Media lock-up to begin at 9:30 a.m., report to be released at 12:00 pm (noon)

May 1, 2024 (Ottawa) ­– Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue will release the Initial Report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions on Friday May 3, 2024. 

Members of the media are invited to attend a lock-up at 395 Wellington in Ottawa, where they will have access to an embargoed copy of the Commission’s report.

Members of the media previously accredited to cover the Commission’s public hearings will be admitted to the lock-up without further accreditation. Journalists must bring their accreditation cards. Members of the media who were not previously accredited to cover the public hearings must request accreditation, which requires a letter from their employer confirming their assignment.  Details of the accreditation process are available on the Commission’s website. 

To be admitted to the lock-up, members of the media will be required to:

• Sign an undertaking agreeing to respect the terms of the embargo. 
• Turn off (or place on “airplane mode”) and store all communication devices able to transmit and receive electronic messages in secure lockers on site.  Journalists will be allowed to bring a laptop into the lock-up providing it is placed on “airplane mode.”
• Agree to submit to a security screening and a search of their personal items at any time while in the lock-up. 

Journalists will be admitted to the lock-up room starting at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 3, 2024. Copies of the report will be distributed on USB keys at 9:30 a.m. A limited number of printed copies of the report will also be available. Electronic transmissions will be monitored during the lock-up. Anyone found to be breaking the terms of the embargo will have their notes and USB key confiscated. 

The embargo will be lifted when the lock-up ends at noon.  The Report will be posted on the Commission’s website at the same time. 

Commissioner Hogue will make a statement to the media in the Bambrick room at 12:15 pm. Her statement will be streamed live on the Commission’s website. She will not take questions from the media and will not be available for any follow-up interviews. 

The undertaking is available on the Commission’s website. Journalists who wish to attend must read and sign the undertaking beforehand and bring it with them to the lock-up.

The Government of Canada created the Foreign Interference Commission in September 2023 to respond to concerns about foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.  In the second stage of its work, the Commission will assess the federal government’s capacity to detect, deter, and counter foreign interference, and make its recommendations. The second stage will also include a public input program and additional public hearings.  The Commission will deliver its final report by December 31, 2024.

Contact:

Michael Tansey
Sr. Communications Advisor
Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions

(343) 630-2154
michael.tansey@pifi-epie.gc.ca
www.ForeignInterferenceCommission.ca 

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