Nine months after the prime minister accused India of involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen, a damning new report has concluded that country is the second biggest foreign threat to Canadian democracy after China.

The report released this week by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances, mentions India 44 times in its 84 pages.

It alleges India is "interfering in Canadian democratic processes and institutions, including through the targeting of Canadian politicians, ethnic media and Indo-Canadian ethnocultural communities."

Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor at Carleton University and a former national security analyst, told CBC News India has been targeting diaspora communities in Canada for decades.

But the NSICOP report has added something new by describing attempts to interfere in Canada's democratic institutions "in the starkest terms we've ever seen," she said.

The report says that while India's foreign interference efforts are not as widespread as those of the People's Republic of China, they are "of significant concern."

"India seeks to cultivate relationships with a variety of witting and unwitting individuals across Canadian society with the intent of inappropriately exerting India's influence across all orders of government, particularly to stifle or discredit criticism of the Government of India," says the report.

The use of proxies

The heavily redacted NSICOP document repeatedly cites intelligence reports alleging "foreign actors" used "Canadians as proxies who act at their behest, creating a separation between the threat activity and the foreign actor."

"India has an active proxy, who has proactively looked for ways to further India's interests by monitoring and attempting to influence politicians," the report alleges.

While much of the report was redacted — blacked out — before it was published this week, the attached notes explaining those redactions offer details of India's alleged use of proxies.

One note says CSIS has information indicating an Indian proxy claimed to have "repeatedly transferred funds from India to politicians at all levels of government in return for political favours, including raising issues in Parliament."

Another note says India likely reimbursed "a proxy who had provided funds to candidates of two federal parties." NSICOP said the CSIS assessment of those incidents makes it clear the candidates were not aware the funds came from India.

'Media manipulation'

The report says "some elected officials, however, began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election." 

Specific references describing the actions of those officials were redacted, but notes explaining the missing material say the committee has seen "specific examples of members of Parliament who worked to influence their colleagues on India's behalf."

The notes say that some MPs "proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials."

The report also explains how China used WeChat, a Chinese social media platform, to spread "misleading narratives" about Conservative MP Michael Chong.

"India also demonstrated the intent and capability to engage in this type of foreign interference through media manipulation," the report said.

Notes related to this allegation say that three sentences were removed from the report because they contained "injurious or privileged information."

"The sentences described an example of efforts to discredit a political party leader using materials drafted by Indian intelligence organizations," the report said.

Another note describes how India has built a network of contacts "through whom it conducts interference activities, inducing journalists" and members of "ethnocultural communities."

 

Nijjar's accused killer arrested near gathering with major Sikh separatist leaders

"India has two extremely good intelligence services and they view Canada as a threat," said Carvin. "They know what they're doing. They've been building this up over time, cultivating relationships across Canadian institutions and we see that in this report."

Carvin said India views Canada as the "heart of the Khalistan independence movement," which campaigns for an independent Sikh homeland in northern India.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., in June of last year, was a leader in Canada's Sikh diaspora and had been active in a group pushing for an independent Khalistan. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons last fall that Canadian security agencies are looking into "credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India" and Nijjar's death.  

Four men have now been charged in that killing.

The NSICOP report says that while India traditionally has focused on the Khalistan movement in Canada, its interest is broadening.

"It became clear during the period of this review that [India's] efforts had extended beyond countering what it perceived as pro-Khalistani efforts in Canada to include interfering in Canadian democratic processes and institutions," the report says.

Senior cabinet ministers wouldn't say Tuesday if the government is prepared to release the names of parliamentarians who are alleged to have conspired with foreign governments and to have consciously shared sensitive information with their agents — conduct that one expert says could amount to treason.

There may still be police investigations into these allegations, the ministers said, and details could eventually be released as part of that process.

But that raises the question of whether the voting public will know who's alleged to have engaged in such conduct before the next federal election, which is expected sometime in 2025.

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances, released a report Monday that paints a troubling picture of what some unnamed parliamentarians are said to have done to undermine Canadian democracy and benefit the interests of a foreign state.

The report was compiled after committee members reviewed information and intelligence gathered by ten federal bodies, including the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Department of Justice and Elections Canada. It claims some unnamed parliamentarians — MPs and/or senators — failed in their duty to conduct themselves in the best interests of the country.

David McGuinty, chair of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parlmentarians, holds a news conference to release the committee's annual report in Ottawa on Thursday, March 12, 2020. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press)

The committee said an unknown number of parliamentarians inappropriately communicated with foreign missions ahead of a political campaign and accepted money from foreign governments or their proxies.

Unnamed parliamentarians also provided foreign diplomatic officials with "privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow parliamentarians," knowing that the information could be used to manipulate some other MPs and senators, the report said.

Certain parliamentarians also responded to requests from foreign actors to "improperly influence parliamentary colleagues" to benefit another country, and disclosed confidential government information to "a known intelligence officer or foreign state,"the committee said in its report, which was heavily redacted.

The names of the alleged parliamentary conspirators are blanked out in the report. They've been replaced with the words, "This paragraph was revised to remove injurious or privileged information."

Under the law that governs NSICOP, the prime minister can direct the committee to submit a "revised version" of any of its reports that leaves out information that could be seen as "injurious" to national security, defence and international relations, or that is protected by solicitor-client privilege.

The committee wrote in its report that, after submitting the initial draft version of this study to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March, some information "which the prime minister believed would be injurious" was stripped out of the report released to the public.

It's not clear what information was left out at the prime minister's request.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Tuesday the government takes the threat of foreign political interference "very seriously" and said the country can't be "naive" about authoritarian governments seeking to undermine our democracy.

