Trudeau orders CSIS to tell government if MPs or their families are threatened

Article content

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has ordered CSIS to make him aware of any threats against MPs or their families in future, regardless of how the spy agency judges the intelligence.

Article content

Trudeau’s edict comes in the wake of reporting this week in the Globe and Mail, that a Chinese diplomat, who appears to still be stationed in Toronto suggested targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family in China because of Chong’s push to condemn the Uyghur genocide.

Trudeau said he was aware China had sanctioned Chong, but didn’t know about the threats to his family.

“We all knew after the genocide motion that China made it a public thing about sanctioning Michael Chong two years ago, because of his because of strong leadership on condemning the violence against the Uyghurs,” the prime minister said ahead of the Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday.

Article content

Trudeau said since the reporting this week, he has raised the issue with CSIS and was told they made a deliberate choice not to share the information outside the intelligence agency.

“CSIS made the determination that wasn’t something that needed to be raised or higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern,” he said.

Chong said he had been briefed by CSIS about foreign interference more generally, but was never told anything about his family. He said the government should have sent the Chinese diplomat back to China.

“The government did not inform me that a diplomat was targeting my family, nor did the government take any action to expel the diplomat responsible for orchestrating this intimidation campaign.

Article content

Trudeau arranged for Chong to have a briefing with the head of CSIS and the National Security Advisor on Tuesday. He said he has also made it clear to CSIS that in future any information about threats to an MP or their family should be shared.

“We’re making it very, very clear to CSIS of all intelligence officials, that when there are concerns, talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family, those need to be elevated, even if CSIS doesn’t feel that it’s a sufficient level of concern.”

He said CSIS receives large volumes of information and normally makes the call based on their professional experience, but he wants them to come forward with threats about MPs.

“CSIS receives a tremendous amount of information all the time about what various consular officials are doing what various foreign interference actors are engaged in. They constantly make decisions around what is a credible threat, what is a non credible threat. They are professionals who make that evaluation.”

Twitter: RyanTumilty
Email: [email protected]