Foreign interference and Canadian intelligence: An FAQ

For the past month, headlines have been dominated by leaked CSIS documents, intelligence sources, fears of foreign interference in Canadian elections and the political fallout of all that. But most Canadians don’t know much about how our intelligence community operates. Which agencies do what? Who do they report to? Who can access their information? Why would they release it to the press?

Stephanie Carvin is an associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada’s National Security. She joins us to demystify the world of Canadian intelligence.

“Why have we been gathering this information but seemingly not acting on it? It is my hope that in the next couple of months well get some answers to that, as well as—hopefully—some paths forward,” she said.

Because this is already shaping up to be the political story of the year in Canada, we wanted to lay out the basics. Here’s what you need to know to understand what matters and why.

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