Federal Employment Dep’t Has Fired 64 Employees Deemed Security Risks Since 2016: Records

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland (L) and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough (R) hold a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 24, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The federal Employment Department has fired 64 employees deemed to be security risks since 2016, according to records, which noted that one of the fired employees was confirmed to be a foreign spy.

The department’s staff wrote in a March briefing note for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter that the government could not provide more specific information about the dismissed employees for “sensitivity reasons,” but noted that the firings took place between 2016 and Feb. 9 of this year.

The briefing note, titled “Revocation Of Government Security Clearance” and dated March 31, said 37 of the employees were fired in 2021, the year of the last federal election, while 13 others were fired in 2022.

“Notably one individual had their security clearance revoked in 2019 based on the conclusions of an investigation conducted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that determined they acted on behalf of a foreign government,” it said.

The Employment Department did not specify which foreign government the former employee had been working for. It also did not say whether police were called for alleged illegal activity.

“These employees lost their employer’s trust and were terminated,” the note said. “The Security Intelligence Service does not disclose details related to its personnel or operations.”

Employment Department staff also wrote that the 64 terminated employees were found to have “security-related vulnerabilities that put into question the employees’ reliability and trustworthiness.”

“The question to be answered is whether the individual can be trusted to safeguard information, assets and facilities and be relied upon not to abuse the trust that might be accorded and to perform the assigned duties in a manner that will reflect positively on and not pose a security risk to the Government of Canada,” the note added.

‘They’re After Us’

The Employment Department prepared the briefing note just two days after cabinet released an Inquiry of Ministry in response to an order paper question by Conservative MP John Barlow asking how many government security clearances had been revoked since 2016.

The Inquiry said that of the 64 fired employees, two were dismissed in 2016, three in 2018, and seven in 2019, one in 2020, 37 in 2021, 13 in 2022, and one in 2023.

Most of the employees were fired in the same year that former national security adviser and CSIS director Richard Fadden told the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations that foreign agents use a variety of methods to conduct interference in Canada’s institutions.

“They’re after us—if I can use the vernacular—from a whole variety of perspectives,” Mr. Fadden told the committee on May 3, 2021. “They’re after us in a negative way.”

Canada also expelled a Chinese diplomat earlier this year who reportedly been involved in targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and threatening his family members in Hong Kong.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared former consular officer in Toronto Zhao Wei persona non grata on May 8 and he left the country shortly after.

“We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs,” Ms. Joly said. “Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent home.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.