Opening statement for testimony on Foreign Interference

It is an honour to be called to testify.

My name is Sam Cooper and I am now reporting for my own journalism platform, The Bureau. 

The Bureau’s first two stories are relevant to your examination today, of information I have reviewed in documents, regarding Beijing’s “Threatening Canada’s elected officials to deter criticism.”

First, I wish to inform the Committee of how I collected knowledge on these matters in the past decade: while covering foreign investment in Vancouver real estate, I started researching foreign interference, in connection to the public statements of former CSIS director Richard Fadden, in 2010.

In September 2014, for The Province newspaper, I authored a story titled: “Is China influencing BC’s municipal politicians”

The story, using Access to Information, examined CSIS documents.

In March 2015, for The Province, I authored another story titled “Chinese police run secret operations in BC to hunt allegedly corrupt officials and laundered money”

I believe these stories provide historical context for this Committee.

Now to the 2021 Federal Election.

I’ll quote from now — public information – in my June 17th article for The Bureau – an extended interview with MP Erin O’Toole.

In the published interview I told Mr. O’Toole: “I have reported about this January 2022 Privy Council Office intelligence report — sourced from 100 CSIS reports.

What the document said, is that a “small number of MPs in the 2021 election reported concern for their families, their privacy, their reputations, and their reelection chances, as a result of targeted CCP activity.”

Mr. O’Toole answered: “That's very troubling to hear. I'm not surprised, because when I was briefed on the examples of intelligence that were shared with me … some of the activities were so intense in the Greater Toronto Area and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, it would not surprise me if people were followed. Tabs kept on people, intimidation, voter suppression.”

I questioned Mr. O’Toole again, saying: “I learned from sources aware of CSIS investigations in 2021, that CSIS officers found that Chinese officials in Toronto were following one MP during the campaign.

They were also allegedly approaching voters in relation to this candidate. And CSIS found this activity, I was told, coordinated and alarming.”

Mr. O’Toole answered: “Well, that seems to coordinate or correspond completely with the fourth element that I included in my speech in the House of Commons. Which is one clear example of voter suppression in a riding in Canada.”

Finally, I will quote from the preamble from my interview with Mr. O’Toole. 

In it, I explained that I personally received a CSIS threat brief in 2021, after my book on Chinese foreign interference in Canada was published. 

I wrote in my June 17th article: “A CSIS officer met me in Ottawa … I was told that Chinese security agents in Canada are dangerous. And they were tasked to look into my background, study the impact of my book, and to discover my reporting sources.” 

I believe this information provides important context for the Committee, that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to influence or intimidate journalists, in the same way it seeks to influence or threaten Canadian politicians. 

Thanks, I look forward to your questions. And I take the protection of my sources very seriously. I know the Honourable Members understand I cannot answer questions about identifying confidential sources, or editorial or legal processes regarding my prior reporting.