under a cloud of suspicion,” which, she added, means that “all members are tainted and that the reputation of the whole House is put in question.”

Since the NSICOP report largely identified China and India as the main players in foreign interference, Ms. Kwan said Chinese-Canadian or Indo-Canadian MPs are at “heightened risk of unjust reputational damage.”

“Revealing which members of Parliament, former or present, is a willing participant of foreign interference activities would not only have the effect of deterring this kind of behaviour, it will send a clear message to those foreign states that they will not be able to continue to use parliamentarians in this way,” Ms. Kwan said.