MP, Rights Groups Urge Action on Gaps Identified in Foreign Interference Inquiry Report

NDP MP Jenny Kwan joins rights groups on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 27, 2025, to address gaps identified in the Foreign Interference Commission's final report. NTD

Rights advocates and diaspora community representatives gathered in Ottawa on Feb. 27 to urge the federal government to take stronger action on foreign interference and to implement the recommendations of the Foreign Interference Commission.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue released her final report on Jan. 28 following more than a year of investigations on the impact of election interference and transnational repression by regimes such as China. The report includes 51 recommendations, several of which Hogue suggested should be implemented before the next election to strengthen transparency and fairness in the electoral process.

“While [Hogue’s] recommendations to the government are a good start, there are gaps to be dealt with, and more government action is needed urgently,” Gloria Fung, president of Canada-Hong Kong Link, said at the Feb. 27 press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Fung is also a leader of the advocacy group Canadian Coalition for a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry, which, along with the Human Rights Coalition, is making the call for strong action.

The Human Rights Coalition had participated in the commission’s work as a representative of a number of diaspora communities.

Fung specifically urged the federal government to take immediate steps to address foreign interference in political party nomination campaigns, which she said are already occurring ahead of Canada’s upcoming federal election.

“We have seen signs of infiltration and foreign interference in nomination campaigns in various swing ridings. If no action is taken by the government, the foreign interference experienced in the 2019 and 2021 elections will repeat itself,” she said.

Fung further called on Ottawa to ensure that Canada’s Foreign Influence Transparency Registry is operational before the next election. A senior Public Safety Canada official told a Senate committee in December that the registry, part of a bill passed last summer, is expected to be in place by June.

The legislation, which introduced the registry, also creates new criminal offences for foreign interference and expands the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s powers to share information with individuals or entities beyond the federal government in order to address threats to Canada’s security.

Gloria Fung, president of Canada-Hong Kong Link, joins other rights groups on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 27, 2025, to address gaps identified in the Foreign Interference Commission's final report. NTD

NDP MP Jenny Kwan, whom the commission said has been a target of the Chinese regime because of her criticism of Beijing’s rights abuses, raised concerns about the limited scope of the Hogue Commission’s investigation, which was focused only on interference during the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Kwan said the government’s focus on whether electoral outcomes were affected misses the broader issue, noting that throughout the inquiry, concerns were raised about foreign regimes using proxies—individuals or organizations—to suppress criticism, harass Canadian residents, and influence individual ridings. She noted that the government never flagged this as a major issue.

Transnational Repression

Kwan also urged Ottawa to enhance protections for diaspora communities, raising concerns about the lack of reporting mechanisms. She referenced a Hong Kong individual who faced harassment and, despite reporting it to the RCMP, saw the threats dismissed as a misunderstanding, Kwan said, with further threats occurring during the investigation.

“The government has to take this seriously. Measures need to be put in place. Action needs to be taken to send a clear message to foreign interference actors that Canada will not tolerate this and that we will take action to protect our community—the diaspora community,” she said at the Feb. 27 press conference.

Joanne Hodges, representing the Human Rights Coalition, noted the urgent need to address disinformation and misinformation, which Commissioner Hogue identified as the “single biggest risk” to Canadian democracy.

Hodges specifically highlighted the compounded challenges faced by several of the communities represented by the coalition due to misinformation and disinformation campaigns. “The Falun Gong and the Tigrayan communities, for example, have faced multiple compounding ramifications, including a direct diminishment in their ability to participate in civic discourse,” she said.

She also pointed to evidence uncovered by Falun Gong adherents linking “the highest levels of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]” to these efforts.

The coalition consists of a number of diaspora communities including Hongkongers, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, Eritreans, Tigrayans, and Tamils.

Maria Cheung, executive director of the Falun Gong Human Rights Group, highlighted that diaspora communities bear the brunt of foreign interference, particularly transnational repression. While she welcomed the Hogue report’s recommendation for a single, accessible hotline to report foreign interference, she urged that it also include provisions for reporting transnational repression with protections for confidentiality, anonymity, and multilingual support.

Some diaspora groups raised concerns about the Hogue Commission’s limited capacity to investigate transnational repression targeting diaspora communities. Sherap Therchin, executive director of the Canada-Tibet Committee, highlighted this issue, noting that his organization, along with the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and 20 individuals linked to these groups, have been sanctioned by the Beijing regime.

Commissioner Hogue said that transnational repression is “a genuine scourge” but stated that she did not “examine this phenomenon in depth” during the commission as it exceeds her mandate, which focused on the impact on democratic processes and institutions.

“But what I have learned about it is sufficient for me to sound the alarm that the government must take this seriously and consider ways to address it,” Hogue wrote.