Defense Minister Bill Blair expressed his lack of awareness regarding the delay in his approval of a warrant application to surveil an Ontario politician during his tenure as the Minister of Public Safety.
The Foreign Interference Commission revealed that the warrant was submitted by CSIS 54 days before Blair eventually signed off on it in the spring of 2021. Typically, it takes four to 10 days for the minister to approve a warrant, and Blair testified that he had approved two other warrants during the same period in October 11.
Despite CSIS notifying Blair’s then-chief of staff, Zita Astravas, about the warrant and her subsequent meetings with CSIS regarding it, Blair claimed he was unaware of these activities. He only learned about the warrant’s subject on the day he reviewed and signed it in May 2021, 54 days after it was submitted by CSIS.
Blair attributed the delay to COVID-19 restrictions, as he mainly worked from Toronto and had to physically attend the CSIS regional office for sensitive meetings.
Regarding the delay in Astravas providing him the warrant application, Blair stated he was not entirely sure of the reasons and had not discussed the delay with her. He also did not express concerns about the delay or the timing of receiving the warrant for his signature.
Blair mentioned that he had been briefed by CSIS about the warrant’s subject months before receiving the application, but he did not discuss any additional investigative steps regarding the subject during the briefing.
Former CSIS officials and Astravas testified that the delay in processing the warrant was unusual and frustrating for operational staff.
Blair denied receiving any advance warning from CSIS regarding the warrant application and stated he was not aware of their intention to submit it until day 54.
Four days after CSIS submitted the warrant, it was approved by the then-deputy minister Rob Stewart.
Nine days later, an initial briefing was provided to Astravas by CSIS regarding the warrant. During this meeting, Astravas questioned CSIS on how the described activities met the threshold for obtaining a warrant, as evidenced by documents presented at the inquiry.
Blair stated that he was unaware of this meeting and Astravas’ inquiries, clarifying that these specific questions were not raised on his behalf. When asked by commission counsel Dann about the appropriateness of Astravas’ questions, Blair acknowledged that it falls within the chief of staff’s role to ask questions but emphasized that no concerns were raised to him regarding the process.
The day after Astravas met with CSIS for the initial briefing, an internal email from an unidentified CSIS official expressed concerns that the warrant application package might not be approved by the Minister. Blair mentioned that he had not been made aware of the warrant’s existence at that time.
The commission also learned that Astravas had requested a briefing with CSIS to discuss the “Vanweenen list,” which contains a list of names whose communications could be incidentally intercepted. Despite Astravas’ familiarity with the warrant application process, the meeting took place before Blair signed the warrant, and he was not informed of any details discussed during the briefing.
Blair declined to answer questions regarding the Vanweenen list, including whether it contained names of individuals he knew, stressing that his sole consideration in approving the warrant was his statutory responsibility.
When asked about recusing himself from approving a warrant if he knew the target, Blair mentioned his past involvement in numerous warrant applications where he knew the people named and would only recuse himself if a conflict existed, which was not the case in any warrant applications brought before him.
In contrast, Liberal MP Marco Mendicino, Blair’s successor as public safety minister, emphasized the importance of vigilance to prevent potential abuses in decisions related to foreign interference and political actors.
The commission is expected to conclude this phase of public hearings with appearances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his office staff, and Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc next week. Can you rewrite this sentence?
Source link
