The foreign interference inquiry starts today with a big question — how much must it keep secret?

The independent inquiry into foreign electoral interference begins public hearings today. Its first item of business is working out what it can — and can't — talk about publicly.

The inquiry — officially the «Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions» — was triggered by media reports last year which, citing unnamed security sources and classified documents, accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Commissioner Justice Marie-Josée Hogue has been asked to investigate the extent to which China, Russia and other nations interfered in those elections, and how information about foreign interference flowed within the federal government. Just last week, the commission asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to share information about possible meddling in elections by India.

But before the inquiry team can dig into the core issues, it first needs to decide how it can share national security information with the public when classified documents and sources are involved.

The preliminary hearings, which run Monday to Friday, will probe «the challenges, limitations and potential adverse impacts associated with the disclosure of classified national security information and intelligence to the public.»

«This is one of the biggest challenges that the Commission will face,» Hogue said in a media statement last week.

The inquiry will hear this week from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, along with national security lawyers.

Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Carleton University and a former national security analyst with CSIS, said the first week