Transition Binder: International Engagement

As Minister of Public Safety, you will engage bilaterally with key partners to advance Canada's security interests, including those tied to key mandate commitments. Your key counterparts are the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK), along with Australia and New Zealand, followed by security ministers of the other G7 countries (France, Germany, Italy and Japan), and to some extent Mexico and the European Union (EU). You will also represent Canada at multilateral fora including annual meetings of the Group of Seven (G7) and Five Eyes (FVEY) security partnership.

Your focus in 2025 will be dominated by supporting Team Canada's efforts to engage the incoming Administration of President-Elect Donald Trump. Border issues, drug trafficking, and transnational organized crime will be a key focus in the Canada-U.S. relationship. To that end, a priority will be to implement, on an urgent basis, those Border Plan commitments (announced on December 17, 2024) that fall within the Public Safety and Portfolio mandate.

In January 2025, Canada will assume the G7 Presidency, which notably lands on the 50th year of the G7. While the Prime Minister has not yet publicly announced all of the G7 Ministerial tracks under Canada's Presidency (this is expected the first week of January 2025), the Department continues to plan for a presumptive Interior Minister's Meeting (IMM), which you would host. Of importance in this context is how Canada can leverage the G7 Presidency to further advance the Canada-U.S. relationship, e.g., by shaping an IMM agenda that takes into account shared Canadian-U.S. priorities. [REDACTED]

Public Safety's portfolio agencies each have a broad array of international engagements and partnerships based on their enabling legislation and functions. You will find additional information on each portfolio agency's international engagement in their respective transition materials.

Relevant Mandate Letter Commitments

Further Information

United States

In the lead up to, and following the inauguration of President Trump on January 20, 2025, the Department will advocate for a robust bilateral program with the U.S., including visits to Washington, D.C. for in-person meetings. A significant focus will be on early engagement with key interlocutors, such as the new U.S. Secretary to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada, once appointed, in an effort to establish a strong rapport with your counterparts.

[REDACTED] It will be important for you to have an introductory meeting with the new U.S. Attorney General once they are appointed: the U.S. Attorney General is your counterpart on law enforcement and national security issues involving agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice (principally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives).

Your engagement across all levels will not only strengthen collaborative relationships with the U.S., but will also complement cooperation in the multilateral sphere, especially with FVEY and G7 partners.

United Kingdom

The UK is Canada's closest ally on security issues after the U.S. Core, ongoing shared issues of concern include countering foreign interference, online harms such as ideologically motivated violent extremism, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and transnational organized crime.

You will engage regularly with the UK to advance Canada's security interests both bilaterally and in multilateral fora, such as the G7 and FVEY partnerships. Your engagement with the UK will also be shaped by their role as chair of the FCM meeting in 2025 (date TBC). An introductory call with your UK counterpart, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, should be an early priority of your international engagement after the U.S.

Australia and New Zealand

As members of the FVEY security alliance it will be important for you to develop close relations with your Australian and New Zealand counterparts to advance Canada's security interests in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

Establishing an early relationship with your Australian counterpart, Home Affairs and Cybersecurity Minister, Tony Burke, will be instrumental as both countries face similar challenges and implement similar solutions to tackle challenges, such as foreign interference and cyber security.

In New Zealand, your counterpart is Judith Collins, Minister for the Government Communications Security Bureau and New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service.

You will have opportunities to meet bilaterally with both Australia and New Zealand during the 2025 FCM in the UK.

North America / Mexico

Canada engages with the U.S. and Mexico through multiple mechanisms, including the North American Leaders' Summit (NALS), [REDACTED]

Group of Seven (G7)

The G7 IMM is the cornerstone of your international engagement on security issues and will provide an opportunity to develop concerted responses and public positions with many of Canada's most important like-minded partners on shared security concerns. You will be called upon to share Canadian security priorities and updates and be prepared to discuss with your ministerial counterparts a number of pressing concerns in plenary sessions. Your participation in the G7 IMM will also provide you the opportunity to engage bilaterally with your ministerial counterparts. Canada and G7 partners' positions on security policy issues will be communicated through joint statements and ministerial communiqués. The Department will negotiate these on your behalf, to advance Canadian priorities.

Five Eyes

As Five Eye (FVEY) partners, the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. share with Canada a broad range of intelligence in one of the world's most unified multilateral arrangements.

