No ‘Traitors’ in Parliament, Trudeau’s Security Adviser Tells Inquiry

Nathalie Drouin, National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, leaves the hearing room during a break at the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa, on Oct. 8, 2024. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

The prime minister’s top security adviser said she has not seen any information indicating some MPs have betrayed their country by colluding with foreign actors.

National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin was asked by the Foreign Interference Commission on Oct. 9 to comment on the findings of a bombshell security watchdog report released to the public in June.

The report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) said that some some elected officials “began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election.”

Drouin said she valued the work of NSICOP but expressed disagreement with its conclusions.

“The fact that NSICOP focused on MPs, labelling them in a certain way to the effect they could have acted wittingly—and even bringing the definition that some could be traitors—makes me very uncomfortable,” she said. “Because that’s not what I see.”

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue, which has been given access to a vast quantity of government documents on foreign interference, asked Drouin what information she had access to in reaching this conclusion.

“The information we have, and that you have as well—and that was used by NSICOP—does not allow me to come to the conclusion there are traitors in Parliament,” Drouin responded.

Drouin remarked that the information on MPs in intelligence holdings had been collected incidentally, since the “vast majority” were not the subject of an investigation by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) or the Communications Security Establishment. The comment suggests some MPs have been investigated.

“I’ve seen inappropriate behaviours, I saw lack of judgment, I saw individuals I would maybe trust less,” said Drouin. “But I haven’t seen any MP in our Parliament who did espionage, sabotage, or really put Canada’s security at risk.”

The commission is currently not probing instances of espionage or sabotage in Canada, but rather efforts by foreign states to meddle in Canada’s democracy.

Public hearings in recent days have revealed tensions within the government about what constitutes foreign interference, with diverging views between CSIS and Global Affairs Canada and Drouin’s predecessors in the NSIA role. Evidence from or about the two previous NSIAs, Jody Thomas and David Morrison, indicates they have argued that what CSIS considered foreign interference was normal diplomatic activity.

Drouin told the inquiry she remains “extremely confident” in Canadian MPs.

“Giving a different impression is helping foreign states in their quest to diminish Canadians’ confidence in our democratic system,” she said.

Conservatives had pressed the government to release the names of the parliamentarians appearing in the NSICOP report. Ottawa said doing so would be irresponsible on a national security level and that it would not respect due process.

The issue was referred to the Foreign Interference Commission for review amid the outcry following the report’s publication in June. The commission said on Sept. 13 it would not disclose the names but would attempt to release some of its findings on the matter.

“As a result of its dual obligations to respect national security confidentiality and the rules of procedural fairness, the Commission cannot make any findings that might identify the individuals involved in the allegations,” said the commission’s notice.