People pass by Canada's embassy in Havana in 2018. On Saturday, The Globe reported that, according to a source, a Canadian diplomat was sharing intelligence with American spies in Cuba's capital city.Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
Parliamentarians need to independently investigate whether Russia used sonic weaponry against Canadian diplomats in Cuba, where they were allegedly helping U.S. intelligence agencies, and how the diplomats were subsequently treated by Ottawa, former Canadian spies and high-level security officials say.
The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that, according to a source, a Canadian diplomat was sharing intelligence with American spies in Havana. Canadians were also using satellite equipment brought into Cuba under diplomatic cover by the U.S. between 2016 and 2018, a second source said.
During that two-year period, officials from both countries began experiencing debilitating symptoms, including dizziness, headaches, blurred vision and memory loss, allegedly caused by sonic attacks linked to Russia.
The Globe is not identifying the sources, who could face charges under the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act for disclosing government secrets.
The Department of Justice confirmed Friday that, in a lawsuit over the allegations, it invoked Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act, a rarely used law that restricts disclosure of matters that could harm national security, national defence or international relations. It is typically triggered in terrorism cases and to protect classified information.
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The use of Section 38 keeps secret new details of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by Canadian diplomats who were stationed in Havana from 2016-18. Ten diplomats and their families filed a lawsuit in 2019, alleging that they were denied leading-edge health care, and that the government withheld critical information and played down the seriousness of brain injuries caused by the attacks.
The diplomats’ lawsuit was amended in the summer of 2024 after U.S. media reported that symptoms, known as Havana Syndrome, could have been caused by sonic weaponry tied to Russian military operatives who were targeting adversaries’ intelligence operations.
Andy Ellis, former assistant director of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said he has little doubt that Russia targeted Canadians and Americans in Cuba.
Mr. Ellis said the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which has access to secret information, needs to investigate whether the diplomats have been unfairly treated.
“The fact that the Canadian government invoked national security about something that affected people’s health is something that needs to be reviewed by NSICOP,” he said. “It is a moral, ethical and legal responsibility.”
Canada’s embassy in Havana in 2018.Desmond Boylan/The Associated Press
Jody Thomas, former national-security and intelligence adviser to Justin Trudeau, also endorsed having NSICOP review what happened to the Canadian diplomats.
“I think it is entirely reasonable for NSICOP to look into it. It’s the reason they exist,” she said.
Martin Green, who served as assistant secretary to cabinet, intelligence assessment at the Privy Council Office from 2015-24, would not comment on his knowledge of what may have transpired.
However, he described Russian intelligence services as “thugs” and supports an independent investigation by parliamentarians.
Members of NSICOP are MPs and senators who have top secret clearance to receive classified information. The committee reports directly to the Prime Minister.
“Absolutely, NSICOP is designed to shed light on these things,” Mr. Green said.
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There are questions about whether the Communications Security Establishment, an ultra-secret Canadian agency that focuses on foreign signals intelligence, is operating in Cuba.
In 2013, a leaked U.S. National Security Agency document from whistle-blower Edward Snowden alleged that CSE conducted listening operations out of Canadian embassies. The documents said the CSE used some of its embassies abroad for electronic-eavesdropping operations in concert with a similar U.S. program.
The Globe reported Saturday that a Canadian diplomat, working for the elite Global Security Reporting Program, gathered human intelligence and occasionally shared information directly with American spies in Havana. One of the sources said that Canadians were using satellite equipment brought in surreptitiously by the United States.
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement Friday that its GSRP officers are not involved in covert intelligence operations and do not recruit, handle or pay sources.
Mr. Ellis said the GSRP program has long been a concern of CSIS because diplomats are not trained in espionage and often cross the line from overt to covert intelligence.
“They would take risks that nobody else would do. They would do whatever the CIA asked them to do. [The CIA] absolutely owned them,” he said.
Mr. Green had a different view, saying GSRP diplomats did “some really good things.”
Dan Stanton, a former senior intelligence officer at CSIS, said he doesn’t doubt Russia targeted Canadians, especially if they were suspected of co-operating with U.S. spies.
“If local counter-intelligence identified them as collaborating with U.S. intelligence and were involved in similar activities, a hostile intelligence service could have viewed them as part of the same target,” he said.
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He said Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies view Canada as an extension of U.S. intelligence. “So, it is very easy to get caught up in that web of targeting,” he added.
A joint investigation in April, 2024, by CBS’s 60 Minutes, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Russia-focused The Insider linked the mysterious illness to a radio-frequency-based energy weapon employed by a Russian military-intelligence unit known as GRU Unit 29155.
Earlier this year, 60 Minutes also reported that the U.S. had obtained and tested a similar sonic weapon – from a Russian criminal network – that can inflict injuries associated with Havana Syndrome.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in January of this year that American forces used a “secret sonic” weapon during their capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that month.
Scientists have offered conflicting explanations for what could have caused the set of Havana Syndrome symptoms.
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania examined 21 of the American diplomats and concluded that their injuries were similar to a concussion. Other theories were put forward about pre-existing medical issues, psychosomatic conditions and even environmental factors such as noise made by chirping crickets.
The Department of Global Affairs said Friday that there is “no definitive common cause” to the illness that affected those serving at Ottawa’s embassy. The department said it could not comment further because the matter is before the courts.
Peter Jones, a former senior PCO official, said he’s concerned that Ottawa is trying to avoid accepting responsibility for what happened to the diplomats.
“When we send people abroad,” he said. “We have responsibilities to these people.”
Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, said the diplomats and their families have been treated shabbily by the government.
They “should be the government’s highest priority for all of our postings,” she said. “They deserve to be believed as the first premise.”