Declaration of Emergency committee  Yes and, Mr. Green, I would answer you that all of the classified advice we provide to the government I'm not at liberty to discuss—

Declaration of Emergency committee  No, I just answered the question, Mr. Green.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The threat environment has evolved significantly over the last four years. We have made public through our annual report and two different public comments the fact that, from a CSIS point of view, we are more worried about the rise of violent extremism in Canada.

Declaration of Emergency committee  The concern we had with the convoy at the outset and throughout was the fact that we had seen in Canada and other jurisdictions people and violent extremists using protests and demonstrations to engage in acts of violence, to recruit members and to spread their ideology further.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Yes, I am familiar with that.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I'm not sure what you're referring to by “coordinate authorities”.

Declaration of Emergency committee  What I can say is, to the best of my ability and the limits of the CSIS Act and the Security of Information Act, Mr. Green, I will absolutely endeavour to be as candid as possible with you and all committee members.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Absolutely.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I am always frank in my discussions with members of Parliament.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Absolutely. Whatever the committee decides to do, of course I will try to comply to the best of my ability and to answer all the questions with candour. There are limitations on what I can say publicly in terms of classified information, and in terms of advice provided—

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Members of the committee, good evening. My name is David Vigneault, and I am the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. I am accompanied this evening by Cherie Henderson, assistant director for requirements at CSIS, and Marie-Hélène Chayer, the executive director of the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Senator Harder, for your question. Yes, indeed, the resources dedicated to investigating ideologically motivated violent extremists have increased at CSIS. I would say that close to 50% of our counterterrorism capacity is now devoted to that phenomenon, as opposed to the contrasted phenomenon of religiously motivated....

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you for your question, Senator. As an intelligence organization, we are constantly looking at the movement of ideologically motivated violent extremists, so we have a fairly good understanding of the dynamics at play. I would not necessarily say that we were surprised. We've seen in the past a number of these elements trying to use protests and demonstrations to infiltrate and take advantage by engaging in activities that can meet the threshold of CSIS to be a threat of terrorism.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I cannot respond with yes or no, Mr. Green. I just have to say that we have provided information to the Governor in Council. Thank you.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Green, for your question. I would say that part of the Emergencies Act refers to the CSIS definition of violence, of terrorism, but the information from CSIS is but one of the elements that the Governor in Council would consider to make its assessment.