Department of Foreign Affairs officials at a confidential meeting on August 29, 2023, concluded foreign agents were using illegal methods to threaten Canadians. The meeting occurred only weeks after then-Special Rapporteur David Johnston downplayed foreign interference as “media allegations,” per Blacklock’s Reporter.“The RCMP is aware foreign actor threats and interference are being carried out in Canada including the harassment of individuals or groups exercising their fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Charter,” said a memo for the August 29 Department of Foreign Affairs meeting, which was disclosed by the Commission on Foreign Interference.“Combating and investigating foreign actor interference remains an operational priority for the RCMP,” said the memo.“The Government of Canada takes its responsibility to protect Canadians from foreign interference seriously.” .The memo was written only weeks after Johnston issued a May 23 First Report that downplayed complaints of foreign interference by Chinese agents as bad reporting. “Leaked materials that raised legitimate questions turn out to have been misconstrued in some media reports,” wrote Johnston.Johnston concluded cabinet was blameless in ignoring security warnings of illegal conduct by Chinese agents. He subsequently acknowledged he did not see “every bit of information” from police or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.“We came to the conclusion set out there on the information that was available to us at that time,” Johnston testified at a June 6, 2023 hearing of the House Affairs Committee. There was “an ocean of information,” he said.“Am I confident we saw every bit of information we would like to have had or perhaps should have had given the ocean of information?” said Johnston. “The answer is no. I’m not sure how we could absorb any more than we had in the space of two weeks or eight weeks.”“Are you saying you didn’t have all the material evidence and intelligence when you drafted your report?” asked Conservative MP Michael Cooper.“When we drafted our report we had the intelligence then available,” replied Johnston.Elections Canada subsequently confirmed it knew of at least 149 complaints of foreign interference in the last two general elections. “People are right to be worried and to want to shine a light on what is going on,” Justice Marie-Josée Hogue of the Commission on Foreign Interference wrote in a May 3 Initial Report.“Was there foreign interference targeting the 2019 and 2021 general elections? Yes I have no difficulty concluding that there was,” said Hogue. “Did foreign interference have an impact on any election results at a riding level? This is a more difficult question to answer. It is possible results in a small number of ridings were affected but this cannot be said with certainty.”“Did foreign interference nevertheless impact the broader electoral ecosystem? Yes it did.”
