Canadian Foreign Interference (General)

[The Bread Guy]

This could fit in a number of threads, but picked this one since more than one country (IRN's int, MEX cartels) sounds involved.

Justice Department Disrupts Iranian Cyber Enabled Psychological Operations

Today, the Justice Department announced the seizure of four domains as part of an ongoing effort to disrupt hacking and transnational repression schemes conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The affidavit supporting the seizure warrant can be found

www.justice.gov

DOJ Seizes Iranian Intelligence Websites Behind $250,000 Beheading Bounty on Canadian Politician — Cartel Directed to Kill Her at Ottawa Home

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security used a Mexican drug cartel as a threat against a Canadian politician. The Justice Department just shut the network down.

www.thebureau.news

Iran’s Kill Network Ran Through Toronto: Affidavit Reveals Canadian Web Infrastructure, Hong Kong Crypto Links, and Terror Financing Behind Cartel Plot Targeting Ottawa Politician

OTTAWA/WASHINGTON — Before the Unite…

www.thebureau.news

Affidavit from DOJ info-machine attached.

Some backstory:

Iran-linked hackers offer $250K bounty on ex-politician | The Jerusalem Post

Ghamari’s family fled to Canada when she was only a year old in 1986, after an assassination attempt on her father.

www.jpost.com

Iran-linked hackers offer $250,000 bounty to kill activists | The Jerusalem Post

Experts previously told Iran International that CJNG was among the many Iran-linked groups spreading insecurity across Latin America.

www.jpost.com

Edited to add archived links to The Bureau stories here & here, a response from the IRN hacker guys, and a quote that might bite the RCMP's Commish in the butt (yellow highlight mine) :

Iran-linked Handala hacker group responds with defiance after US seizure of websites | The National

Justice Department accused group of 'psychological operations and transnational repression'

www.thenationalnews.com

EXCLUSIVE: RCMP commissioner says no current criminal link between transnational repression in Canada and the Indian government

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says based on the information before him, there are no longer clandestine activities or transnational repression taking place in Canada that is linked to the government of India.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[The Bread Guy]

Keeping a (closer?) eye out for IRN shenanigans here in Canada.

Ottawa has boosted monitoring of Iran's threats to diaspora in Canada, official says

OTTAWA — Federal officials have ramped up their monitoring of Tehran's threats against members of the Iranian diaspora in Canada, a senior public safety executive said Tuesday at a conference in Ottawa.

www.townandcountrytoday.com

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Interesting in Toronto, you had some open support for the regime, which I am sure the RCMP and CSIS appreciate as it makes their intelligence gathering so much easier. Here in Vancouver, there is no open support, although I do know one couple I suspect of quietly supporting the regime.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Former RCMP-ist in court for trying to twist arms on behalf of the CHN government.

Former RCMP officer's lawyer calls no evidence in B.C. trial over security charge

VANCOUVER — Former RCMP officer William Majcher says he wants to get back home to his family and hopes for a not guilty finding on a charge alleging he prepared to threaten a B.C. resident to convince him to return to China.

www.richmond-news.com

AI-generated highlight chronology:

