Ottawa’s Foreign Influence Registry Legislation Delayed by Further Consultations

A Canadian flag hangs from a lamp post in front of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 30, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Upcoming legislation to deal with foreign interference has been pushed back, with the federal government announcing additional consultations focusing on whether changes are needed for Canada’s primary intelligence agency and the Criminal Code.

“The set of legislative reforms we are putting forth today for consultation would give the Government of Canada another set of tools to detect and disrupt foreign state and non-state actors that attempt to act against our national interest,” said Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc in a Nov. 24 news release.

The minister calls foreign interference in Canadians institutions or others sectors of society “plainly unacceptable.”

“That is why we have put robust measures in place over the last few years to counter it and are always looking for ways to further strengthen those measures.”

A foreign influence registry would require people acting on behalf of a foreign state in order to advance its goals to disclose their ties. While the United States and Australia have foreign agent registries, Public Safety Canada only began public consultations on creating one in March 2023.

The government concluded two months of those consultations in May, saying the feedback they received would “inform the Government’s decision on what measures to bring forward, and what they could look like.”

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The new round of consultations will focus on “potential legislative amendments” to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, the Criminal Code, the Security of Information Act, and the Canada Evidence Act.

The release stated that one of the main themes that emerged from the previous consultations was that a foreign registry is not a “universal solution” to the issue of foreign interference, and other initiatives should be included. The new round of online consultations will wrap up on Feb. 2, 2024.

Justice Minister Arif Virani said foreign interference threatens Canada’s democracy and is not taken lightly by the government. “This is why we are consulting Canadians, including experts and affected communities on the best approach to enhance existing measures and bolster our defences against these evolving threats.”

A summary of the first round of consultations found that while the over 1,000 online respondents “were overwhelmingly in favour” of establishing a registry, many wanted other tools to counter foreign interference.

The respondents also believed that individuals with ties to foreign states must face the possibility of fines or prison time for failing to comply with the registry, which would contribute to transparency.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly called for Ottawa to establish a foreign agent registry, and did so again on Nov. 23.

Public Inquiry Report to Come in 2024

Following media reports based on national security leaks that depicted widespread interference by Beijing, calls proliferated for Ottawa to hold a public inquiry into foreign interference. The government resisted such calls, however, instead hiring former governor general David Johnston to be a special rapporteur on foreign interference.

In Mr. Johnston’s first report released on May 23, he said a public inquiry should not be held, citing the need to protect sensitive information. He then resigned on June 9 under heavy criticism by opposition parties, due in part to his ties to the Trudeau family.

Afterward, the Liberal government opened up to holding an inquiry. Major parties negotiated over the summer and agreed upon the inquiry’s terms of reference and its commissioner. Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue has been tapped to lead the public inquiry into foreign interference.

Justice Hogue began her work on the inquiry on Sept. 18 and is expected to table an interim report by the end of February 2024 and a final report by December 2024.