The Decibel - Havana Syndrome: new allegation of Canadian spying

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

The Globe and Mail has learned that a Canadian diplomat was sharing intelligence with American spies in Havana and Canadians were using satellite equipment brought into Cuba by the United States when officials from both countries began experiencing debilitating symptoms caused by alleged sonic attacks linked to Russia, according to two sources. Now, former Canadian spies and high-level security officials are calling upon parliamentarians to independently investigate whether Russia used sonic weaponry against Canadian diplomats in Cuba, and how the diplomats were subsequently treated by Ottawa.Robert Fife is the Globe’s recently retired former Ottawa bureau chief. He joins the show to talk about these new allegations of spying.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

dizziness, nosebleeds, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, memory loss. These are all symptoms associated with Havana syndrome. It's the term used to describe what some U.S. and Canadian diplomats say they experienced when they were stationed in Cuba between 2016 and 2018. There was no clear cause, but the theories varied wildly. Maybe it was the result of being exposed to a pesticide. Maybe it was stress. Maybe it could all be psychosomatic in their head.

Or maybe it was the result of a new weapon. A 2024 joint investigative report by 60 Minutes, Der Spiegel, and Russia-focused publication The Insider, linked the mysterious illness to a radiofrequency-based energy weapon, used by Russian military intelligence. That theory is disputed by Canadian officials. But regardless of what caused it, some Canadians who served in Havana say they're suffering. Ten Canadian diplomats and their families wanted compensation for their injuries.

So in 2019, they filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government. And now, the Globe and Mail's recently retired former Ottawa Bureau Chief, Robert Fife, has learned that the lawsuit was amended in 2024. A source says a Canadian diplomat was sharing intelligence with American spies in Cuba. A second source says Canadians were also using satellites brought into Cuba under diplomatic cover between 2016 and 2018. Today, we're speaking to Bob about these new allegations of spying. I'm Manika Ram and Wems and this is the Decibel from the Globe and Mail. Bob, thank you so much for taking the time to be here.

Happy to do so and welcome back. Thank you so much. And it's good to see you out of retirement as well to break this kind of news. Bob, remind us what these Canadian diplomats alleged in this lawsuit. So basically what they said was that the government had been negligent and that they had failed to follow. It's a longstanding duty of care rule, which is, in other words, if you're serving overseas and you get injured or seriously sick in the process of doing your job, the government has a duty of care to make sure that you and your family are properly taken care of. So this was a lawsuit filed in 2019 and it contained allegations from 10 diplomats in their families that Ottawa denied them leading edge health care.

It also said that Ottawa withheld critical information and downplayed the seriousness of brain injuries caused by the attacks. But then, Bob, recently you learned that this lawsuit was amended in 2024 and you learned some new information from sources. Walk us through this now. What did these sources tell you? I don't have obviously access to the lawsuit, but my understanding of what happened is that, well, the public had a lot more information as to the diplomats in their legal team

from 2019 to 2024, 60 Minutes and their Spiegel, had come out with very compelling evidence that Russia was behind this, not only Russian intelligence, but the GRU unit 29155, which is a unit that does these type of actions against people. So when this information came out, people began to say, okay, look, our suspicions are now much stronger that Russia was behind this. And so they amended the lawsuit to say, look, we believe that these diplomats were targeted because they were cooperating with the Americans and that the Russians were behind it. Bob's reporting said the information allegedly gathered by the Canadian diplomats was passed on to a few places.

The Security and Intelligence Division at Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, and Canada's Five Eyes partners, the U.S., Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. There was also information about satellite equipment. A source has told us that the Americans brought in satellite equipment for Canada's use, in sea containers under diplomatic cover. So when they used diplomatic cover, according to the U.N., the Vienna Convention, the Cubans aren't able to open it. And this equipment was put on the roof of the Canadian embassy in Havana, but also in the homes of some of the diplomats.

A source said this equipment could be used for the Internet or it could be used for anything. So why would Russia, allegedly be involved in this? And there had been there had been theories. One is that the hardliners in the Cuban government, along with the Russian intelligence, wanted disrupt the fact that Cuba was reestablishing relations with the United States.

And Canada, which has long been a close, has a close relationship or a productive relationship with Cuba, had helped play a role in reestablishing diplomatic relations, and they wanted to disrupt that. Because the people who had been targeted in the Canadian Embassy were people in sensitive jobs, including a diplomat who was with the Global Security Reporting Program, which is an elite unit within the global affairs that is supposed to do overt intelligence. But there had been a report back and done in 2023 by the National Security and Intelligence

Review Agency that said, look, there's a lot of gray areas in here. Sometimes they cross the line. This unit, also known as GSRP, was criticized by a federal national security watchdog in 2003 for lacking, quote, sufficient oversight, end quote, and strong safety rules. The report by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency said officers, in some cases, liaised with foreign intelligence agencies and appeared to collect classified information from sources. Just help me understand this, Bob. Why would the Americans need our help?

