Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser says that while Canada’s security services failed to warn MPs about China’s intimidation tactics in a timely fashion, the breakdown in that process isn’t the fault of any one person.
“There is no one person. There is no single point of failure,” Jody Thomas told a parliamentary committee Thursday morning.
The senior public servant’s testimony comes after three MPs publicized information they’ve received from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about the Chinese government’s campaigns against them.
Thomas told the procedure and House affairs committee she only learned recently that former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and NDP MP Jenny Kwan were targeted by Beijing.
WATCH | O’Toole rises in House on foreign interference
Conservative MP Erin O’Toole spoke about the briefing he received from CSIS after he was told he was the target of foreign interference during the last election.
Thomas told MPs CSIS briefed her on these cases over the “last three to four weeks” and that Trudeau himself only learned about them recently.
“How is that possible?” asked Conservative MP Micheal Cooper. “How is that conceivable?”
“I agree that there needs to be a better management of intelligence that is coming into deputy ministers’ offices, ministers’ offices, into the [National Security and Intelligence Adviser’s office], in order to brief the prime minister,” Thomas replied.
“I understand completely that the information that has been leaked to the media or now briefed to members of Parliament is shocking and disturbing to hear. It should not have happened in this matter.”
Earlier this week, both O’Toole and Kwan described the briefings they received from CSIS.
O’Toole told the House of Commons Tuesday that CSIS told him he has been an ongoing target of a Chinese government campaign of misinformation and “voter suppression” that covered the last federal election campaign.
Kwan told reporters Monday that CSIS told her she is an “evergreen” target for Beijing. Both O’Toole and Kwan said China’s government is singling them out over their vocal support for democracy in Hong Kong and for religious and cultural minorities in China.
The procedure and House affairs committee has been studying Beijing’s intimidation campaigns, including the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong.
No one person to blame: Thomas
In a report released last week, former governor general David Johnston — appointed by Trudeau as a special rapporteur on foreign interference — found evidence that Chinese officials contemplated taking unspecified action against Chong and sought to build a profile on him.
Trudeau and Thomas have both said they only learned about the campaign against Chong after the Globe and Mail published a story last month.
WATCH | ‘We have rectified’ how ministers and PM will receive CSIS briefings: Thomas
During testimony before a parliamentary committee, Conservative MP Michael Cooper questioned National Security and Intelligence Adviser Jody Thomas about how intelligence travels from CSIS to the Prime Minister’s Office and ministers. Thomas says the process has been rectified following recent concerns that the prime minister and his office were not briefed about parliamentarians being targeted by Beijing.
Thomas, who took over the job of national security adviser in 2022, told MPs on the committee she won’t speculate about what happened before her tenure.
“I think there was a breakdown in process. Not only a breakdown in process, I think an insufficient process,” she said.
Citing a recent directive to CSIS ordering it to do a better job of informing MPs at risk, Thomas said the process has been “rectified.”
“It is a system that has operated for years and we are adding structure to it,” she said.