The first report from the Foreign Board of Inquiry, released Friday by Judge Marie-Josée Hogue, has the feel of “you have to be at least this tall to ride.''
After hearing months of testimony in public and behind closed doors, her final conclusion was that attempts by foreign actors to interfere in Canadian politics did not affect the outcome of the 2019 and 2021 elections. , it was. In her report, the Secretary made this point clearly and narrowly. In short, her point is that the rules and mechanisms governing our elections worked as expected.
“Thus, I believe that voters were able to cast their votes and have their votes faithfully recorded,” she wrote.
So the Elections Canada machine worked as it was supposed to, and no one was able to grab the cogs by pushing a big stick through them.
But Judge Hogue's report, centered around its reassuring conclusions, has become a target for outside forces seeking to get people to think certain things, vote a certain way, or silence them on unwelcome topics. It is run through with warnings about individual Canadians and communities as a whole. . The Secretary went out of his way to make it clear that this human damage was critical to the functioning of the machine as a whole.
“Our electoral system is based on the principle of fairness among voters. All votes are counted equally and treated as having the same value, weight, and potential impact,” she wrote. . “Fairness presupposes that voters have access to reliable information, are able to engage in robust debate, and are free to think for themselves and form their own opinions.In my view, this report The events cited in this article likely reduced the ability of some voters to cast an informed vote, thereby tainting the process.''
And beyond the electoral process itself, there are bigger questions about the country's public life, how much true freedom its citizens have, and how powerful are the malign foreign weapons that extend beyond its borders. .
Editorial Board: Three big questions about foreign interference remain unanswered
A Guide to Foreign Interference and Alleged Chinese Influence in Canada
As Justice Hogue writes, the first testimony the committee heard was from a panel of members of the diaspora community, and their experiences provided a kind of lens through which she viewed everything she subsequently heard. It became.
The panel included six people from China, Iran, and Russia. They described living in “total darkness”, isolated from their families due to coercion and intimidation. The “invisible and persuasive hand” that forces Canada's diaspora communities to follow the dictates of oppressive regimes elsewhere. Misinformation and propaganda pumped out like contaminated water through social media channels.
Mehmet Tofti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, a member of that panel, wisely resolved everything at the ground level. When it comes to hostile foreign governments, he told the committee, the word “interference” conjures images of widespread, coordinated efforts, such as stealing intellectual property or launching disinformation campaigns. But that's not the case for the people living there.
“When you get to the personal level, it's a threat,” Tofti said in his testimony. “This is about taking over a family and forcing or coercing them to live within the rules. [a] of a hostile regime [a] A democratic country like Canada. ”
In an interview this week, he said he is always asked by his grown son and others why he persists in his advocacy despite the large and searing costs. His mother died in a Uighur concentration camp, he says, but he can't get any details – and the mystery his neighbors noticed pulling out every time they left the house. You can't get thousands of fine details, such as vehicles. Tofti believes that if he relents, China will learn that tactics work and, like a typical bully, will go further next time.
“We're free people in Canada, right? Why?” he said. “Because there were those before us who paid the price for our freedom. Isn't it true? We forget them or we only commemorate them once a year. But… Our freedom exists because of the sacrifices previous generations have made for us.”
Justice Hogue left the committee hearing confident that Canada's voting system is robust against attempts at interference.
However, the output of a factory is the result of a combination of the equipment on the shop floor and the raw materials supplied to it. If Canada's electoral system is the machine here, the raw material is all the citizens who make all the personal choices that shape the composition of the government and the direction of the country.
Mr. Tofti has his own clear and principled reasons for refusing to be intimidated.
But there are countless, perhaps millions, of people in Canada who face intimidation and manipulation from foreign powers. For those who are given a mirror-like view of the world that serves someone else's agenda, a fun one, and constant reminders that they are being watched from afar, it's up to them to change their vote, stay home, or not vote. How many people decide? Would you use your hands or voice if you had the chance?
And how can we know that?
