Foreign influence registry will build Canada’s democratic ‘resilience’: commissioner

OTTAWA – Canada’s first foreign influence transparency commissioner says the new registry his office manages will help “build resilience” against foreign meddling in Canada’s democracy.

Anton Boegman said the biggest challenge he faces in the new role will be ensuring the public understands the new federal transparency framework he’s tasked with overseeing, which took effect on Tuesday.

“Our focus is really on ensuring that activities aimed at influencing political government processes are visible to people and that they’re done in this transparent way,” Boegman said in an interview after his first day on the job.

“The biggest challenge that we will have in the first year is really around public awareness.” 

The new legal framework he manages took effect this week. It was passed into law in 2024 through Bill C-70 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

Under the new regime, anyone who has an “arrangement” to help a foreign entity influence Canadian politics must register their activities with Boegman’s office by Oct. 3.

According to his office, “influence activities” can include communications with a public office holder, an exchange of money or services, or public dissemination of information related to a “political or governmental process” like an election, a referendum or legislation.

Non-compliance could lead to fines that could range from $250 to $1 million.

The idea behind the registry is to shine a spotlight on open forms of engagement and distinguish them from covert or malicious acts of foreign interference.

“The registry is another tool that can help people build resilience to foreign interference,” Boegman said.

“Through that public disclosure, through that transparency, the new regime will really help Canadians to understand who is attempting to influence the political or government processes here in Canada and with whom are they doing that.”

Boegman, a former naval officer who served as British Columbia’s chief electoral officer from 2018 to 2025, officially started his new role this week.

He said his office already has received its first registration from a civil service group. The registry is currently active but has no listings. Those won’t be published until they’ve gone through a review.

A federal government analysis says the registry is expected eventually to list around 2,000 registrations.

Boegman said foreign influence is a “normal part of international relations” and it’s legitimate when conducted transparently under the law.

His office will not deal with more covert and nefarious efforts by foreign actors to interfere with domestic politics and will leave those matters to the intelligence and national security agencies.

“Our office doesn’t deal with other risks to Canada, such as transnational repression, covert attacks, cyberattacks, these sorts of things. They may be part of foreign interference, but the responsibility for those types of activities (rests with) all the other national security, intelligence or law enforcement agencies in Canada.”

The House of Commons and Senate both approved Boegman’s appointment as commissioner this spring. He was appointed on a seven-year term.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2026.