Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser has revealed the dates of foreign interference briefings given to Trudeau and his office, his cabinet and ministers, and political party representatives between 2018 and 2023.
A four-page document and an accompanying letter were provided to the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) ahead of Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford’s appearance at the committee today at noon.
According to the document provided by National Security and Intelligence Adviser (NSIA) Jody Thomas, Trudeau personally received a total of six formal briefings on the subject of foreign interference in elections from either the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) director , the NSIA, or both between Oct. 22, 2018, and March 20, 2023. In addition, the Prime Minister’s Office received two formal briefings from the CSIS director and the NSIA, one in September 2022 and another in February 2023.
In her letter to PROC on April 14, Thomas wrote that the Privy Council Office and CSIS have been “diligent in actioning the committee’s requests” for “unclassified administrative details about briefings on foreign election interference,” and that the two organizations undertook an “exhaustive search of records” for that information.
“Both organizations are providing information that is as complete as possible within a reasonable timeframe, respecting limitations in sharing classified details,” she said in the letter.
The document provided to PROC also said that the “cabinet or cabinet committee” was briefed by “senior public servants” on election interference eight times from 2018 onward.
Additionally, specific individual ministers received a total of 15 briefings from either the CSIS director or the head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) or both, while political party representatives received four briefings between June and September 2019 and another nine briefings between July and October 2021.
While testifying at PROC in early March, both Thomas and CSIS Director David Vigneault had said they would provide unclassified documents that detailed when Canadian officials were briefed on the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“The fact that no information has been provided, despite repeated follow-ups, appears to be a deliberate effort to obstruct the committee’s study on foreign election interference,” the MPs said in the letter.
Telford was scheduled to testify at PROC for two hours starting at 12 p.m.
