Understanding foreign interference

How to report Foreign Interference

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What is foreign interference

Foreign interference is any covert, deceptive or coercive activity by a foreign government, or by those acting on their behalf, that is directed at Canada, Canadians or Canadian interests, and is contrary to Canada's national security. Examples of interference activities by foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf, include:

Why Canada is a target

How foreign interference impacts people in Canada

Foreign interference can:

The Government of Canada has developed resources to help you recognize foreign interference:

Understanding the difference between influence and interference

Foreign influence is a normal part of international affairs. Foreign partners regularly seek to influence the decisions we make as a country, just as Canada seeks to influence the decisions of others.

Foreign partners generally use legitimate, legal and transparent means to advocate their interests, such as lobbying, open public communications, political dialogue, trade negotiations and diplomacy.

However, some foreign governments may seek to exert influence in non-transparent or covert ways.

When not addressed, these activities can have serious implications for Canadian interests, national security and our democratic processes and institutions.

Foreign political interference

Foreign interference involves clandestine, deceptive, manipulative or personally threatening actions by foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf, to manipulate Canada's policies, elections or public opinion. Foreign interference can happen at all levels of government.

Examples of foreign political interference include:

For a detailed overview, see the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)'s publication on Foreign Interference and You.

Transnational repression

Transnational repression is a form of foreign interference in which foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf, harass, threaten or harm individuals or groups to silence criticism and dissent. Transnational repression disproportionately affects members of diaspora groups who work to protect political, human, religious and minority rights in their home countries. Transnational repression can occur via physical methods but is increasingly being perpetuated in the digital space in the form of online harassment, smear campaigns, surveillance or hacking.

Transnational repression activities cause significant harm to the victims and Canadian communities.

In 2024, Canada adopted Bill C-70, An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference, which introduced new, modernized criminal offences to address transnational repression.
It is a crime to:

Transnational repression can take many forms

Physical intimidation and violence

Some victims report:

Digital transnational repression and online harassment

Victims may receive hostile emails, text messages or messages via their social media accounts. This can involve:

There have been instances of online defamation campaigns, often using deep-fakes, calls for retribution against the victims and disclosure of personal information (doxxing).

Malicious cyber activity

Hostile actors may use phishing emails (malicious emails made to look legitimate) and spyware to gain access to a victim's device. Private data can be extracted, including:

Hostile actors can use this information for:

Community exclusion

Victims may report being rejected by some members of their community in Canada.

They may:

Forced repatriations

Some foreign states use special operations to forcefully repatriate citizens to face criminal charges overseas. States often use surveillance, intimidation and threats against family members to convince the individuals to 'voluntarily' return and face criminal charges.

Transnational repression on campus

Certain foreign governments target specific groups on Canadian University and College campuses

Transnational repression on campus often goes unrecognized and unreported. It can take many forms, including:

Who carries out transnational repression

Transnational repression is carried out by foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf.

Some examples of actors who carry out transnational repression in Canada include:

Security and intelligence agencies

Foreign security and intelligence agencies can be active perpetrators of transnational repression. They operate both from within Canada and overseas, to target diaspora communities, activists and dissidents.

These agencies may deploy sophisticated digital and physical tactics to silence criticism, monitor diasporas and political activity with the intent of advancing their own national interests and objectives, while controlling their citizens and critics abroad.

Proxies

Proxies are individuals or groups who are secretly encouraged through financial, political, or belief-based means to interfere on behalf of a foreign state. The use of proxies can make it harder to trace these actions back to the foreign state.

Organized criminal groups

Foreign governments or their agents may hire criminal groups to carry out activities in Canada. These could include crimes such as intimidation, harassment, and physical violence.

Students

In some cases, students studying abroad may be mobilized (intentionally or unwittingly) as perpetrators of transnational repression. These individuals may be encouraged or pressured by their home governments to monitor peers, report student activity, or promote state narratives within academic or community settings.

Foreign diplomats in Canada

Foreign diplomatic missions in Canada have the duty to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state and not to interfere in the internal affairs of the host state.

Despite these international norms, some foreign governments may use their diplomatic missions to monitor and spy on their citizens and diaspora members abroad.

They can deny issuing or renewing documents, such as passports or visas, as a means to control or stop individuals from continuing undesirable activities.

Diplomats and embassy staff could take advantage of their positions to engage in covert activities, including attending events or sending agents to disrupt the speakers or take photos of protestors.

Countering foreign information manipulation and interference

Foreign information manipulation and interference, also known as FIMI, refers to intentional efforts by foreign governments, or those acting on their behalf, to manipulate information to confuse, divide, or mislead the public, distort policy discussion and erode confidence in democratic institutions. This might include spreading disinformation or misleading information, but also artificially amplifying certain voices and information to make them look more popular than they really are.

What is foreign information manipulation and interference

The use of foreign information manipulation and interference is widespread and constantly evolving. Foreign governments may build on narratives connected to divisive policy issues with the purpose of inflaming social tensions and disagreement. The purpose is to undermine public confidence in democratic institutions and governments, and compromise the social cohesion of societies.

These information operations can be both covert and overt. Some foreign governments use a combination of official government communications, government representatives, state-sponsored media, fake social media accounts, and paid proxies to develop and share disinformation in an organized manner.

For more information, visit

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