Information & Ethics committee  I always hate to narrow things down, because then I worry that people will start to focus only on those threat actors. I think everyone in this room is probably already aware that another actor we're concerned about is Russia. We are also concerned about Iran and North Korea. T

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, absolutely. Several months ago, the Minister of Public Safety issued a ministerial directive indicating that if we became aware, within the service, of negative activities directed against politicians by hostile foreign states, then we were to look at the information, dete

Information & Ethics committee  I wouldn't specifically focus on the so-called police stations. What I would say to you is this: There is absolutely foreign interference activity happening in our country, but it can come in all forms and varieties. By focusing on just the police stations, I worry that individua

Information & Ethics committee  I think that's a very interesting question and one we need to discuss. A lot of it comes down to how Canadians protect their own personal information—or any citizen of the world, let's say. If you are quite open and put a lot of your personal information out on social media, ab

Information & Ethics committee  Sami, would you be able to answer that particular question?

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure whether I could indicate that it went back to China. I'd have to go back and see what we know about it. What I can say is that, again, you're very right. Individuals will pull all of that data and target whoever they feel is somebody they need to try to repress, wan

Information & Ethics committee  I would term that as a foreign interference activity, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  I couldn't give you a specific number. Again, what I would say is that every single politician, every member of Parliament, should always protect their personal information, their privacy, and be aware if somebody or an entity is trying to approach them in order to engage in so

Information & Ethics committee  No, that would be GAC. Foreign Affairs is the one that manages the rapid response mechanism.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry. I had to go back a bit in my memory here. First of all, I'm not sure that I would necessarily call them “police stations”. I think what we have seen over the past few months is individuals who have links back to the PRC or who are supporting some of the work of the P

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Cherie Henderson, and I'm an assistant deputy minister and assistant director of requirements at CSIS. It is an honour to join you today and to have the opportunity to contribute to your important di

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The purpose of the personal security briefings is so that individuals are aware of what's happening around them. We hope that if they are aware, then, yes, they will discuss with us. The original intent is not to try to get information from them at all. It is to create that aware

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much for that question. I think the first part is actually the awareness piece. I think that's what we're starting to have, that conversation in Canada. The first part is making sure that you understand that one. Because of who you are and the position that you ha

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It really depends on the investigation we're engaged in. As I indicated earlier, when we start an investigation, our threshold is that we suspect...because of information we have started to collect. Depending on that piece of information—and each piece of information, as I note

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, that's right, and as I indicated, it really depends on the seriousness of the actual threat we're looking at and the amount of information we have to support our assessment of the seriousness of the threat. One thing I would also add is that when we're doing an investigatio