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Foreign states including India, Russia and China have interfered in Canada’s democratic institutions in an effort to destabilise the country, an official investigation has concluded.
The final seven-volume report released on Tuesday by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who led the Foreign Interference Commission, was based on 16 months of reporting and the testimony of more than a 100 witnesses.
It found widespread incidence of attempted political interference and that “disinformation” was commonly deployed in traditional and social media against Canada and Canadian officials.
“It is true that some foreign states are trying to interfere in our democratic institutions, including electoral processes,” Hogue said in Ottawa. “What is new, is the means deployed by these states, the apparent scale of the issue and public discourse on the topic.”
The report focused on allegations that China and India, which have large diaspora populations in Canada, had carried out direct or indirect, influence campaigns but Russia, Pakistan and Iran were also included in the inquiry’s scope.
Despite the broad-based attempts to destabilise the country’s electoral system, Hogue concluded there had only been a few cases where foreign states had tried to influence Canadian parliamentarians. “The phenomenon remains marginal and largely ineffective,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been accused of failing to act on intelligence briefings and warnings that foreign states were targeting Canada’s democracy, media, institution and officials.
The inquiry was launched after media reports of foreign interference based on leaked intelligence briefings and by officials complaining that their concerns were ignored.
Trudeau testified at the inquiry in October and said there was a list of Canadian politicians — from all parties — who were at risk of foreign influence.
Hogue’s findings also addressed accusations tabled in June last year by Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which consists of MPs and Senators with top security clearance, that some MPs were “semi-witting or witting” participants in efforts by foreign states to interfere in the country’s politics.
Hogue wrote there was no evidence “of traitors in parliament” but concluded Ottawa at times took “too long to act” on evidence of attempted interference and that co-ordination was poor.
The government was “overall a poor communicator” when it comes to foreign interference, she said.
The official interim report last May found China had directly meddled in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections and was “the most active foreign state actor engaged in interference” in the country.
Former Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole, who was a target of a Chinese disinformation campaign in 2021, said the inquiry served as a “wake-up call” on the issue.
“I think all of our democratic allies should take note of these risks,” he told the Financial Times.
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