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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: 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.)

Media Statement: World Refugee Day 2024

In June, New Democrats successfully blocked changes to Canada’s asylum system that the Liberals tried to sneak into an omnibus budget bill. The Liberal proposal would have made it more difficult to seek asylum in Canada and easier for the government to deport asylum seekers. This is plain wrong.

New Democrats also pushed this government to take more refugees from the Gaza and Sudan and reunite family members. Unacceptable delays and bureaucratic barriers in both programs have prevented family members of Canadians from reuniting in safety.

New Democrats believe we all need to work together to find solutions to root causes of the global forced displacement crisis and ensure Canada remains a safe place for those fleeing persecution and seeking a better life by investing in social housing, health care and newcomer services.

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.

 

CTV News: New Canadian citizenship rules for those born abroad could be delayed until December

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan helped draft the bill alongside the Liberals. She attempted to push it through by asking for unanimous consent from MPs, but Conservatives voted against it twice.

"I've talked to family members who've been separated from their loved ones because of this unjust law that Conservatives brought in 15 years ago," the Vancouver East NDP MP said last month. "I've talked to family members where their children are deemed stateless, lost in the system, because of this unjust, punitive, unconstitutional law."

If the federal government is not given another court extension before Bill C-71 passes, it may be up to the immigration minister himself to decide individual citizenship cases.

"If it doesn't come through we're sort of in no man's land," Miller said before Wednesday's court extension. "Basically, it's my discretion deciding who's Canadian or not. Obviously, that shouldn't be up to the discretion of a minister."

Anyone affected by the 2009 change will be able to apply online for a Canadian citizenship certificate. The government also has a digital tool that can help you find out if you are Canadian.

CBC: Court grants government another extension to fix unconstitutional citizenship law

So-called "lost Canadians" will have to wait longer to obtain their right to citizenship now that a court has granted the federal government more time to fix legislation it ruled was unconstitutional.

The courts initially gave the federal government until today to replace legislation that prevents Canadians born abroad from passing on their citizenship to children also born abroad.

In May, the Liberals introduced Bill C-71, which introduced sweeping changes to Canada's citizenship laws. The government says the legislation addresses the concerns of the court.

But the Liberals did not get the bill through the House of Commons before it rose for the summer on Wednesday. MPs will not return to the Commons until mid-September.

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.

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

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

Canadian Press: Court-imposed deadline to pass new citizenship law approaching next week

Last year, the court found that Canadians born abroad received a lower class of citizenship than those born in Canada, and it gave the government until June 19 to correct the problem.

Miller introduced a bill on May 23 that would allow Canadians who were born abroad to pass their citizenship down to their children, and asked the court for a deadline extension the following day.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan made two attempts to push the bill through the legislative process more quickly by asking for the unanimous consent of MPs, but Conservatives voted no both times.

"We have no time to waste and we have to get the law passed," Kwan said at a press conference Tuesday.

In 2009, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper's government changed the law so that Canadian parents who were abroad could not pass down their citizenship, unless their child was born in Canada.

Those who've not had access to citizenship rights as a result of the amendments are known as "Lost Canadians."

Kwan said the House of Commons immigration committee already studied the issue of Lost Canadians when it considered a Senate public bill brought forward by Conservative Sen. Yonah Martin last year.

"We spent over 30 hours at committee debating Bill S-245," said Kwan.

That bill was heavily amended by Kwan and Liberal members of the committee to grant citizenship to a broader group of people, but the Conservatives felt the changes were too drastic and have not brought it back to the House for third reading.