APC

By Kyle Matthews

January 29, 2025

This week, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, more commonly known as the Hogue Commission for its commissioner, Marie-Josée Hogue, unveiled its long-awaited final report, exposing how foreign governments have meddled in Canada’s electoral system.

While the findings shed crucial light on threats to the integrity of Canada’s democratic processes, Commissioner Hogue emphasized that electoral interference is just one piece of a larger puzzle. She underscored the urgent need to address a more insidious and often overlooked dimension of foreign interference: transnational repression. She argued that the targeting of immigrant communities by other governments is “one of the greatest strategic challenges to Canada’s sovereignty and democracy.”

What is transnational repression? Freedom House defines it as “governments reaching across borders to silence dissent among diasporas and exiles, including through assassinations, illegal deportations, abductions, digital threats, Interpol abuse, and family intimidation.” This growing phenomenon sees authoritarian and illiberal regimes extend their reach across borders to intimidate, silence, and control diaspora communities, posing a direct threat not only to individual freedoms but to Canada’s sovereignty and values.

In the 2022 report We Will Find You, Human Rights Watch reported that:  “Methods of transnational repression include killings, unlawful removals (expulsions, extraditions, and deportations), abductions and enforced disappearances, targeting of relatives, abuse of consular services, and so-called digital transnational repression, which includes the use of technology to surveil or harass people. These tactics often facilitate further human rights violations, such as torture and ill-treatment.”

Canada has long been celebrated as a beacon of democracy and human rights. However, our reputation and the safety of our diaspora communities and human rights leaders are increasingly under threat from authoritarian governments that export their repression to our shores. The time has come for Canada to take a leadership role in combating transnational repression and leverage its 2025 presidency of the G7 to mobilize a unified global strategy.

The inquiry into foreign interference revealed chilling details about the reach of authoritarian regimes within Canada. Representatives from various diaspora communities testified about harassment, surveillance, disinformation campaigns, and even death threats targeting their members.

The inquiry into foreign interference revealed chilling details about the reach of authoritarian regimes within Canada. Representatives from various diaspora communities testified about harassment, surveillance, disinformation campaigns, and even death threats targeting their members. From Iran’s recent attempted assassination of Irwin Cotler, former Canadian minister of justice, to India’s alleged involvement in the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the evidence of transnational repression is undeniable.

These incidents underscore the urgent need for Canada to act decisively.

Gloria Fung, former president of Canada-Hong Kong Link, testified that Canada is “one of the most covertly infiltrated of all liberal democracies,” with Chinese government agents allegedly accessing sensitive information and exploiting Canada’s resources. Moninder Singh of the B.C. Gurdwaras Council highlighted the life-and-death stakes for Canada’s Sikh community, while Tamil and Russian activists shared similar stories of intimidation and propaganda.

Canada’s presidency of the G7 in 2025 presents a pivotal opportunity to lead the global fight against transnational repression. While this leadership must begin at home by strengthening our domestic frameworks and extending protections to those at risk, it is also essential that we galvanize allied democracies to confront transnational repression collectively. A united front would involve information sharing, coordinated sanctions against offending states, and joint efforts to disrupt repression networks. Canada can also champion the establishment of international norms and agreements to counter these threats while emphasizing the protection of human rights.

The stakes of inaction are too great to ignore. Transnational repression not only endangers individual lives but also erodes the very foundations of democracy and trust in public institutions. In her recent book Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, author Anne Applebaum explains how authoritarian regimes, most notably China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, are targeting the fabric of our societies, undermining security, and exploiting divisions to advance their agendas.

The Canadian government has a moral and strategic imperative to act. As Ottawa prepares to take the helm of the G7, it can lead by example, forging a path that defends democracy and human rights not just within our borders, but across the globe. Canada must rise to this challenge—for the safety of its citizens, the protection of its diaspora communities, and the preservation of democratic values worldwide.

Kyle Matthews is Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security.