99-Year Seal: Hogue Commission Releases Summaries of Whistleblower Accounts of Beijing Interference

Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, commissioner of the Foreign Interference Commission, speaks after releasing the inquiry's Final Report, in Ottawa, on Jan. 28, 2025. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

The Foreign Interference Commission has released summaries of confidential testimonies from witnesses with firsthand knowledge of communist Chinese meddling in Canada’s democracy, while the full evidence will remain sealed for 99 years, citing security reasons.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue announced last November the decision on how to capture the testimony of two potential witnesses, identified as “Person B” and “Person C,” and safeguard their evidence for the foreign interference inquiry.

The summaries don’t provide full details of the testimonies but indicate that Person B shared information about Chinese Canadian community associations and their relationship with Chinese officials. This includes how these associations may be involved in foreign interference and how “certain politicians perceived as ‘anti-China’” are excluded from local community events, either in coordination with Chinese officials or for their perceived benefit, the summary said.

The Chinese regime’s targeting of Canadian politicians critical of its rights abuses is mentioned in the Hogue commission’s final report, published on Jan. 28. Citing testimony from former Tory Leader Erin O'Toole, the report noted disinformation campaigns ahead of the 2021 election that targeted the Conservative Party and some of its candidates. The report says the disinformation campaigns fuelled the narrative that the party was “anti-China.”

“This narrative was amplified in Chinese language media,” which criticized the Conservative Party for its positions on issues related to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the report said. Conservative MPs have been outspoken against Beijing’s human rights abuses, and introduced a motion in the House of Commons recognizing the Uyghur genocide and supporting a private member’s bill by former MP Kenny Chiu to establish a foreign influence registry.

Person B also testified about how Chinese officials influenced local community associations through the practice of “Astro-turfing.” This refers to a covert strategy in which a foreign state conceals its involvement in an activity or organization by creating a false impression that a grassroots movement is spontaneous, rather than orchestrated with foreign assistance, according to the summary.

Person B’s information was “often first-hand, and other times based on second-hand information,” Hogue said in her November decision to seal the records for 99 years. The individual expressed fear of “serious repercussions” if identified—including job loss, social exclusion, and retribution from Beijing—citing the United Front Work Department’s (UFWD) infiltration of some Chinese Canadian community organizations. The UFWD is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that orchestrates foreign interference.

The other witness, Person C, also provided information on “ties between private individuals and PRC officials in Canada,” according to a separate summary from the commission. This includes “a suspected attempt” by an individual with ties to one or more PRC officials in Canada to “generate compromising information.”

Person C discussed a particular instance where one or more PRC consular officials provided support to a Canadian candidate for office by “leveraging local community associations,” the summary indicated. The level of government at which this occurred was not disclosed in the summary.

The issue of politicians being under foreign influence or colluding with hostile states has been a key focus of the Hogue commission’s investigation. Calls for a public inquiry were sparked by media reports of leaked intelligence indicating foreign interference in Canadian politics, including a Global News report in late 2022, which revealed a Toronto-based network of PRC interference in the 2019 election involving 11 candidates.

A June 2024 report by a national security watchdog also warned about some parliamentarians having been “witting” participants in some foreign meddling efforts.

In the final report, Hogue wrote that while some conduct by lawmakers “may be concerning, I did not see evidence of ’traitors’ in Parliament.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.