Money laundering, disinformation, election interference, economic security, drug trafficking and espionage.
It’s not the plot until the end Mission impossible. It’s the agenda of a major international conference being held in Vancouver this week that draws experts from around the world, many of whom say Canada is not doing enough to protect itself.
More than 70 professionals from government, academia and industry gathered Tuesday for the second day of the Vancouver International Security Summit, to discuss the links between security and economic and political stability.
The location of the summit in Vancouver was not a coincidence.
In the past five years, British Columbia has seen allegations that China has tried to directly influence local politicians, while Indian state officials are linked to organized criminals operating in Surrey. Security experts say the problem is deeper and more complex than most people realize.
“Vancouver has a reputation for being a significant hub for threat actors and activities, and we thought Vancouver would be a great place globally to have a platform for our international partners to talk about,” Calvin Christie, partner on the Critical Risk team and former RCMP officer, told Global News. Morning B.C.
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Christie said one of the things the summit hopes to help policymakers see is that many major security threats cannot be viewed — or dealt with — in isolation. It’s something he said has traditionally been a blind spot in Canada.
“Political interference is linked to money laundering, linked to corruption, linked to fentanyl smuggling, linked to other acts of foreign interference, and linked to transnational repression,” he said.
Christie added that he believes democracy in Canada has already been compromised. But he said the country does not have the tools it needs to respond.
He said Canada does not have dedicated national police agencies like the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security, and the agencies that it does have such as CSIS and the RCMP do not have the necessary powers.
He said the international perception that Canada is not taking the issue seriously has led to issues such as the U.S. threat of tough new tariffs related to border security.
“Canada does not have a national strategy on national security,” he said. “So no plan, plan to fail.”
Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, an outspoken critic of foreign intervention, delivered one of the keynote speeches at the summit on Tuesday.
West told Global News that questions about foreign interference undermine people’s trust in Canadian institutions, something he said threatens our democracy.
Foreign adversaries view Canada as a “soft vulnerability” that is easy to exploit, he said, pointing to allegations of Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections made by both the CIA and parliamentary committees.
But he said the federal government had failed to confront the threat head-on.
“Right now the prime minister says he has the names of parliamentarians under foreign influence, and these names have not been revealed,” he added, adding that Canada also lacks a registry of foreign agents.
“So we have our work cut out for us, but we haven’t even achieved the bare minimum of where we are on the receiving end.”
Canada launched an investigation into foreign election interference, and although it acknowledged a small number of irregularities, it found they were unlikely to be enough to change the outcome.
Critics want to see more action at the federal level to ensure transparency and security.
“If we want to become a serious country where decisions are made in the best interest of our citizens, then we have to deal with this, no more avoidance,” West said.
The second phase of the federal investigation will look at what steps need to be taken to ensure the integrity of the election.
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
