OTTAWA, Mar 25: India has the “intent and capability” to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes, a media report said quoting a top Canadian intelligence officer.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) deputy director Vanessa Lloyd also claimed that China, Russia and Pakistan too could interfere in the federal election campaign.
Lloyd was addressing a media briefing Monday on efforts to protect the integrity of the general election, voting for which takes place on April 28.
“We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes to assert its geopolitical influence,” Lloyd said, according to CTV News.
Under a federal protocol introduced in 2019, the news channel said, a panel of bureaucrats has the power to warn the public if it decides one or more incidents threaten Canada’s ability to hold a free and fair vote.
The panel receives regular updates from the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force, which is chaired by Lloyd.
Most threat actors “likely have adapted their tradecraft to conceal foreign interference activity, making it even more challenging to detect,” she said.
Lloyd said China is highly likely to use tools enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) to interfere in the federal election campaign and “highly likely to turn to social media to promote narratives favourable to its interests”, the news channel said.
This would be done to specifically target Chinese ethnic, cultural and religious communities in Canada using deceptive means, it said.
Lloyd also alleged that Russia has tried to build “dissemination networks” across social media and news websites that amplify Kremlin talking points.
“It is possible that Russia will use these online networks to opportunistically conduct foreign information manipulation and interference operations directed at Canadians,” CTV News said quoting Lloyd.
Pakistan could also conduct foreign interference activities against Canada in line with its strategic aims, she added.
Meanwhile, quoting unnamed sources, The Globe and Mail alleged Tuesday that agents of India and their proxies meddled in the 2022 election of Pierre Poilievre, a Conservative Party leader.
Quoting a source with “top-secret clearance”, it said that the CSIS learned that Indian agents were involved in raising money and organising within the South Asian community for Poilievre during the leadership race, which he won.
CSIS did not have evidence that Poilivre or members of his inner circle were aware of the alleged actions of India’s agents and their proxies, it said, quoting the source.
The relations between India and Canada plummetted to a new low after former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged in September 2023 that India was behind the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a charge trashed by India.
The allegation led to the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats by New Delhi, which also withdrew six Indian diplomats from Canada in October 2024. Ottawa, however, said it had expelled them. (PTI)
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