Canada's spy agency raises concern over threats from Russia & China in Arctic region

Canada’s domestic spy agency claimed that Russia and China have “significant intelligence interest” in Canada’s Arctic and hence are targeting the country’s government and private sector. In an annual speech on threats Canada is facing, Dan Rogers, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), flagged mounting concerns over hostile nations.

He pointed out how these nations are 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 been increasingly flagged as the navigable routes that pass through the country’s borders and the troves of critical minerals in the region as reasons to increase investment in the north.

In the federal budget unveiled last week, Canada announced a C$1bn (US$710m) Arctic infrastructure fund to help build new airports, seaports and all-season roads. Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters last week that the Nato military alliance should devote effort to the Arctic, adding it “must be an organisation not only that focuses on the eastern flank, but also that looks north”.

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Russian and Chinese threats

In his Thursday address, Rogers said that 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 noted that Chinese spies “have tried to recruit Canadians with information and military expertise”. Apart from threats from China and Russia, Rogers pointed out how the agency foiled potentially lethal threats from Iran directed against dissidents living in Canada.

Rogers’s remarks were the first public confirmation that the agency has intervened to protect Canada-based critics of Tehran. CSIS had said previously it was investigating Iranian threats, but did not mention specific threats.

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“In particularly alarming cases over the last year, we’ve had to reprioritise 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 added.

It is pertinent to note that 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 organisation, prompting condemnation from Tehran.

With inputs from Reuters.