Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is questioning how a Canadian woman recently arrested in Belgium on espionage charges was vetted by the Canadian government, saying Prime Minister Mark Carney has “a lot of explaining to do.”
Poilievre made the remarks at a political rally in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, questioning Canada’s security clearance process as well as why the alleged security threat was raised by foreign authorities.
“I think he has a lot of explaining to do [about] how his government failed to vet this individual in a way that our NATO partners were able to do,” Poilievre said.
“How is it that this individual was not captured in the vetting process originally, but that other countries and governments were able to have the intelligence to find this troubling information?” the Tory leader added.
Poilievre noted that the NATO intern case is not the only recent example of alleged security threats in relation to Canada, referring to U.S. court filings that allegedly link the Iran-supported terrorist group Kata’ib Hezbollah to a March 10 shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.
“It’s time for Mark Carney to stop with the illusions and start taking real action to keep our country safe from foreign threats on our soil,” Poilievre said.
The unnamed Canadian national was arrested July 24 on charges of espionage and accused of spying for an unspecified “third country” and belonging to a criminal organisation, according to the Belgian prosecutor’s office.
The woman was denied bail in a closed-door hearing on July 28 and remains in pre-trial detention in Belgium.
She is described as being of “Chinese origin” and an intern at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) military headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
The prosecutor’s office said her conduct was reported to NATO officials and then to Belgian authorities, who carried out her arrest after a search of her home and work computers.
An online work profile appearing to belong to the suspect lists previous employment with the Canadian government including at the Canadian Space Agency, Statistics Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada.
The three agencies told The Epoch Times the matter is being taken “very seriously” but would not confirm the woman’s identity or employment history.
Poilievre’s criticism comes in the wake of similar concerns expressed by Tory national security adviser MP Dane Lloyd, who penned a letter to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree earlier this week saying the case is an “embarrassment” for Canada.
“That this individual was ultimately apprehended by Belgian law enforcement is an embarrassment for our country,” Lloyd said in the July 30 letter.
“For the sake of Canadians and our NATO allies, I am calling on you to explain how this individual was cleared by the Government of Canada to work in such a sensitive position, and what measures you are taking to ensure this never happens again,” he added.
Anandasangaree has previously spoken on the case, saying July 27 that while he wouldn’t “speculate on this specific case” the charges were “quite serious.”
“Canadian law enforcement and Canadian authorities are continuously monitoring and will monitor the impact of the work this individual has done, if they have done any work in Canada,” he said, adding that “ultimately we need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to ensure that these types of incidents do not occur in the future.”
Carney remarked on the case Aug. 5, saying that while he was limited in what he could say, Canadian officials have been aware of the case all along.
“The only thing I would add, cryptically, is that Canadian officials have been involved from the start,” Carney said. “Draw your own conclusions.”
Global Affairs Canada, which is responsible for handling the Canadian security clearance process in this case, said it is aware of the arrest and is in contact with Belgian authorities.
NATO’s SHAPE internship program accepts 35 interns per year from NATO member nations and notes that applicants must first have received security clearance from their domestic authority before NATO undertakes its own evaluation. It says this process of domestic clearance can take anywhere from two to 18 months.