You, along with the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), represent Canada and its security interests at the annual Five Country Ministerial (FCM) meeting, to be held in the UK in 2025 (dates TBC). The FCM meeting is an annual forum for the FVEY security and immigration ministers to meet and discuss opportunities for collaboration. Topics cover the full range of public safety and national security issues facing each of the FVEY partners, including foreign interference, cyber security, threats to democratic institutions, terrorism and ideologically-motivated violent extremism, online child sexual exploitation and abuse, modern slavery and human trafficking in global supply chains, and migration issues.

Of note, the Department has a dedicated FCM Secretary housed within the National Cyber and Security Branch (NCSB). The Secretariat and the Department's International Affairs Division (IAD) work closely to prepare FCM briefing materials.

Other Key Multilateral Organizations and Initiatives

The following areas do not necessarily entail Ministerial-level engagement but are part of the Departments overall responsibility in the international space.

International Police Deployments

On your behalf, the Department co-manages (with the RCMP and GAC) the Canadian Police Arrangement (CPA). The CPA oversees the International Police Peacekeeping and Peace Operations (IPP) Program, which deploys Canadian police and civilian experts to peace operations around the world. Currently Canadian police and civilian experts are deployed in support of Canada's response to the crisis in Haiti, Ukraine, the West Bank, UN missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kosovo, the UN Institute for Training and Research in Switzerland, the International Criminal Court, and the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre in London, UK. The Program receives $39.8 million per annum in ongoing funding, disbursed by the RCMP and GAC. As of December 2024, 38 officers are deployed in total; roughly half are women; and 55% come from partner police agencies across Canada, with the other 45% from the RCMP.

The Program's mandate expires on March 31, 2026. [REDACTED]

Global Crises

Your department and the Portfolio will work to support you to advance Canada's responses to international crises such as those affecting Ukraine and Haiti. On Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, this includes efforts to hold Russia accountable, enforcing sanctions (RCMP/CBSA) and providing actionable intelligence and material support. Your role in supporting the Government of Canada's response is expected to increase should the conflict move beyond combat operations to reconstruction, [REDACTED] Through the CPA, Canadian police officers are deployed to Poland. From there, they frequently travel to Ukraine to deliver training to the National Police of Ukraine.

On Haiti, to date your department has supported the Interdepartmental Task Force on Haiti; the creation of the Integrated Intelligence Cell, which is hosted at the RCMP; the deployment of police officers, through the CPA, to the UN Integrated Office in Haiti; temporary liaison officers in countries surrounding Haiti; and, police experts deployed to Jamaica to train Haitian national police officers.

The Indo-Pacific Strategy

As a region, the Indo-Pacific comprises 40 countries and economies, including Australia, North and South Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Pacific Island Countries (14), Pakistan, People's Republic of China, and the Philippines, amongst many others.

Launched in November 2022, Canada's comprehensive, whole-of-government Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) is structured around the following 5 interconnected objectives that provide a framework for Canada's continued engagement in the world's fastest-growing region: 1) Promote peace, resilience, and security; 2) Expand trade, investment, and supply chain resilience; 3) Invest in and connect people; 4) Build a sustainable and green future; and, 5) Canada as an active and engaged partner to the Indo-Pacific. The Department supports Canada's IPS given stability in this region directly impacts the safety, prosperity and security of Canadians.

Under the IPS, Public Safety has received $2 million in funding for a cyber diplomacy and security initiative. Led by GAC, this whole-of-government effort will expand cyber engagement with priority countries and enhance domestic cyber resilience and response capacity. Other funding received is supporting augmented intelligence capacity for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and partners, and support the CBSA and RCMP's capacity building efforts. This initiative aims to enhance law enforcement in the region and mitigate threats (i.e., irregular migration, forced labour, migrant smuggling) from the region. Since the launch of the IPS, the Department's National Cyber and Security Branch participated in multiple international events and engagements with partners in the Indo-Pacific. The majority of these engagements consisted of scoping missions, led by GAC, which helped identify areas of interest in domestic cyber security policy for future cooperation.

United Nations

Finally, your department is also responsible for advancing Canadian multilateral commitments on issues relevant to the Department's mandate through various United Nations (UN) bodies – including the General Assembly, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs – as well as (occasionally) the G20 and the Organization of American States.

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