The bad optics of Trudeau’s Twitter aid pledge
The RCMP has admitted it made a series of errors resulting in a failure to inform Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s security detail that a man once convicted of attempting to assassinate an Indian politician was planning to attend events with Trudeau during an official government trip to India last year.
That finding is contained in the first-ever report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, made up of MPs and senators cleared to view top secret documents and review national security matters.
The report says the RCMP had received information about Jaspal Atwal’s possible attendance on Feb. 13 — a full week before Atwal attended an event in Mumbai — yet the followup investigation saw errors and delays.
“The RCMP had information that Mr. Atwal had a serious criminal record and a history of involvement in violent acts, issues which should have been identified as security risks to the Prime Minister and his delegation,” the report says.
“The RCMP recognizes that it erred in not providing that information to the Prime Minister’s Protective Detail.”
The 40-page report was released Monday, but only after the Prime Minister’s Office heavily redacted portions to “remove information deemed injurious to national security and international relations.”
The report examines three issues: allegations of foreign interference related to Trudeau’s trip; the security issues around Trudeau’s events in India and whether guests were vetted ahead of time; and a controversial briefing to journalists given by the government’s national security adviser.
Most of the section on foreign interference is redacted.
On the issue of the media briefing given by then-national security and intelligence adviser Daniel Jean, the report raises numerous concerns about whether it was appropriate for someone in Jean’s role, but concedes his decision “was made under difficult circumstances.”
However, this section does conclude that “the most compelling rationale presented by (Jean) for his briefing to journalists was his desire to counter foreign interference in ‘real time.’ ” It says the committee finds there was good reason for Jean’s suspicion there was “an orchestrated attempt to ‘shine a spotlight’ on Mr. Atwal’s invitation in order to embarrass the Canadian Government.” But the details are redacted.
The most extensive section covers security issues around a Feb. 20 reception in Mumbai and a Feb. 22 reception in Delhi. Atwal was on the guest list for both. He attended the Mumbai event, and was photographed with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and then-Infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi. His invitation to the Delhi event was revoked soon after.
The guest list for each event was massive: 1,100 for Mumbai (397 people attended) and 2,500 for Delhi (808 attended). The lists were largely compiled by Canadian officials based in India, but the Prime Minister’s Office added 403 names on Feb. 10 — including Atwal. The report indicates there are more names on the prime minister’s list that were later deemed a problem, but it redacts all details.
There was no systematic vetting of the guest lists, in part because of logistical challenges. The report recommends the government develop “a consistent method of conducting background checks” for proposed guest lists for foreign events with the prime minister.
However, the report outlines how RCMP’s B.C.-based Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (EINSET) received a tip on Feb. 13 that Atwal was planning to attend events. EINSET claims it passed this on to CSIS, the report says, but “CSIS stated it has no record of this interaction.”
The information was passed to RCMP headquarters, and after determining Atwal was not travelling with the official delegation, a senior officer instructed EINSET to check if Atwal was still in Canada. “This direction was provided in a voicemail, but not actioned because the officer was away on leave,” it said.
On Feb. 20, the day of the Mumbai event, EINSET received more information, though the details are redacted. “As this information was received ‘at the end of shift,’ EINSET decided that it would wait until the next day to validate the information,” the report says.
In testimony to the committee, the RCMP deputy commissioner for federal policing admitted the force made multiple errors and should have passed the Atwal tip on to Trudeau’s security detail. But the RCMP also said it concluded Atwal was not a physical threat to the prime minister, as did CSIS.
Atwal had been convicted of attempting to murder an Indian cabinet minister in B.C. in 1986. He was also charged with a 1985 attack on former B.C. premier and Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, but was later acquitted.