CSIS chief facing questions about sharing secret intelligence with foreign interference inquiry
CBC
The head of Canada's spy agency and other senior intelligence officials are testifying today as the inquiry probing allegations of foreign election interference continues to wrestle with the question of how much sensitive information — if any — it can share with the public.
Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue is investigating whether China, Russia, India and other nations interfered in the past two elections, and how information about foreign interference flowed within the federal government. The inquiry was announced after media reports accused Beijing of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
But before the inquiry can delve into questions about who knew what and when, it first needs to work out how it can discuss the issues in public while also protecting intelligence sources and methods.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault is set to appear before the inquiry this morning. He's expected to be questioned about discussing secret intelligence in public.
On Wednesday, one of his predecessors, former CSIS chief Richard Fadden, said Canada should be more transparent about national security intelligence.
"Things are classified more than they need to be," he said. "The culture, the workload and the tradition in agencies, I think, is to tend towards overprotection."
The commission will also hear today from two other senior officials who handle intelligence: Alia Tayyeb, deputy chief of signals intelligence at the Communications Security Establishment, and Dan Rogers, the deputy national security and intelligence adviser based out of the Privy Council Office.
Hogue said at the outset of the hearings that she's on a mission to uncover the truth and share as much as possible with Canadians.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Alberta's measles surge is so dramatic, the last time case counts were higher Calgary did not have an NHL team, O Canada was not yet the official national anthem and gasoline would set you back 24 cents a litre.
Red-winged blackbirds are dive-bombing residents of one Toronto neighbourhood, swooping down and pecking at their heads, but an expert says there's not too much the locals can do as the birds protect their nests.
The Cree First Nation of Waswanipi has officially broken ground on its hotel, marking a milestone for the northern Quebec community after decades of anticipation.
Former prime minister Jean Chretien says dignitaries attending next week's G7 leaders summit in Alberta should avoid engaging with the "crazy" from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The area burned by wildfires so far this season is the second-largest on record in Canada, according to government data.
Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for all of Prince Edward Island.
The Canadian citizen believed to be on an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff is a dentist from Mississauga, Ont., her family has confirmed.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy.
Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says she's going to put Canada Post's latest offers to unionized postal workers up for a vote in the hope of breaking a longstanding impasse between the parties.
Financial disclosures submitted to Newfoundland and Labrador's Liberal Party show Premier John Hogan received close to three times the amount of money his opponent, John Abbott, brought in during the leadership campaign — including large-scale donations from groups that benefit from government contracts.
Outside a hockey arena in the Copper Cliff neighbourhood of Sudbury, Ont., there's a group of three interconnected trailers with the Statistics Canada logo blazoned at the top.
In Victoria Joumaa's Halifax home, there are bedrooms furnished with single beds — soccer balls on the nightstands in one room, a pink owl clock and a plush panda toy in the other — with clothing in both closets, all for children who do not live there.
If you stand in the trees and brush between Trout Creek and Kurtis Carter and Kassandra Chudiak's home in Sussex, you can hear water rushing by.