Parliamentary Committee Notes: Foreign Interference: Overview of Hostile Activities by State Actors

Date: January 26, 2023

Branch/Agency: NCSB/PS

Proposed Response:

• In recent years, Canada has seen an increase in the frequency and sophistication of hostile activities by state actors (HASA) including by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), seeking to advance their political, economic and security interests to the detriment of Canada’s.
• These hostile activities can include foreign interference efforts, such as harassment and intimidation of Canadian communities, as well as cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, and other disruptive actions.
• The Government of Canada will not tolerate these activities. We remain committed to combatting foreign interference by protecting our citizens and communities, safeguarding our democratic institutions, and promoting economic security all while ensuring transparency and respect for the rule of law.
• We continue to work closely with our security and intelligence partners, both inside and outside the federal government, domestically and abroad, to strategically counter foreign interference. As part of these efforts, the Government of Canada:
  • Assesses and investigates threats to reduce them through criminal prosecution and other means, and to provide advice to decision-makers;
  • Provides tools and guidance to Canadians to help them better identify and mitigate these risks;
  • Provides mechanisms for public reporting through the CSIS and RCMP websites and national security threat phone lines;
  • Engages with communities at risk in Canada to help them better protect themselves against foreign threats;
  • Helps critical infrastructure operators defend critical cyber security systems that Canadians rely on;
  • Engages with private companies, researchers and the health sector to inform them of the threats and to help them better understand how to protect their work; and
  • Uses the full range of diplomatic tools against states that perpetuate threats to Canadian interests;
  • Coordinates and shares information with Five Eyes, and other allies, such as G7 and NATO on foreign interference and other threats.
  • Adopts a holistic approach to protecting Canada’s democratic institutions and practices from interference, as exemplified by the 2019 Plan to protect Canada’s democracy; and,
  • Enhances citizen resilience to disinformation by helping Canadians to become better informed about disinformation tactics and actors, and by enhancing transparency.
• Protecting the safety and security of Canadians remains at the heart of our approach.

Background

Hostile activities by state actors (HASA) is understood as hostile activities undertaken by state actors, or their proxies, that is purposely covert, malign, clandestine and deceptive. It can include threats, harassment and intimidation. Foreign states leverage these activities to advance their strategic interests including: seeking geopolitical influence, economic advancement, revision of the rules-based international order, domestic stability, and military advantage. These activities can be directed at Canadians, or residents of Canada, or against Canadian institutions to advance their strategic interests at the expense of our national interests and values.

Through its mandate to investigate threats to the security of Canada, including foreign interference, CSIS has seen multiple instances of foreign states targeting Canadian institutions and communities. As well, the RCMP is aware that illegal state-backed activities are committed against Canadians and Canadian interests, and investigates these activities further to its mandate. The scope of potential HASA activities can be broad, encompassing a range of techniques that are familiar to intelligence agencies. These include human intelligence operations, the use of state-sponsored or foreign influenced media and disinformation campaigns, and the use of sophisticated cyber tools.

Several reports have highlighted the threat of HASA in Canada. For example, in its 2021 Public Report, released in April 2022, CSIS stated that foreign interference activities in Canada continue to be sophisticated, persistent, and pervasive. Espionage and foreign-influenced activities are directed at Canadian entities both inside and outside of Canada, and directly threaten Canada’s national security and strategic interests. Furthermore, the 2019 Annual Report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) outlined foreign interference activities, including the targeting of Canadian institutions by threat actors. The NSICOP (2019) report pointed to Russia and China as being particularly active in Canada and made a number of recommendations for Canada to bolster its response to the threat of HASA.

Date modified:

2023-05-29