Mr. Chair, thank you.
Good morning, colleagues. Thank you for being here this morning to discuss this important issue. Your chair has introduced my colleagues, senior officials who are joining me this morning. Some of us are old hands at this table, but Vanessa tells me that as our interim director of CSIS, it's her first time before this parliamentary committee.
Vanessa, welcome to this important part of our parliamentary democracy. Thank you for joining us.
As members are aware, the investigation and arrest of these individuals are the result of the efforts of Canada's national security, intelligence and law enforcement partners. At the very beginning, I would like to take the opportunity, as I have on other occasions, to commend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Canada Border Services Agency and their partners, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto regional police service, the York Regional Police, the Peel Regional Police and the Durham Regional Police Service for their outstanding work together on this important case. The arrest of these two individuals is a great example of outstanding police and intelligence work.
As new information became available, our national security partners acted quickly to keep Canadians safe. While I will gladly provide the committee with as much information as possible, of course, understanding Canadians' obvious interest in answers to these many questions, we must remember that we should have these discussions in a manner that does not impair the Crown's ability to prosecute these accused persons or the police services' ability to investigate any or all of these circumstances in their judgment if they deem it to be necessary to continue those investigations.
As I said, all Canadians deserve answers and transparency. That is precisely what all of us aim to provide today. This morning I submitted to the committee a chronology of events, in English and French, that was worked on by the security agencies represented with me at the table and, of course, by our Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship colleagues as well.
Members will note that the chronology shows it was only in June of this year that CSIS became aware of the potential threat posed by these subjects. For greater precision, I was informed by CSIS on July 24 of this year, in a briefing where senior officials of the RCMP were also present, that CSIS had been assessing the threat from these individuals based on recent intelligence. Upon learning this information, CSIS took immediate measures to assess and obviously mitigate the threat.
I was assured of, and briefed on, the close surveillance of the threat, including at the appropriate time by members of the RCMP, who were positioned to act on any indicators—any indicators—of an escalating or imminent threat. As you know, these individuals were arrested on July 28 of this year and are now charged with nine serious offences, including terrorism-related offences, and are currently incarcerated, remanded into custody.
This is the way the investigative and national security system should work.
That said, an important question is how these people ended up in Canada.
Security screening is the first but not the only line of defence against actors seeking to enter or gain status in Canada in an attempt to harm our citizens or national interests.
A screening is done in three stages: before a person gets to Canada, at the border and sometimes once the person is in Canada.
Before someone travels to Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and CSIS work closely together to conduct security screenings of foreign nationals.
Based on risk indicators, IRCC determines which applications require an enhanced security screening by the CBSA or CSIS. The two agencies use a variety of techniques and methodologies, and also rely on a robust network of international partners to carry out these assessments.
All people wishing to enter Canada are subjected to a CBSA screening, and they must prove that they meet the entry requirements.
Decisions are made based on the information available at the time of entry.
Officials in my department and at IRCC are in the process of reviewing the files of the two individuals to understand specifically what information was available at the time the decisions were made.
Once we have these facts, we will move quickly to make the necessary changes to strengthen the system, if need be.
What is important for Canadians to know is that our security services operate continuously, seeking out threats within Canada and threats that may come to us from abroad, and then they respond quickly and effectively. The fact that these two individuals are in jail and facing serious criminal charges reflects the outstanding work done by the RCMP and their partners.
Our government's broader counterterrorism efforts are designed to detect and prevent terrorism activities obviously at the earliest opportunity. Together with our security and law enforcement partners, our government will continue to prevent, detect, disrupt and respond to any suspected terrorism threats and activities and will hold accountable those persons who may seek to undertake such activities.
With that, Mr. Chair, thank you for your invitation.
I imagine most of you have missed me a lot over the summer. You must be very excited to see me. Looking at your smiling faces I can see that this is a very happy reunion, and I'm looking forward to our conversation that will follow.
