CSIS Concerned About Chinese Influence Operations Targeting Canadian Politicians, MPs Hear

A sign for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service building in Ottawa, in a file photo. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Agents of communist China are targeting Canadian parliamentarians and officials with foreign interference, a House committee heard from testimonies by officials in Canadian intelligence agencies.

“We are very concerned about the targeting. We know that there is certainly a desire to target elected officials at all levels of government—municipal, provincial, federal,” Michelle Tessier, deputy director of operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said at the House Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) on Nov. 1.

Tessier was responding to questions from Conservative MP Blaine Calkins on the growing concerns about China influencing politicians and officials around the world to gain sway over the policies of foreign governments. Calkins pointed to John McCallum, Canada’s former ambassador to Beijing, who ignited controversy for comments defending Meng Wanzhou, executive of Chinese telecom company Huawei, who was arrested by the RCMP in 2018 on a U.S. extradition request.

Tessier said CSIS does “see activity of foreign interference” in Canada, and such interference activities are on the rise. She added, however, that these influences have not met “the threshold of impacting the overall electoral integrity.”

“We know the Chinese Communist Party is involved and interested in promoting their own national interests,” she said. “They are an actor in foreign interference and we have said that publicly, and I can state again that we are concerned about the activities regarding threats against Canada, including foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party.”

“We know China, amongst other countries, do try to target elected officials at all levels of government to promote their own national interests and to encourage individuals to speak or act ... as proxies on behalf of the Communist Party of China.”

Former RCMP and CSIS operative Michel Juneau-Katsuya in Ottawa in a file photo. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former senior CSIS intelligence officer, told the House Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics on Aug. 9 that Canadian intelligence is monitoring certain MPs, MPPs, and municipal politicians known to be working for foreign agencies.

“What we know for sure is that we have various foreign countries who’ve succeeded in recruiting elected officials—again, municipal, provincial, or federal—and were capable to influence this way,” said Juneau-Katsuya, who is now the president and CEO of security consulting firm Northgate Group.

“It was [happening] beforehand and it’s still happening.”

Unofficial Chinese Police Stations

At the PROC meeting, Calkins also raised questions regarding reports of unofficial Chinese police stations being established in Canada and dozens of other countries around the world.

The existence of such Chinese police outposts was first reported by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which said in a September report that there are more than 50 police stations reportedly created and operated by two local-level police agencies in China, according to Chinese state media.

Chinese authorities have touted the success of these police stations in persuading up to 230,000 Chinese nationals to “voluntarily” return to China to face criminal proceedings between April 2021 and July 2022. Safeguard Defenders said that “persuasion to return” is a key method of the Chinese regime’s “involuntary returns” operations, including its Operation Fox Hunt, which seeks to track down criminal suspects who have fled overseas. The NGO, however, noted that such anti-crime campaigns have also targeted non-suspects and their family members in China.

Map of the 30 countries where Chinese police have established 54 known "110 Chinese overseas police stations." (Courtesy of Safeguard Defenders)

The RCMP recently said that it is investigating reports of three overseas Chinese police service stations in the Greater Toronto Area: two in Markham and one in Scarborough.

Tessier declined to provide details when asked what measures CSIS is taking to investigate the situation.

“We are using all of the authorities that we have to look at any potential threat to our communities,” she said. “It is very important for us to be able to ensure that communities in Canada feel protected and are not the victims of any threat action towards them or any foreign actor trying to threaten them or their families back home, which we know is of concern.”