Two Canadian MPs sitting on an international panel of legislators targeted in a massive cyber-attack by Chinese intelligence criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government for failing to inform them they were personally targeted, adding that the inaction amounted to a “threat against democracy” and “contempt” for Parliament.

Liberal MP John McKay and Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told the Hogue Commission today that they only learned of the cyber-attack after the head of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)—a global group of legislators raising concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses—informed them of an FBI investigation and indictment.

The MPs, who are co-chairs of IPAC in Canada, were among a number of legislators worldwide targeted by APT31, a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, in 2021.

The MPs testified that Ottawa had been informed of the attack by the FBI in 2022, but out of respect for Canada’s sovereignty, the U.S. government didn’t contact the targeted legislators directly.

Instead, the Canadian government claimed it notified the Parliamentary IT department but did not ensure the affected MPs were directly informed, Genuis said.

The Conservative MP added he believes Trudeau’s government neglected its duty to warn him and other MPs, particularly those vulnerable due to their roles in criticizing Beijing’s treatment of groups like Uyghurs and democracy advocates in Taiwan.

“We were not informed [about the hack], and it remains mysterious to me why no one thought I should have a right to know how I would protect myself and the people I correspond with,” Genuis testified.

Both MPs expressed frustration over the lack of communication, emphasizing the risks posed by the cyber-attack and the uncertainty of whether their colleagues, friends, and families were also exposed.

"I started to think about how I may have inadvertently or unwittingly exposed personal and partisan activities," McKay said, highlighting the interconnectedness of personal and parliamentary communications and the possibility that Chinese spies might have accessed information from his personal email accounts. “You ask yourself where are my vulnerabilities, and where are the vulnerabilities of those with whom I communicate?”

McKay and Genuis stressed that understanding the vulnerabilities was critical to preventing future damage, and Ottawa failed in this area too.

“I probably would have benefited from somebody explaining the vulnerabilities, so that you know whether you’re disabling some function or taking other cyber hygiene measures,” McKay said. “But if you’re not told, you don’t know.”

Genuis further highlighted that while the attack didn’t result in immediately apparent breaches, it was a pixel reconnaissance attack—a method used to gather basic data for future, more serious intrusions. The Commission reviewed a confidential email sent to the MPs from Luke de Pulford, Executive Director of IPAC, explaining these pixel reconnaissance attacks were designed to collect information such as IP addresses, device data, and email usage habits.

This suggests that China’s hacks into the communication habits of global legislators critical of Beijing could lay the groundwork for more significant future breaches. It could also enable further reconnaissance and targeted actions that spread into the networks of IPAC members and possibly extend to vulnerable citizens the international body communicates with.

In cross-examination, human rights lawyer Sarah Teich raised the potential "downstream" impacts on vulnerable communities.

“Would you agree that the experience of members of diaspora communities is not necessarily the same in that regard, even though your safety and wellbeing might not be threatened, theirs might be?” she asked.

“I agree, 100 percent,” Genuis responded.

McKay, who acknowledged a lack of awareness on technological innovations, said he eventually learned from the FBI what was at risk.

“The volume of these attacks, you start to appreciate this is a massive operation conducted by the State Security of China,” he said.

Additionally, a Commission lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who was also targeted by China, emphasized that the government’s failure to warn MPs posed a grave risk to Parliament itself. The lawyer pointed to Genuis’s speech on a question of privilege to stress that Ottawa's lack of communication endangered the institution by failing in its duty to protect MPs from foreign interference, thus amounting to contempt.

A Canadian government lawyer asked the two MPs whether they knew that the FBI also had not warned US lawmakers about the APT31 hack, prior to an indictment being unsealed.

Genuis said he wasn’t aware.

“What I know is that the American government had this information, it was shared with the Canadian government, and it was not passed on to us,” he said.

Genuis added he recieved “no follow up” from Canadian intelligence agencies asking to check whether his personal devices had been compromised along with his government business phone.

IPAC’s Growing Impact on Resolutions Related to China

IPAC is a global parliamentary network aimed at confronting human rights abuses in China, with legislators from around the world uniting to challenge Beijing’s actions. The global nature of IPAC’s work—addressing issues from the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang to Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong—has made its members high-profile targets of state-sponsored espionage.

Both McKay and Genuis emphasized that their involvement in IPAC’s international efforts was likely a key factor in why they were personally targeted. IPAC’s work has global significance, as it addresses not only the treatment of marginalized groups in China but also what it describes as escalating "lawfare"—Beijing's legal and diplomatic pressure to assert its claims over Taiwan, a democratically ruled state that China threatens to invade.

The Commission heard that one of the most prominent figures in IPAC is Irwin Cotler, a renowned Canadian lawyer, academic, and former Liberal MP who served as Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Cotler has long been a vocal advocate for human rights, particularly regarding China’s treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kong activists.

sam@thebureau.news