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Hill Times NEWS: Concern mounts over how immigration cuts will hit slow-moving program for Sudanese war refugees

 

NDP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, told The Hill Times that the Sudanese family reunification is “deficient” and “extremely restrictive.”

She said the regime for Sudanese family members stands in contrast to the speed and size of the program to bring Ukrainians fleeing the war to Canada.

“Community members are rightfully pointing out the stark difference of the political decision of the government to facilitate special immigration measures from one country versus that of others,” Kwan said. “How is it that the government can come in with an arbitrary cap of 3,250? And then when we’re talking about the Ukrainian situation, there was no cap.”

“You have to question: why do some countries with conflict situations have caps and others don’t?”

Kwan, speaking to The Hill Times prior to the unveiling of the new immigration levels plan, said a reduction would exacerbate the situation.

“I am very worried about that—that the government will choose political expediency over lives,” she said.

After the release of the new plan, Kwan said in a statement that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Ont.) announced the changes thinking that “scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around.”

 

Canadian Press NEWS: Canadian consensus on immigration under threat, but not gone: minister

 

The NDP has accused Trudeau's government of blaming immigrants for affordability problems that have put pressure on Canadian households.

"The prime minister thinks that scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around," NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said in a statement.

"The truth is, it won't."

 

Media Statement: Immigration Levels Plan

National Post NEWS: 'Not informed': Mélanie Joly tells inquiry she was kept in the dark for years on foreign interference

Earlier this week, current national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin said she had seen no evidence there are “traitors” in Parliament and that some of the conclusions in the NSICOP report made her “very uncomfortable.”

Mendicino said he believes there is a need to “clear the air” about NSICOP’s findings.

“I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence,” he told the inquiry.

“I think it is extremely important that we heed the opinion and the evidence that has been given to this commission, from Ms. Drouin, from CSIS, around the fact that… this NSICOP report has gone further than where they are at in the assessment of the intelligence,” he added.

CBC NEWS: Joly says she wasn't briefed on foreign interference for over a year

Under questioning by Sujit Choudhry, lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, Mendicino agreed that officials need to clear the air on foreign interference and parliamentarians.

"I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court, with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence, especially given its rapidly evolving nature," he said.

CBC NEWS: Bill Blair's former chief of staff rejects claims of political motive behind 54-day warrant delay

 

Sujit Choudhry, lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, asked why Astravas had asked for a briefing on Vanweenan lists in connection with that warrant when she would have seen similar lists attached to previous warrant applications handled by Blair's office. 

"Did you recognize any of the names on that list?" asked Choudhry. "As you can appreciate, I can't discuss the contents of a Vanweenan list or a specific warrant in this forum and I have spoken with the commission about this," responded Astravas.

Despite Astravas being peppered with questions about the delay in arranging for Blair to be briefed and to sign the warrant, by the end of her testimony, it still wasn't clear why it took so long. Two other warrants that were applied for during that time period were signed with delays of only a few days and Blair had a number of secure conversations with the director of CSIS during that period.

Astravas revealed that Blair was aware of the foreign interference investigation that triggered the warrant before CSIS submitted the application.

CBC NEWS: The scandal that shocked Parliament in the spring is slowly fading from memory

Separately, NDP MP Jenny Kwan had asked Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus to find that the suspicions raised by NSICOP's report constituted a question of privilege for all MPs. But on Monday, Fergus reported back that he could not find a prima facie breach of privilege.

Had Fergus ruled in Kwan's favour, she could have had the matter referred to a House committee for further study. But a House committee could still choose to pursue the matter of its own volition. If they were so motivated, MPs could try to design a process for investigating the allegations contained in the NSICOP report and deciding whether further action needs to be taken (up to and including expulsion).

But there's also no guarantee the House won't be dissolved for an election in the next few weeks or months. And political attention has clearly moved on — the NSICOP report has not been the subject of a single question in question period since MPs returned to Ottawa earlier this month.

Four months ago, Parliament suffered a paroxysm of suspicion and fear — perhaps for good reasons, given the allegations levelled against unnamed parliamentarians. But now, the intrigue seems like it might just fade away without any obvious resolution.

CBC NEWS: NDP reactivates TikTok account despite foreign interference risk and security concerns

 

The inquiry heard earlier this month from NDP member of Parliament Jenny Kwan, herself a target of foreign interference by China. She said she doesn't know how effective the government's TikTok ban can be, since it does not extend to personal devices.

"In her opinion, by engaging with the platform, Canadian politicians are providing TikTok with relevant data points and legitimizing a 'brainwashing machine' used to push PRC [People's Republic of China] narratives on a variety of subjects," Kwan's inquiry witness statement says.

Top secret CSIS note details major concerns with TikTok

According to a top secret briefing note drafted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and made public through the inquiry, CSIS warned in December 2022 that TikTok could be exploited by the Chinese government to bolster its influence and power in Canada.

The app, which is owned by the Chinese-based company ByteDance, can gather sensitive user data, CSIS said in the briefing note.

"Despite assurances to the contrary, personal data on TikTok users is accessible to China," CSIS said.

The app collects a wide range of user information, including biometric data like facial geometry, iris scans, voice patterns and fingerprints. TikTok also gathers information from a person's phone, including GPS location, browsing history and technical specifics like the device's serial number, CSIS said.

"While ByteDance claims that all TikTok user data is stored in the United States and Singapore— not in China — ByteDance's servers are all located in China," CSIS wrote.

• Half of Canadians support TikTok ban, with U.S. concerns 'trickling' north, poll suggests

CSIS also said TikTok censored topics related to democratic values and failed to remove 90 per cent of disinformation ads about the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

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

 

 

CBC: House won't hold priority debate on MPs implicated in foreign interference report: Speaker

Kwan argued that as long as the names of those politicians remain secret, Canadians will lose trust in their elected officials, undermining MPs' ability to do their jobs. "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 in June.

But Fergus ruled Monday that Kwan had failed to demonstrate "concretely" that keeping the names secret has impeded MPs' ability to carry out their duties.

"While I understand that findings presented in the NSICOP report are serious and appear to create suspicions about certain members, that in itself is not a basis to establish this question of privilege merits priority of consideration over all other House business," he said.

In order to be considered a "prima facie" violation of privilege, an issue must also be raised in a timely manner. In his ruling, Fergus pointed out that Kwan raised the issue two weeks after the NSICOP report was released.