US Provided Input to Canada on Foreign Agent Registry: Mayorkas

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas shake hands after signing an agreement following the conclusion of the 2023 Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum, in Ottawa on April 28, 2023. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas says the Canadian government has been provided with input on establishing a foreign agent registry during high level talks in Ottawa.

“That is something that the Attorney General of the United States spoke of today in the forum, and we shared some of the practices and laws that we have in place to see if they would be of utility to our partners in Canada,” Mayorkas told CBC News in an interview aired on April 30. The secretary declined to elaborate due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Mayorkas was in Ottawa with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on April 28 to discuss cross-border issues such as guns and drug smuggling, with the parties announcing increased cooperation on the matter.

Regarding the threat of foreign interference in elections, Mayorkas said these have to be taken “very, very seriously” and can come from the Chinese regime and other countries such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

He said the People’s Republic of China (PRC) poses threats in the fields of cybersecurity, theft of intellectual property, use of forced labour, and the spread of disinformation.

“What we want to do is identify all of the means and instrumentalities that they employ in each domain, and really ensure that we are taking collective action to address them,” he said.

Mayorkas issued a department-wide directive on April 20 to conduct a “90-day PRC Threats Sprint” to assess the threats and challenges, and forecast how those could evolve.

The directive identified six priority areas, including protecting critical infrastructure, disrupting the global fentanyl supply chain, and better screening for “illicit travellers” from China who come to the United States for espionage or to harass dissidents.

In that last category, the United States took steps in mid-April by arresting two individuals in New York City who were allegedly involved in running an illegal Chinese police station. They were charged with conspiring to act as agents of the PRC and obstruction of justice.

“The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The Justice Department said the pair had not informed the U.S. government that they were working for the Chinese regime.

A number of Chinese police stations have been identified in Canada, but no arrests have been made so far.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said last week that the RCMP had taken “decisive action” to shut them down. The RCMP told The Epoch Times that investigations are ongoing.

Regarding establishing a foreign agent registry in Canada, consultations are taking place but Mendicino didn’t provide a timeline for the registry’s implementation.

“I understand the urgency, but we need to establish a mechanism that also includes protections against stereotyping and stigmatization,” he told the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 27.