Parliamentary Committee Notes: Foreign Interference: Critical Election Incident Public Protocol
Date: February 25, 2023
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: NCSB/PS
- Democratic institutions and processes around the world, including elections, are targets for foreign interference. Canada is not immune to these threats.
- In 2019, the Government launched the Protecting Democracy Plan to help safeguard elections and step up our efforts at building societal resilience through research, training and supporting local journalism.
- Building on best practices from 2019, the Government of Canada both renewed and initiated a number of additional measures to protect the integrity of our democratic institutions and processes leading up to the 2021 Federal Election.
- This included again implementing the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol – a mechanism to alert the public in the event of a threat to the integrity of a General Election; and renewing the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, to consolidate and disseminate international best practices related to foreign threats to democracy amongst G7 countries.
- During an election, it would be the responsibility of the Deputy Minister of Public Safety to sit on the Panel of senior civil servants responsible for administering the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol.
- The Panel evaluates incidents to determine, on a consensus basis, whether the incident or an accumulation of incidents, threatens Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election.
- This information draws on expertise of Canada’s national security agencies and may include consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). If a public announcement is deemed necessary, the Panel would inform the Prime Minister, the other major party leaders (or designated official) and Elections Canada.
- In both 2019 and 2021, the Panel determined that the Government of Canada did not detect foreign interference that threatened Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election.
Background
Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP)
Canada has observed state-sponsored information manipulation, aimed at reshaping or undermining the rules-based-international order. Disinformation, originating from anywhere in the world, can have serious consequences including threats to the safety and security of Canadians, erosion of trust in our democratic institutions, and confusion about government policies and notices.
The Government of Canada has established the CEIPP in order to ensure coherence and consistency in Canada’s approach to publicly informing Canadians during the caretaker period about incidents that threaten Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election. The CEIPP has a limited mandate. It lays out a process through which Canadians would be notified of an incident that threatens Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election, should notification be necessary. CEIPP is only initiated to respond to incidents that occur during the caretaker period, and that do not fall within Elections Canada’s areas of responsibility (i.e., with regard to the administration of the election, as identified in the Canada Elections Act). Incidents that occur outside of the caretaker period will be addressed through regular Government of Canada operations.
The CEIPP is administered by a group of senior civil servants who, working with the national security agencies within the agencies’ existing mandates, are responsible for determining whether the threshold for informing Canadians has been met, either through a single incident or an accumulation of separate incidents.
This Panel is comprised of:
- the Clerk of the Privy Council;
- the National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister;
- the Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General;
- the Deputy Minister of Public Safety; and
- the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Cabinet Directive on the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol - Canada.ca
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