Anandasangaree admits ‘gaps’ in security screening after Canadian NATO intern’s espionage arrest

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree acknowledged Monday that there are “gaps” in Canada’s security-screening system, as MPs questioned him for an hour about how a Canadian intern arrested in Belgium on espionage charges received clearance from Ottawa to work at NATO. Appearing before the House of Commons public safety and national security committee, the minister said government departments carry out some 200,000 screenings a year with support from CSIS and the RCMP. “By and large, it is an unimpeachable record. Of course, there are gaps here, and I recognize that there are gaps,” he said, adding that “that’s what I think we need to improve on,” CBC News reported.

Belgian authorities arrested the intern on July 24 at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, known as SHAPE, in the city of Mons, on suspicion of spying for a third country and of belonging to a criminal organization. Sources have told Reuters and other outlets that the country in question is China. Belgian courts do not name defendants before trial, but a CBC News investigation identified the woman as Biwei Zhang, who also goes by Claire. Belgian and Canadian officials have neither confirmed nor denied her identity, the National Post reported. She was denied bail in August and remains in custody. The allegations have not been proven in court, and the Chinese Embassy in Canada told CBC it firmly opposes “baseless speculations” that she acted on Beijing’s behalf.

Much of Monday’s questioning focused on her past in the federal public service, where media reports say she worked for about a decade, including at the Canadian Space Agency, Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada, according to The Globe and Mail. In 2023, the Public Service Commission found she had committed fraud by applying for a job at the Canada Border Services Agency under two different names and email addresses, CBC reported. A 2024 Federal Court decision later made that finding public, the Post said. “If someone is willing to lie to get a job with the federal government, how are we not more cautious?” Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland asked.

Officials told the committee that the Treasury Board sets security-screening policy, but the deputy head of each department signs off on clearances, informed by checks from CSIS and the RCMP. In this case the final authorization came from Global Affairs Canada. Vanessa Lloyd, a deputy director at CSIS, said a NATO internship usually requires at least a secret-level clearance, and that her agency’s own review had identified “opportunities for improvement” that are now with the minister.

Opposition MPs grew frustrated as the minister and senior officials repeatedly said they could not discuss specifics because of the continuing investigation. “It is a shame and I think it’s actually disgraceful, dare I say minister, that it was Belgium that figured out a Canadian was spying rather than Canada,” said Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo. Speaking in French, Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille said she saw “gross incompetence” and “weaknesses” across multiple departments, CBC reported, and she questioned how someone who had applied to the CBSA twice under different names could obtain a clearance.

Anandasangaree said he learned of the impending charges about a week before they were made public in July. He has asked the RCMP and CSIS to review what happened, and every federal department has been asked to examine its screening processes and fix any gaps it finds. “There will obviously be some serious lessons that come out of that process,” he told the committee. Speaking to reporters afterward, he told the Globe that Canadian agencies would also look at Zhang’s activities while she held federal jobs, and that once Belgium concludes its investigation, “there’s probably more for law enforcement in Canada to undertake.”

Officials pointed to some changes already under way. Richard Bilodeau, an assistant deputy minister at Public Safety, said the department recently made an “internet inquiry” mandatory when screening for clearances at the secret level and above. Adam Hatfield of the Treasury Board Secretariat said departments need to share personnel information far better. “A lot of that turns into an IT and data problem,” he said, adding that improvements would bring more speed, transferability and consistency.

The Conservatives and the Bloc pushed for the committee study in August, after the arrest made international headlines. At the time, Caputo said in a statement that “Parliament must determine whether there were gaps in Canada’s security screening system,” and whether they could have exposed sensitive information, CBC News reported. Belgian media reports cited by CBC then said the intern had been overly curious about colleagues, tended to enter areas where she was not authorized and had apparently accessed files outside her remit in SHAPE’s IT department. Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested in August that Canadian security officials had not been caught flat-footed by the arrest.

Despite the partisan tone, Liberal, Conservative and Bloc members agreed that preventing a repeat was crucial, the Post reported. Caputo said near the end of the meeting that MPs still lacked answers “on something that is a very serious matter.” The minister said there would be “serious learnings” once the Canadian and Belgian investigations are complete.

Sources: CBC News; National Post; The Globe and Mail; CBC News (Aug. 13).