Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be testifying before the inquiry on Wednesday
A busload full of Chinese high school students coerced into voting for a Liberal candidate. An opaque cash injection of thousands of dollars from China. A proxy agent of India’s government providing illegal financial support to pro-India politicians.
These allegations and more surfaced during two weeks of testimony in Canada’s ongoing public inquiry into foreign interference in its elections.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to testify on Wednesday, and has said he is “looking forward” to answering questions.
The accusations heard so far – which were made by Canada’s spy agency in a series of redacted documents provided for the inquiry – are to be taken with caution, officials said.
The reports may include uncorroborated information that is single-sourced or incomplete, and that has not been properly investigated, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warned.
China and India have repeatedly denied any allegations that they are among the countries that have interfered in Canada’s affairs – with India recently calling them “baseless allegations”.
But some politicians have said interference may have affected their political careers.
And testimony from members of Canada’s varied diaspora communities shone a light on alleged threats to their safety by agents tied to governments in their home countries.
The inquiry, led by Quebec judge Marie-Josee Hogue, is hearing from more than 40 community members, politicians and federal election officials before its first report is published next month.
Those affected by the alleged meddling efforts have accused officials and CSIS of not doing enough to combat it, or of keeping them in the dark altogether.
And Canada’s own spy agency has said the government is not doing enough to tackle the issue, and that the country lags behind its “Five Eyes” intelligence allies – the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Trudeau – whose Liberal Party won the last two federal elections in 2019 and 2021 – came under pressure to set up the inquiry after allegations of foreign interference emerged from leaked intelligence in Canadian media.
Last week he sidestepped reporters’ questions about the purported meddling, simply saying the issue was “extremely important” and that he looked forward to testifying on Wednesday.
What has the inquiry heard so far?
From testimony and partially unsealed classified documents, Canadians have learned some of the ways China and other foreign governments may have attempted to interfere in those two elections.
There is no evidence the results of the election were affected.
CSIS has alleged that the Chinese government “clandestinely and deceptively” interfered in both elections.
The interference was “pragmatic in nature and focused primarily in supporting those viewed to be either ‘pro-PRC’ (Peoples’ Republic of China) or ‘neutral’ on issues of interest to the PRC government,” said a briefing by the agency.
“We also observed online and media activities aimed at discouraging Canadians, particularly of Chinese heritage, from supporting the Conservative Party (and former) leader Erin O’Toole,” the briefing note added.
Mr O’Toole testified last week that his campaign was marred by a deluge of misinformation that he believes lost his party up to nine seats in the 2021 election.
He said that, while the overall result of the election – which his party lost to Mr Trudeau’s Liberals – was not affected, he believes it led to his ouster as leader.
Former federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole testified that his party may have lost some seats in the 2021 election due to foreign meddling
CSIS reports mentioned a possible C$250,000 ($184,000; £145,300) funnelled from China during the 2019 election to an unnamed candidate’s staff member, and then to others, in a meddling attempt.
The spy agency also accused China of funding a charter bus in 2019 to send Chinese private high school students to help a Liberal politician, Han Dong, secure his party’s nomination.
CSIS suggested that the students were coerced, that “their student visas would be in jeopardy and that there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC” if they did not support Mr Dong.
In his testimony, Mr Dong, who now sits as an independent, said he met with Chinese students and encouraged them to register as Liberal members during his campaign.
But he denied knowledge of anything nefarious. International students are allowed to vote in Liberal party nominations as long as they can prove they live in the riding (constituency or electoral district).
India and Pakistan also were named by CSIS as trying to interfere in both elections.
In India’s case, the spy agency said activities were carried out by a proxy agent of the Indian government, and “were centred on a small number of electoral districts” to support pro-India candidates.
They were motivated by the perception that “a portion of Indo-Canadian voters were sympathetic to the Khalistani movement or pro-Pakistan political stances,” CSIS reported.
Mr Trudeau previously accused India of being involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was killed on Canadian soil in June 2023.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s attempted meddling was allegedly “to counter India’s growing global influence,” though it was limited in nature, CSIS reported.
According to testimony, while CSIS and other officials knew about these allegations, they didn’t alert the targeted politicians or the public.
Mr O’Toole said he raised concerns about meddling during the 2021 election and was not taken seriously.
But Mr Trudeau’s national security advisor Nathalie Drouin, who was on a panel of top bureaucrats at the time tasked with reviewing election threats, countered by saying there was not enough proof at the time of China’s activities against the Conservative Party.
“There was some risk that any intervention by the panel could create more harm than good,” she said, adding there were fears that it would incite confusion and alarm the public.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