Like, what could the Canadians in Cuba provide that the Americans couldn't get? Why would they need our help? Oh, well, that's very easy. We had greater access. Canadian diplomats had long had a good relationship with Cuba. We've continued our diplomatic relations with Cuba, even when the Americans cut off relations to 1961. And more significantly, Canadians are able to travel outside of Hawaii. which Americans, diplomats are not.

They have to stay in Havana. There definitely was a real, from the American point of view, Canada could be really an important asset. We'll be right back. We still don't know a lot about Havana syndrome. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania examined 21 of the American diplomats and concluded that their injuries were similar to a concussion,

but with no blow to the. the head. The findings were published in early 2018 in a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. There are lots of theories about what could have caused this. Some suggest it was pre-existing medical issues, or that it was psychosomatic, or that it was caused by environmental factors. A 2019 Dalhousie University study suggested the symptoms could be from neurotoxic pesticide spray ink. But regardless of what what caused Havana syndrome, the Canadian government reacted differently than the American government. So the Americans sent the family members, all the family members home,

and also reduced the size of the U.S. embassy down to basically a skeleton staff. It took Canada a considerable period of time before they sent family members home or reduced the staff. I mean, that all happened in 2018. And you have to understand no other diplomats from any other country, from the UK, Netherlands, or anybody else were experiencing these symptoms, only the Canadians and the Americans. No other diplomats in Havana, that is. Earlier this year, the U.S. paid out nearly $3 million in compensation to Americans

who reported the same symptoms. Canadian diplomats have not received compensation for their injuries. The lead lawyer for the Canadian diplomats, Paul Miller, said they were told to go through the standard workers' compensation system, which he says, quote, was not set up for the types of injuries that were suffered by these diplomats. Okay, so Bob, you've learned from a source that a Canadian diplomat working in Havana was allegedly spying and sharing covert information with the U.S. Can you just explain why exactly is this a problem? Like, what are the norms for Canadians working for global affairs? Well, the United Nations Vienna Convention says that diplomats are not allowed to conduct espionage. And the Canadian governments has always maintained that the global security reporting program,

they only do overt intelligence. In other words, they do political intelligence or something like a reporter would do. There's also another interesting thing about this lawsuit. Ottawa is using a rare national security provision to keep the details in its secret. So the Canadian government is trying to keep the details in this lawsuit secret. What is the government said about why it doesn't want this information to be public? Well, they actually haven't said very much. The Justice Department has confirmed that they invoke Section 38, which is normally used in terrorism cases or national security cases. And that means that the court actions are sealed.

Right. So the Department of Justice confirmed on Friday that, the government invoked Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act in this case. It's a rarely used law that restricts disclosures of matters that could harm national security or national defense or international relations. And it's typically triggered in terrorism cases and to protect classified information. So, Bob, has the government said anything about why they're using this specific tactic to keep things secret? No, they simply say that they cite the law and they say that, they can't say anything because it's before the courts.

So that's the Department of Justice. The Global Affairs has made two statements. One is that they say that Canadian diplomats have not, and Cuba did not engage in espionage. The second statement from Global Affairs Canada was around the source of the alleged injury. It pointed to a February 24 department report that concluded the unexplained health ailments,

quote, were not the result of any malicious act of a foreign power. I guess I have to ask you, though, because if the Canadian government is saying that this is a matter of national security and this needs to be kept secret, why report and publish this story, Bob? Like, why not, I guess, address that fact or listen to that fact that this might be an issue of national security? Our job as journalists is to probe and look and to determine whether there's any truth

to this. that we have an obligation as reporters to let the public know. Bob, this has been fascinating talking to you. Thank you so much for your reporting and for taking the time to be here today. Happy to do so. Bye. That was Robert Fife, the Globe's recently retired, former Ottawa Bureau Chief. On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand cited the 2024 report issued by Global Affairs Canada

that concluded no definitive common cause could be identified for the health symptoms experienced in Havana. She also said that her department remains committed to assisting families and staff of global affairs who've been impacted by these symptoms. In response to Bob's reporting, former Canadian spies and high-level security officials also called for parliamentarians to independently investigate the department's handling of allegations that Russia used sonic weaponry against Canadian diplomats in Cuba. They also want an investigation into how the diplomats were treated by Ottawa.

That's it for today. I'm Manika Ram and Wilms. This episode is mixed by Rachel Levy-McLaughlin. Our producers are Madeline White, Cheryl Sutherland, Rachel Levy McLaughlin, and Mikhail Stein. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.