Politics·Updated
The head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service appeared before the foreign interference inquiry Friday to defend his agency’s work, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested he sometimes doubts the reliability of CSIS reports.
Witnesses suggest they were not briefed fully by CSIS
Catharine Tunney · CBC News
· Posted: Apr 12, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago
CSIS director David Vigneault appears as a witness at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)The head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service appeared before the foreign interference inquiry Friday to defend his agency’s work, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested he sometimes doubts the reliability of CSIS reports.
‘”There’s been a lot of comments made about the intelligence in the media and in commission,” CSIS Director David Vigneault told the inquiry Friday morning.
“Intelligence is a little like a puzzle. Sometimes we have a very clear picture of the puzzle. Sometimes, through the use of raw intelligence and assessed intelligence, we are building that picture, but what is important to remember is that this is done by professional, trained intelligence analysts and professionals that are bringing this together.”
During his high-profile testimony before the inquiry earlier this week, Trudeau said he hasn’t always trusted the intelligence CSIS shares with him — including a report suggesting China may have interfered in a Liberal nomination contest.
“I didn’t feel there was sufficient or sufficiently credible information that would justify this very significant step as to remove a candidate,” Trudeau said earlier this week.
Stage one of the inquiry was supposed to wrap up on Wednesday, but Vigneault was recalled after multiple witnesses suggested they were not briefed by CSIS on specifics regarding intelligence it gathered on Chinese election interference.
As his hour in the hot seat came to an end, Vigneault — who acknowledges he’s not always comfortable speaking publicly — asked Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue for permission to speak.
“I would like to leave you, Madame Commissioner and Canadians, with the message that intelligence is a very sophisticated approach. We are a learning organization and we’re all trying to get better,” he said.
“But I’d also like to say I am extremely proud of the work that intelligence professionals at CSIS do every day, in Canada and around the world, to protect Canadians.”
Vigneault’s Friday appearance came at the request of some of the participants in the inquiry after members of the prime minister’s inner circle, and Trudeau himself, told the inquiry they were not warned by CSIS of the severity of the foreign interference threat, despite documents indicating the contrary.
Questions about who knew what regarding foreign election interference are at the heart of the inquiry’s mandate, which was triggered by claims that Trudeau’s government was aware of foreign meddling but chose not to act.
The inquiry has been examining warnings issued by CSIS in briefing notes that key witnesses say they never received.
One document that was cited multiple times at the inquiry, for example, says CSIS believes the Chinese government “clandestinely and deceptively” interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
That February 2023 briefing note says China’s interference was “pragmatic in nature and focused primarily in supporting those viewed to be either ‘pro PRC’ or ‘neutral’ on issues of interest to the PRC government.”
That document was prepared for a briefing with the Prime Minister’s Office.
During his testimony before the inquiry Wednesday, Trudeau said he never saw that briefing note — echoing a claim made by his deputy chief of staff Brian Clow earlier in the week.
“Most of the information in that document was not relayed to us in that meeting,” said Clow on Tuesday.
Vigneault acknowledged that information included in briefing notes for specific meetings isn’t always relayed in face-to-face meetings with government officials — but he also said he had briefed Trudeau and others in his government about the service’s findings on Chinese election interference before the briefing notes were issued.
WATCH | Trudeau is asked about his level of confidence in CSIS intelligence
Trudeau is asked about his level of confidence in CSIS intelligenceResponding to a question stemming from the inquiry on foreign election interference in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that while he has ‘tremendous confidence’ in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, he feels it’s important to question sources at times.
The 2023 CSIS briefing note also warns that protecting Canadian democratic institutions against foreign interference “will require a shift in the government’s perspective and a willingness to take decisive action and impose consequences on perpetrators.”
It says that foreign interference will persist until it “is viewed as an existential threat to Canadian democracy and governments forcefully and actively respond.”
Vigneault said Friday he stands by the document’s observations. He also said he agrees with a government panel’s conclusion that while foreign interference was observed during the past two general elections, it did not threaten the integrity of the overall election or the results in individual ridings.
Trudeau challenged CSIS intelligence, inquiry heardThe inquiry has seen intelligence summaries suggesting CSIS warned that international students were bused in to take part in a nomination vote in the riding of Don Valley North, were given fake documents to allow them to vote for Han Dong — who went on to win the Liberal nomination — and were told by Chinese officials that if they didn’t participate, their student visas would be in jeopardy and there could be consequences for their families back in China.
During his testimony Wednesday, Trudeau said he he pushed back on those claims.
“My concern was more that perhaps that the service didn’t understand as deeply as political actors do the prevalence of busing of different community groups in nomination campaigns,” he testified.
Trudeau and other ministers also said they didn’t feel CSIS’s intelligence was substantiated by evidence.
During a media availability Thursday, Trudeau was asked by a reporter whether Canadians should trust CSIS, given his testimony.
Commissioner Justice Marie-Josee Hogue listens as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears as a witness at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)The prime minister said he respects the Canadians who work in national security.
“But no government, no leader, should simply be a passive receiver of information and intelligence,” he said.
“We have a role to play in asking questions, on thinking critically … encouraging further work on questioning sources and pulling out contradictions. That actually is part and parcel of the work that we all need to do to make sure that everything is done to keep Canadians safe.”
Watchdogs’ findings coming After Vigneault’s testimony, Hogue and her team will start work on their interim report, which is due May 3.
That report will not be the only take on the credibility of media leaks about foreign election interference and the government’s response to those reports.
Canada’s two national security watchdog bodies — the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) — have finished their investigations into the same issues and have handed in their reports to Trudeau.
Redacted versions of their findings eventually will be made public.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catharine Tunney is a reporter with CBC’s Parliament Hill bureau, where she covers national security and the RCMP. She worked previously for CBC in Nova Scotia. You can reach her at catharine.tunney@cbc.ca
Follow Cat on Twitter
