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Canada’s domestic spy agency says Russia and China have a “significant intelligence interest” in Canada’s Arctic, and are targeting both the country’s government and its private sector.
In his annual speech on threats facing Canada, Dan Rogers, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), flagged mounting concerns over hostile nations growing increasingly emboldened in the Arctic.
“It is not a surprise that CSIS has observed both cyber and non-cyber intelligence collection efforts targeting both governments and the private sector in the region,” he said on Thursday.
Canada has increasingly flagged the navigable routes that pass through the country’s borders and the troves of critical minerals in the region as reason to increase investment in the north. In addition to new heavy ice breakers, Canada is weighing the purchase of a dozen patrol submarines.
In the federal budget unveiled last week, Canada announced a C$1bn Arctic infrastructure fund to help build new airports, seaports and all-season roads.
Anita Anand, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, told reporters last week the Nato military alliance should devote effort to the Arctic, adding it “must be an organization not only that focuses on the eastern flank, but also that looks north”.
In his speech, Rogers also said CSIS agents foiled attempts by Russia to illegally acquire Canadian goods and technologies for use in its war against Ukraine.
“This year, CSIS took action to prevent this by informing several Canadian companies that Europe-based front companies seeking to acquire their goods were in fact connected to Russian agents,” he said, adding that the companies took immediate measures to deny the Russians.
He also said that Chinese spies “have tried to recruit Canadians with information and military expertise”.
In addition to threats from China and Russia, Rogers said the agency foiled potentially lethal threats by Iran directed against dissidents.
His remarks are the first public confirmation that the agency has intervened to protect Canada-based critics of Tehran. CSIS had said previously it was probing Iranian threats, but did not mention specific threats.
“In particularly alarming cases over the last year, we’ve had to reprioritize our operations to counter the actions of Iranian intelligence services and their proxies who have targeted individuals they perceive as threats to their regime,” Rogers said.
“In more than one case, this involved detecting, investigating, and disrupting potentially lethal threats against individuals in Canada,” he said.
Canada has particularly poor relations with Iran and cut off diplomatic ties in 2012. Last year, Canada listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, prompting condemnation from Tehran.
Reuters contributed reporting
