Hill Times NEWS: Feds have ‘duty to protect and warn’ parliamentarians from threats ‘in any form,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) testified at the inquiry on Sept. 18, alongside Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington–Halton Hills, Ont.) and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. She told The Hill Times that regardless of party or position in Parliament, “the truth of the matter is we’re all exposed.”

Kwan said that all of her fellow witnesses that day also exemplified that threats to parliamentarians, their staff, and their families “could come in any way, in any form, and on any platform.”

Kwan said those threats could take the form of the malware attacks targeting members of IPAC, or more personal threats, including those aimed at Kwan or Chong and their families.

Last year, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) informed Chong that he and his family were targets of the Chinese government over his 2021 motion condemning Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide. That information was only shared with Chong in May 2023 after the federal government confirmed reporting by The Globe and Mail about a leaked CSIS report detailing Beijing’s efforts to intimidate him and his family.

The following August, Global Affairs said it believed Chong had also been the target of a foreign disinformation campaign, which it suspected was directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The heavily redacted report published on June 3 concluded that some elected officials—including a former MP connected with a foreign intelligence officer—are “semi-witting or witting” actors in foreign interference.

On June 10, the Bloc Québécois introduced a successful motion requesting that the terms of reference for the Hogue inquiry be further expanded to include the allegations raised in the NSICOP report.

The commission said it would work to “shed light on the facts” discussed in the NSICOP report. Still, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue has since said the inquiry would be unable to disclose the identities of the implicated parliamentarians.

However, Kwan said she firmly believes that more follow-up and accountability are needed to disperse the “cloud of suspicion” the report has cast over every parliamentarian.

“This undermines not just me as an MP, but the entire institution, and I think those who want to sow chaos and disrupt our democratic institutions want that,” Kwan said. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

While her privilege question called for PROC to study the report, Kwan also said conducting that study in tandem with a parallel Senate committee would be beneficial.

“I believe that is a path forward to address this cloud of suspicion,” Kwan said. “I think in that process we can balance transparency, accountability, and due process.” On Sept. 23, House Speaker Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) ruled that he did not find that Kwan’s intervention met the threshold of a violation of privilege.

On Sept. 23, House Speaker Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) ruled that he did not find that Kwan’s intervention met the threshold of a violation of privilege.

Click this link to read the full news story:

https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2024/09/25/feds-have-duty-to-protect-and-warn-parliamentarians-from-threats-in-any-form-says-ndp-mp-jenny-kwan/435294/

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I call on the Canadian government to take urgent and decisive action to:

1. Strongly condemn the Hong Kong government’s NSL and the targeting of overseas activists, including Canadian citizens and residents, and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong.

2. Impose targeted sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations and the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms.

3. Stop according any special rights or diplomatic status to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade offices in Canada.

4. Expedite the processing of PR application for Hong Kongers fleeing political persecution and to automatically renew their work and study permit in the meantime.