The federal inquiry into foreign interference says its initial hearings will help identify ways to make information public even though much of it will originate from classified documents and sources.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
After nearly a year of revelations and reporting from The Globe and Mail on Chinese state interference and subsequent weeks of public inquiry hearings, Quebec Superior Court Justice Marie-Josée released the Foreign Interference Commission’s first report on May 3.
The commission report concluded that China is the main perpetrator of foreign interference in Canada and undermined the right of Canadian voters to have an electoral system “free from coercion or covert influence”.
Five takeaways from the foreign-interference commission’s report
The year-long inquiry will focus on how China, Russia, India and other foreign actors may have interfered in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections – and whether the federal government and its agencies have the ability to detect and counter interference. The next set of hearings will take place in the fall and the final report is due in late December.
Below, The Globe answers some frequently asked questions about the inquiry, the evidence of foreign interference, and how we got here. If you have questions for our reporters, send them to audience@globeandmail.com and we’ll try to answer them.
Do you have more questions about the public inquiry? Send your questions to audience@globeandmail.com and we’ll try to answer them.