New directive requires CSIS to tell MPs, public safety minister about foreign threats

OTTAWA –

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has formally directed Canada’s spy agency to investigate and disclose any foreign threats against parliamentarians, their families, their staff members or Parliament itself.

Mendicino has instructed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to give such threats the highest level of attention in a new ministerial directive.

He says CSIS needs to ensure that members of Parliament are informed of threats against them, whenever that is legally possible, and inform police or law enforcement when needed.

The newly unclassified document says CSIS must also tell the public safety minister about all instances of threats against Parliament or parliamentarians and explain how it will respond.

The measures come in response to growing concerns about China’s alleged attempts to meddle in the last two federal elections, and accusations that Beijing has tried to intimidate members of Parliament and their families.

Conservative MP Michael Chong is set to testify this evening at the House of Commons procedure committee about a CSIS report that alleges a Chinese diplomat tried to intimidate him over his stance on China’s human-rights record.

Chong has said in the House of Commons that Jody Thomas, the prime minister’s national security adviser, told him the 2021 CSIS report was sent to the Privy Council Office and to relevant government departments.

Chong was not aware of the assessment until it was reported on by the Globe and Mail.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other ministers have maintained they only learned about the threats against Chong and other unnamed MPs from the same media report.

Trudeau has said for weeks that CSIS will be required to inform individual MPs about threats against them going forward.

In a written statement Tuesday, Mendicino said he has issued the new instructions to the spy agency in an effort to be as open and transparent as possible.

“Furthermore, CSIS will inform the minister of any engagements with parliamentarians related to foreign interference, to better address and mitigate these threats,” Mendicino said.

The federal government also announced Tuesday that the Security and Intelligence Threats Task Force will be closely monitoring upcoming byelections in four ridings for signs of interference.

Votes are being held June 19 in Notre-Dame-de-Grace–Westmount, Oxford, Portage–Lisgar and Winnipeg South Centre.

The task force, known as SITE, is expected to provide regular assessments of foreign interference threats to a committee of deputy ministers, who will brief members of cabinet if needed.

SITE is also tasked with preparing two reports — one classified, and one unclassified — about any attempts at interfering in the byelections.

The prime minister has tasked former governor general David Johnston with determining what the government’s next steps should be to tackle foreign interference.

Johnston is expected to tell the government by May 23 if he believes a public inquiry or some other form of investigation is needed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2023.