Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada’s intelligence agencies are being directed to immediately inform MPs if there are any threats against them, regardless of whether the threats are considered credible.
Trudeau says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service never told anyone about information it received concerning China threatening family members of Conservative MP Michael Chong who live in Hong Kong.
The prime minister says he only learned on Monday, after it was reported in the media, that CSIS had intelligence about such threats two years ago.
Trudeau says 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.
But he says CSIS did not consider intelligence that Chong or his family in China were being threatened credible enough to elevate it outside their own organization.
He says that when it comes to the safety and security of members of Parliament or their families, the intelligence agencies should always make that information known.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2023.
