CSIS must inform government of threats targeting MPs, families: Trudeau

Justin Trudeau told reporters Wednesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has been directed to advise of threats regardless of whether they are deemed credible.

Canada’s intelligence agency must inform the government if there are threats made against any MP or their family, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.

Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has been directed to alert officials to threats, regardless of whether they are considered credible.

The development comes after the Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Beijing’s intelligence service allegedly sought to target Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong, citing a top-secret document and an anonymous national security source. The Globe also reported a Chinese diplomat who remains in Canada was allegedly involved.

“We’re making it very clear to CSIS and our intelligence officials that when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP – particularly about their family – those need to be elevated even if CSIS doesn’t feel that it’s a sufficient level of concern for them to take more direct action,” Trudeau said.

“We still need to know about it at the upper government levels.”

Trudeau said he only learned of the development on Monday after it was reported that CSIS had intelligence about the threats concerning Chong’s family two years ago.

He said CSIS was asked to brief Chong at the time after China publicly said it would sanction him for criticizing Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. CSIS never told anybody else about the information it had, Trudeau said.

In February 2021, Chong voted in favour of a motion condemning China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority as a genocide. The following month, China sanctioned Chong, barring him from entering the county and prohibiting Chinese citizens from conducting business with him.