Thank you. It's an honour to be called to testify.
My name is Sam Cooper and I am now reporting for my own journalism platform, The Bureau. The Bureau's first two stories are relevant to your examination today of information I reviewed in documents regarding Beijing's “Threatening Canada's elected officials to deter criticism”.
First, I wish to inform the committee of how I collected knowledge on these matters in the past decade. While covering foreign investment in Vancouver real estate, I started researching foreign interference in connection with the public statements of former CSIS director Richard Fadden in 2010.
In September 2014, for The Province newspaper, I authored a story entitled, “Is China influencing B.C.’s municipal politicians?” The story, using access to information, examined CSIS documents.
In March 2015, for The Province, I authored another story entitled, “Chinese police run secret operations in B.C. to hunt allegedly corrupt officials and laundered money”.
I believe these stories provide historical context for this committee.
Now I'll go to the 2021 federal election.
I’ll quote from now-public information in my June 17 article for The Bureau, which was an extended interview with MP Erin O'Toole.
In the published interview, I told Mr. O'Toole:
I've reported about this January 2022 Privy Council Office intelligence report, sourced from 100 CSIS reports...what the document said, is that a “small number of MPs in the 2021 election reported concern for their families, their privacy, their reputations, and their reelection chances, as a result of targeted CCP activity.”
Mr. O'Toole answered:
...that's very troubling to hear. I'm not surprised, because when I was briefed on the examples of intelligence that were shared with me.... And some of the activities were so intense in the Greater Toronto Area and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, it would not surprise me if people were followed. Tabs kept on people, intimidation, voter suppression.
I questioned Mr. O'Toole again, saying:
I learned from sources aware of CSIS investigations in 2021, that CSIS officers found that Chinese officials in Toronto were following one MP during the campaign.
They were also allegedly approaching voters in relation to this candidate. And CSIS found this activity, I was told, coordinated and alarming.
Mr. O'Toole answered:
Well, that seems to coordinate or correspond completely with the fourth element that I included in my speech in the House of Commons.
Which is one clear example of voter suppression in a riding in Canada.
Finally, I'll quote from the preamble to my interview with Mr. O'Toole in my article. In it, I explain that I personally received a CSIS threat brief in 2021 after my book on Chinese foreign interference in Canada was published.
I wrote this in my June 17 article for The Bureau:
So, a CSIS officer met me in Ottawa.... I was told that Chinese security agents in Canada are dangerous. And they were tasked to look into my background, study the impact of my book, and to discover my reporting sources.
I believe this information provides important context for the committee on the Chinese Communist Party seeking to influence or intimidate journalists in the same way it seeks to influence or threaten Canadian politicians.
I look forward to your questions, but I am sure the honourable members understand I take the protection of my sources very seriously. Please understand I cannot answer questions about identifying confidential sources, or speak about editorial or legal processes regarding my prior reporting.
Thanks.