Reporting requirements for 2023
Annual Report 2023

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Injury to national security and refusal to provide information

14. The NSICOP Act has several reporting requirements. The Committee must include in its annual report the number of instances in the preceding year that an appropriate minister determined that a review conducted under paragraph 8(1)(b) of the Act would be injurious to national security. It must also disclose the number of times a responsible minister refused to provide information to the Committee due to his or her opinion that the information constituted special operational information and would be injurious to national security, consistent with subsection 16(1) of the Act.

15. In 2023, no reviews proposed by the Committee were deemed injurious to national security by a minister and no information requested by the Committee was refused by a minister on these grounds.

  • Reviews deemed injurious to national security: 0
  • Information requests refused: 0

Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act

16. Pursuant to the Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act (the Act), twelve organizations within the federal government must submit to their Minister an annual report in respect of the implementation of the Act in the previous calendar year. Footnote 4 The annual reports must contain information regarding:

  1. The disclosure of information to a foreign entity that would result in a substantial risk of mistreatment to an individual;
  2. The making of requests to any foreign entity for information that would result in a substantial risk of mistreatment of an individual; and
  3. The use of information that is likely to have been obtained through the mistreatment of an individual by a foreign entity.

17. The Act requires the implicated Ministers to provide a copy of their organization’s annual mistreatment reports to NSICOP and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA). The Committee received all twelve annual compliance reports.

Referrals

18. Pursuant to paragraph 8(1)(c) of the NSICOP Act, any minister of the Crown may refer any matter relating to national security or intelligence to the Committee for review.

19. On March 6, 2023, the Prime Minister requested that NSICOP “complete a review to assess the state of foreign interference in federal electoral processes” with respect to “the 43rd and 44th federal general elections, including potential effects on Canada’s democracy and institutions, and have their findings and recommendations reported to Parliament.” Footnote 5

20. The Committee considered the Prime Minister’s request. It decided on a broader review under paragraph 8(1)(a) of the NSICOP Act of the state of foreign interference in Canada’s federal democratic processes and institutions, from 2018 to the present, examining other periods, where relevant.

21. On March 8, 2023, the Committee announced its review of foreign interference in Canada’s federal democratic processes and institutions. Footnote 6 The review will build on the Committee’s review of the government’s response to foreign interference from 2015 to 2018 which was tabled in 2020. Footnote 7

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