Roundup: Trying to politicize NSICOP

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The fight for documents related to the National Microbiology Lab firings from 2019 has been intensifying in the House of Commons, both in the Conservatives working on a privilege fight over access to unredacted documents, but also in the way they have been treating the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). While not perfect, NSICOP is at least some level of oversight of the national security apparatuses of this country by parliamentarians (though not an actual parliamentary committee), which is more than existed previously. They have tried to dismiss it as somehow partisan, which it’s not – all parties are represented on the committee (though the Bloc seat is currently vacant), and say that the prime minister’s office controls it (as it’s an executive body and not a parliamentary one). But they have the power to have their members resign in protest if they felt that the PMO was bigfooting them, and they haven’t, which means that these objections are about politics – particularly as they are building a bunch of bullshit conspiracy theories around the two firings in order to score cheap points.

As a reminder, the Conservatives were dismantling some of the national security oversight, neutering the Inspector General at CSIS and making poor appointments to the only other real civilian oversight of national security agencies in the country. This is at least a point in Trudeau’s favour – he overhauled and strengthened the various oversight mechanisms of all of these bodies, including the creation of NSICOP, which does valuable work.

With that in mind, here is Stephanie Carvin with some thoughts on this fight, and check out this thread from Philippe Lagassé for more thoughts as to how NSICOP is currently structured and how it compares internationally.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1400446108376174594

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1400446110653689856

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1400446112931225601

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1400446115099680773

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1400479339528003594

Good reads:

  • The federal government released the first part of their Action Plan™ in dealing with the MMIW report, which includes a number of the items enumerated here.
  • The government is increasing the fine for those who refuse hotel quarantines.
  • Anita Anand is pushing back against some of the Senate’s requests for the Centre Block renovations (and of the three requests, I think the six offices are problematic).
  • The Acting Chief of Defence Staff sees “cracks” in the Canadian Forces as they deal with sexual misconduct, capacity shortages and pandemic stress.
  • Murray Sinclair wants an independent investigation of possible residential school grave sites, and that it should report to a parliamentary committee.
  • The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which ran the Kamloops residential school, has been refusing to turn over records for at least twenty years.
  • The bill to modify the citizenship oath to include mention of treaties with Indigenous people has passed the Commons and is off to the Senate.
  • A Senate report says that the forced or coerced sterilisation of women, particularly Indigenous women, is still ongoing in Canada.
  • Royal assent has been granted to a bill to create a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, which will be September 30th each year.
  • Michael Chong says that being targeted by the regime in China has opened him up to new networks of parliamentarians globally trying to counter the threat.
  • The NDP used their Supply Day motion yesterday to demand an end to lawsuits involving Indigenous children or residential school survivors.
  • The Line takes on the notion that cruise ships stopping in BC are about tourism, when it’s really about being complicit in tax evasion and avoiding labour laws.
  • Colby Cosh pans the decision to start renaming COVID variants with Greek letters.

Odds and ends:

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