• Late 1990s — Sun's alleged fraud Hongwei (Kevin) Sun allegedly defrauds the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China of RMB $2.8 billion (now worth ~$560 million) in Jilin province. Auditors later discover irregular loans and missing money. Chinese authorities believe the fraud may have involved government officials.
• 2007 — Majcher retires from the RCMP After 22 years as a Mountie specializing in undercover work and economic crime investigations, Majcher moves to Hong Kong and founds EMIDR, a corporate risk and asset recovery firm.
• By ~2015 — Sun settles in Vancouver Sun has by this point established himself as a B.C. permanent resident and a major real estate investor in Vancouver, allegedly having used proceeds of his crimes to purchase large amounts of property.
• June 2017 — The key email Majcher sends an email to an associate referring to a "fraudster" the Crown contends is Sun. He writes that Chinese police have opened a task force, a global arrest warrant is imminent, and that he hopes to obtain a copy of the warrant in advance so they can "impress upon the crook that we hold the keys to his future." This email becomes the Crown's central piece of evidence at trial.
• September 2021 — RCMP investigation opens After receiving intelligence from CSIS suggesting Majcher may have been involved in covert, extrajudicial activities on behalf of Chinese police, the RCMP's national security unit in Montreal opens an investigation.
• July 2023 — Arrest at Vancouver airport Majcher is arrested at Vancouver International Airport and charged under Canada's Security of Information Act. The arrest makes international headlines amid a national debate on Chinese foreign interference in Canada.
• 2024–2025 — Pre-trial Charter breaches found Justice Martha Devlin issues a series of rulings critical of the Crown's case. She finds Majcher's warrantless arrest was unconstitutional — the grounds amounting to "a hunch or generalized suspicion." A search warrant executed on the home of former RCMP officer Kenneth Marsh is also quashed. A second charge against Majcher is dropped.
• April 21, 2026 — Trial begins Majcher pleads not guilty before Justice Devlin in B.C. Supreme Court. He elects a judge-alone trial, which triggers the lifting of a publication ban on the pre-trial rulings. The Crown opens its case.
• April 22–25, 2026 — Crown rests; defence calls no evidence On day three, the Crown unexpectedly closes its case, catching defence lawyers off guard. Defence counsel Ian Donaldson elects to call no evidence. Closing arguments are scheduled for April 25, with a verdict pending.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Former RCMP-ist in court for trying to twist arms on behalf of the CHN government.

Former RCMP officer's lawyer calls no evidence in B.C. trial over security charge

VANCOUVER — Former RCMP officer William Majcher says he wants to get back home to his family and hopes for a not guilty finding on a charge alleging he prepared to threaten a B.C. resident to convince him to return to China.

www.richmond-news.com

AI-generated highlight chronology:

A bit more just out ...

Actions of ex-Mountie charged under security law affront Canadian sovereignty: Crown

A Crown prosecutor says the actions of a former RCMP officer accused of violating security law for the benefit of the Chinese government were an affront to Canadian sovereignty.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[MilEME09]

Toss this in this thread since it applies here. I hope we see a serious investigation into this one

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/alberta-separatist-youtube-channels-netherlands-9.7174719

 

[Brad Sallows]

Toss this in this thread since it applies here. I hope we see a serious investigation into this one

We ought to keep in mind that interference and influence are two different things.

 

[brihard]

We ought to keep in mind that interference and influence are two different things.

For discussion’s sake: we do not have a single statutory definition for simply “foreign interference”. Public Safety Canada defines it thusly:

What is foreign interference​

Foreign interference is any covert, deceptive or coercive activity by a foreign government, or by those acting on their behalf, that is directed at Canada, Canadians or Canadian interests, and is contrary to Canada's national security. Examples of interference activities by foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf, include:

• threatening, harassing, silencing or intimidating people in Canada or their family and friends abroad because of their political opinion
• interfering in Canada's democratic institutions and processes, such as elections, to advance their interests
• manipulating the information environment
• stealing Canadian intellectual property, technology and know how
• targeting any level of government to influence public policy or decision-making in a way that is clandestine, deceptive or threatening, and is contrary to Canadian interests
• interfering in the ability of students or professors at Canadian universities to exercise their freedom of speech

Understanding foreign interference

Information about the different types of foreign interference, including transnational repression, and the difference between political foreign influence and interference.

www.publicsafety.gc.ca

Now, this would all be captured in the CSIS act definition “threats to the security of Canada”. Criminally, several offences under FISOIA criminalizes different manifestations of it. Not all foreign interference, however, will necessarily meet all the elements of a criminal offence. Some fuckery in the info space, for instance, may meet the Public Safety definition and be captured by the CSIS act definition, but not be clearly criminal.

Where activity constitutes foreign interference but not necessarily criminality, there’s still an important role for CSIS to work to understand the threat, and to define it to policy makers, government, and other national security partners for monitoring and potentially other mitigation.