Foreign interference and national-security issues in Canada’s banking and insurance sectors are in the sights of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. “Over the two years that I’ve been Superintendent, geopolitical risk and its offshoots have increased in significance,” says Peter Routledge. “There’s a possibility that that intensity metastasizes over into the financial system, and we want our institutions ready to adapt.” [node:read-more:link]
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has received a classified intelligence briefing that points to India’s role in the killing of a prominent Sikh activist in B.C. last June. “It was very clear […] that there is credible information that the Indian government was involved,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think details should be made public for now because it could compromise the criminal investigation. [node:read-more:link]
As Canada’s diplomatic row with India continues over Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegation that Indian agents were involved in the killing of a Sikh activist in B.C. last June, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada has confirmed that “shared intelligence […] helped lead Canada to making the statements that the Prime Minister made.” [node:read-more:link]
Cameron Ortis, the former director general of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre accused of providing secrets to unauthorized persons, plans a is planning a constitutional challenge. The Public Prosecution Service has confirmed that Ortis’ lawyers will argue that a Security of Information Act section on communication about special operations violates his Charter rights. [node:read-more:link]
Five Bulgarians accused of spying for Russia are scheduled to appear in a London courtroom September 26. Arrested after a police investigation, they are alleged to have worked for Russian security services by, among other things, conducting operations in the UK and Europe. [node:read-more:link]
Online reporting nearly two years ago, based on leaked documents, resulted in the September 19 arrest of a journalist by France’s domestic intelligence agency. The move was denounced by Reporters Without Borders as an “unacceptable attack on the secrecy of sources.” Ariane Lavrilleux had reported that French counter-intelligence information had been used by Egypt several years earlier for “a campaign of arbitrary killings” against smugglers along the Libyan border. [node:read-more:link]
Hours after Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat when Prime Minister Trudeau said India was involved in the murder of a Sikh activist in B.C. last June, India has responded in kind while dismissing the accusation as “absurd” and “unsubstantiated.” [node:read-more:link]
Prime Minister Trudeau today publicly accused “agents of the Indian” government of killing a Sikh community leader in B.C. last June. He also said that intelligence reports prompted him to raise the issue “in no uncertain terms” with Indian PM Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in New Delhi. [node:read-more:link]
Chinese-controlled TikTok has been fined €345 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission after a two-year investigation into the social media platforms’ compliance with privacy rules. There are suggestions that Canada could follow suit in a bid to protect younger users’ privacy. [node:read-more:link]
Ontario Conservative MP Michael Chong told a congressional group today that Canada and the U.S. need to cooperate more against Chinese interference. He said a joint “suite” of measures is needed to protect “our economy, our long-term prosperity, social cohesion, our Parliament and our elections.” [node:read-more:link]
The RCMP last year suspended a contract for radio-frequency filtering technology supplied by a B.C. company owned by Chinese interests, but an internal audit, which recommending changes to the procurement process, has concluded there were no security concerns. [node:read-more:link]
Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, was confirmed today as the commissioner of a federal public inquiry into Chinese, Russian and other foreign interference in Canada’s electoral processes. Her court biography shows that Hogue’s legal practice, before her June 2015 appointment during Conservative PM Stephen Harper’s administration, was in corporate commercial and civil litigation as well as professional liability. [node:read-more:link]
The Business Council of Canada wants the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to have legislated authority power to work more closely with foreign-targetted companies. In a 19-page report today, the lobby group of senior corporate executives and entrepreneurs says that “for decades now, successive Canadian governments have overlooked, taken for granted, or simply ignored the principle that economic security is national security.” [node:read-more:link]
The EU is pressing Iran “relentlessly” to release a Swedish diplomat who, having visited for official reasons several times, was taken into custody in April 2022 and charged with espionage while on a subsequent tourism visit. A “pawn for political reasons”, according to the EU, Johan Floderus is being held in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison. [node:read-more:link]
The Communications Security Establishment has singled out Russia and Iran as cybercrime safe havens where criminals can operate with impunity against foreign targets. It says in a new report today that this poses a threat to Canada’s national security and economic prosperity over the next two years. [node:read-more:link]
