Agents of communist China are targeting Canadian parliamentarians and officials with foreign interference, a House committee heard from testimonies by officials in Canadian intelligence agencies.
Tessier said CSIS does “see activity of foreign interference” in Canada, and such interference activities are on the rise. She added, however, that these influences have not met “the threshold of impacting the overall electoral integrity.”
“We know the Chinese Communist Party is involved and interested in promoting their own national interests,” she said. “They are an actor in foreign interference and we have said that publicly, and I can state again that we are concerned about the activities regarding threats against Canada, including foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party.”
“We know China, amongst other countries, do try to target elected officials at all levels of government to promote their own national interests and to encourage individuals to speak or act ... as proxies on behalf of the Communist Party of China.”
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former senior CSIS intelligence officer, told the House Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics on Aug. 9 that Canadian intelligence is monitoring certain MPs, MPPs, and municipal politicians known to be working for foreign agencies.
“What we know for sure is that we have various foreign countries who’ve succeeded in recruiting elected officials—again, municipal, provincial, or federal—and were capable to influence this way,” said Juneau-Katsuya, who is now the president and CEO of security consulting firm Northgate Group.
Unofficial Chinese Police Stations
At the PROC meeting, Calkins also raised questions regarding reports of unofficial Chinese police stations being established in Canada and dozens of other countries around the world.Tessier declined to provide details when asked what measures CSIS is taking to investigate the situation.
“We are using all of the authorities that we have to look at any potential threat to our communities,” she said. “It is very important for us to be able to ensure that communities in Canada feel protected and are not the victims of any threat action towards them or any foreign actor trying to threaten them or their families back home, which we know is of concern.”