When asked if she could guarantee that the Liberals will eject from their caucus any parliamentarian found to have engaged in the activities cited in the report, Freeland would not make that commitment.

Freeland asked about public's right to names in foreign interference report

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He said the intelligence gathered for this NSICOP report should be probed by police.

"If this intelligence is true, this is deeply concerning, very serious, and we have to see next steps taken," he said. "A follow-up on this is very vital."

A shocking new report from one of Canada's intelligence watchdogs says some Parliamentarians are "wittingly" helping foreign governments like China and India meddle in Canadian politics.

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which is made up of MPs and senators from across the political spectrum, was asked last year to investigate allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections.

Their heavily-redacted report, tabled in the House of Commons on Monday, pointed to "particularly concerning" behaviour by some Parliamentarians.

The report said some elected officials "began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election."

In one case, NSICOP members said they saw intelligence suggesting MPs worked to influence their colleagues on India's behalf and proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials.

In another case cited in the report — based on Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) information shared with NSICOP — a then-member of Parliament maintained a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer. The officers' country of origin was not included in the public report.

According to CSIS, the MP sought to arrange a meeting in a foreign state with a senior intelligence official and also proactively provided the intelligence officer with information provided in confidence, said the report.

The report said China believes it has a quid pro quo relationship with some MPs who will engage with the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for Beijing mobilizing its vast networks in their favour. 

NSICOP reported it also saw intelligence suggesting that unnamed parliamentarians:

• Communicated frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain support from community groups or businesses to be mobilized by diplomatic missions;
• Accepted knowingly, or through willful blindness, funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies which have been layered or otherwise disguised to conceal their source; 
• Provided foreign diplomatic officials with privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow parliamentarians, knowing that such information would be used by those officials to inappropriately pressure parliamentarians to change their positions;
• Responded to the requests or direction of foreign officials to improperly influence parliamentary colleagues or parliamentary business to the advantage of a foreign state; and,
• Provided information learned in confidence from the government to a known intelligence officer of a foreign state.

NSICOP said some of the cases of foreign interference they examined might have involved illegal activity but are unlikely to end in criminal charges "owing to Canada's failure to address the long-standing issue of protecting classified information and methods in judicial processes."

"Regardless, all the behaviours are deeply unethical and, the committee would submit, contrary to the oaths and affirmations parliamentarians take to conduct themselves in the best interest of Canada," says the report.

Trudeau government's slow response 'a serious failure' 

The report also takes aim at the Liberal government, which the committee says has known since 2018 about the need to take foreign interference more seriously.

"The slow response to a known threat was a serious failure and one from which Canada may feel the consequences for years to come," it said.

"The implications of this inaction include the undermining of the democratic rights and fundamental freedoms of Canadians, the integrity and credibility of Canada's parliamentary process, and public trust in the policy decisions made by the government."

Monday's report marks the third time NSICOP has reviewed the government's response to threats of foreign interference since 2018 and Prime Miniser Justin Trudeau's trip to India — a point members make known throughout their latest report.

"Given the risks posed by foreign interference to Canada's national security, the committee expected the government to act. It was slow to do so," says the report.

"In the committee's view, this delay contributed in part to the crisis in which the government found itself in late 2022 and early 2023."

The committee says Canada's security and intelligence community has been held back by outmoded tools and legislation. 

"Gaps in these areas limited the ability of security and intelligence organizations to act, particularly with respect to sharing information with law enforcement bodies to enable investigations, lay charges or support prosecutions," says the report. 

Chair David McGuinty speaks about the Annual Report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians during a news conference in Ottawa, Tuesday April 9, 2019. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The report also points out that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has been unable to share "salient information" with players outside the federal government, such as parliamentarians and other orders of government.

"These gaps contribute to a situation in which there are few meaningful deterrents to foreign states and their Canada-based proxies to conduct interference activities," says the report.

Government disagrees with elements of NSICOP report 

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the government will consider NSICOP's findings and recommendations but disagrees with elements of the report.

"The government's concerns centre around the interpretation of intelligence reports, which lacked the necessary caveats inherent to intelligence, as well as the lack of acknowledgement of the full breadth of outreach that has been done with respect to informing parliamentarians about the threat posed by foreign interference," he said Monday afternoon.

The NSICOP report goes on to make six recommendations aimed at the federal government. It calls on Ottawa to update the CSIS Act, to develop consistent definitions and thresholds for action on foreign interference and to start reporting annually on briefings for parliamentarians on foreign interference.

Last month, the federal government introduced Bill C-70, which is aimed at curbing foreign interference in Canadian politics. It would introduce new foreign interference offences, change how CSIS  applies for warrants, update the rules on whom CSIS can brief and launch a long-awaited foreign influence transparency registry.

"Canada is only now beginning to see the introduction of additional measures to address foreign interference activities," says NSICOP.

The committee was set up in 2017 to provide parliamentary oversight on Ottawa's intelligence operations, including at CSIS, the RCMP, Global Affairs Canada and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). 

MPs and senators on the committee receive security clearances permitting them to see and hear details of the agencies' highly secret activities.

The committee is made up of three Liberal MPs, two Conservatives, one NDP, one Bloc Québécois member and three senators.

Last month, the public inquiry investigating foreign interference found that attempts by other countries to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 general elections did not determine which party formed the government.

"Nonetheless, the acts of interference that occurred are a stain on our electoral process and impacted the process leading up to the actual vote," Justice Marie-Josée Hogue wrote in her initial report.