OTTAWA — Some of the federal government’s top bureaucrats have been warned about China and India trying to use their respective ethnic communities in Canada to advance their own agendas.
The stark warning is in a secret report prepared for deputy ministers attending a retreat on national security last year that also pointed out the challenge in preventing foreign countries from launching “hostile-state activity” against Canada.
Such actions include cyberattacks, efforts to spread misinformation and using diaspora communities, either directly or indirectly, to steal technology, influence elections and target Canada’s economy, infrastructure and democratic institutions.
Obtained by The Canadian Press through the access-to-information law, the report’s release comes ahead of a federal election in which Canada’s relations with China and India as well as fears of foreign-government interference are likely to figure prominently.
In the past week, the Canadian branch of a Sikh group, Sikhs for Justice, filed a defamation suit against the Indian government — headed by Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi — over stories in Indian media suggesting Canadian Sikhs are behind terrorist acts in India in pursuit of an independent Sikh homeland carved out of Indian territory.
Shortly afterward, the Indian government banned Sikhs for Justice, outlawing it for five years.
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