Foreign interference inquiry sets 1st public hearings for late January

Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference has set the dates for its public hearings, the federal government announced on Friday.

The hearings are the first of two expected to take place in 2024 and are part of the inquiry into allegations of interference from China, Russia and other foreign actors and any impact they had on the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

According to a release, the hearings will look to determine how to make as much of the information received public in both the hearings and reports, given that much of the information would come from classified documents and sources.

“These hearings are preliminary in that they will serve to prepare the next public hearings, at which the Commission will examine the substantive issues arising from its mandate,” Marie-Josee Hogue, the judge tapped to lead the public inquiry, said.

January’s hearings will take place across five days in Ottawa and will see factual witnesses and experts testify.

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With the announcement of the first set of hearings, the commission in charge of the inquiry has requested the due date of its first report to be postponed until May 3.

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“The purpose of this postponement is to give meaning and purpose to the preliminary hearings, and to allow more time to maximize the transparency of the Commission’s work,” Hogue said. “Ensuring that classified information, intelligence, and documents are put in a form that is such that they can be released to the public is a long and complex process. The Commission is committed to holding public hearings before it submits its first report.”

The commission notes the deadline for its second report of Dec. 31, 2024 can remain intact because it plans to conduct the second stage of its work in parallel with the first.

When the public inquiry was announced, Hogue laid out two phases, with the second seeing the inquiry examine the government departments and agencies to see how the federal government can detect and counter foreign interference.

Hogue, a puisne judge of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, was tapped by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc after a months-long search for a judge to head an inquiry after former governor general David Johnston, the special rapporteur looking into allegations of foreign interference, resigned from the role in June amid accusations of bias.

The public hearings will begin on Jan. 29, and run for five days in downtown Ottawa.

— with files from Global News Aaron D’Andrea