Foreign Affairs Committee on Sept. 25th, 2025

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

How have Russian officials responded to the concerns Canadian officials have raised in relation to airspace violations and other destabilizing tactics?

[Eric Laporte]

As I mentioned earlier, during the conversations with the ambassador of Russia, there were a number of reasons or excuses. One, it didn't happen. Two, it's not Russia's fault; these things might have been jammed or it was accidental. We've seen, even in a lot of public discourse on the part of Russian officials, the denial of intent for these actions.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you very much.

What is the Government of Canada's assessment of Russia's use of destabilizing tactics, including sabotage, as well as malicious electronic and cyber-activities?

Can you answer that one first?

[Eric Laporte]

We mentioned earlier that Russia is indeed engaged on all of these fronts, versus allies and versus Canada, certainly in the cyber realm. In the disinformation realm, though, there are some other actors that are probably more active in Canada than that.

It is something we are actively watching and working with our allies and partners to counter where we can.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Have we seen an increase in the use of propaganda and disinformation in Russian-language media, both in Canada and abroad? If so, what strategies are being employed to mitigate this? Is it happening in official-language media?

[Eric Laporte]

Unfortunately, I don't have that information. That is not my area of expertise.

I can say that, within Global Affairs Canada, there's a section called the G7 rapid response mechanism that has been launched by Canada as part of the G7 entity. It has the G7 countries as well as NATO and EU organizations involved, and it monitors disinformation and seeks to redress that. It also looks at election monitoring issues.

I'm not familiar with the details of its work, but there is an active element of the department that looks at that.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you very much.

What specific threshold duration, altitude, payload or proximity to critical sites would allied air forces be authorized to engage in without further political clearance?

[Eric Laporte]

I don't have that information.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Is that something that could be provided if it's not classified?

[Ty Curran]

Certainly. If the answer is not classified, we can provide that.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you.

I'm going to cede the rest of my time to MP Kramp-Neuman.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

I have a couple of high-level questions.

Are there any lessons that Canada could draw from with regard to these incidents to protect our own critical infrastructure against drone incursions?

[Ty Curran]

Absolutely. Both in this situation and from what we've seen in the general war in Ukraine, there's a strong likelihood that this will be a major part of future conflicts.

In addition, as we've seen in Denmark, there are risks outside of the conflict areas. It speaks to the ability to respond from a counter-UAV point of view, both in a direct kinetic way and a strike point of view, but also in terms of jamming, countering drones and UAVs and that sort of thing, and radars that can detect threats of this nature.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Thank you.

Lastly, in the interest of time, what message does it send to both allies and adversaries if violations of sovereign airspace are tolerated without meaningful consequences?

[Eric Laporte]

I would say, in this instance, that there have been consequences. In the first instance, at least in the case of the Polish airspace, a number of drones were shot down. Secondly, you had NATO allies invoke article 4 twice in the span of a week and had a North Atlantic Council statement—which means that it was agreed to by all 32 members—that was very strong in condemning Russian behaviour and actions, and then the setting up of a new operation or mission in Eastern Sentry. Yes, some of that will take a bit of time to ramp up, but that does signal, frankly, a fairly robust and rapid response on the part of NATO.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Thank you.

Perhaps, just as one last question, how long does it take to detect and intercept drones that cross into allied airspace?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Give a brief response, please.

[Eric Laporte]

I don't have the technical knowledge for that.

[Ty Curran]

Neither do I, but I would just add that allies maintain the capability to respond.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We move to MP Vandenbeld next.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much. I'm very pleased that I can get another round.

I'd just like to follow up on what your answers were before, about the fact that Russia is not claiming these operations. In particular, when you're looking at the ones that we're not certain of, like the airports, why would they be targeting something like the Copenhagen airport? What is the strategic interest? What message would they be sending?

Then, what would be the purpose in their denying that it was them?

[Eric Laporte]

Again, I'm speculating. I don't know motive, but you could easily see that doing so is intended to cause a disruption and sow fear amongst the population. Denying it also then obfuscates who it is and, just simply, adds more questions. This is part of the Russian narrative in the hybrid context, where it's below clear thresholds of conflict and the activities are simply intended to distract, sow fear, etc.

Maybe my colleague has a few other suggestions.

[Stéphane Lessard]

An observation various experts have made is that this is part of the so-called hybrid types of measures for which Russia has a large tool kit it uses. In the context of these measures, they have done things that can inflict psychological pressure on populations and governments. It's part of the destabilization efforts, which take many forms. This overflying of airports, for example, is disruptive, but it also destabilizes a government's response and understanding of what's going on.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

The fact that they are trying to leave some doubt as to the origin of these incursions, does this then make it more difficult to take retaliatory or responsive measures, or is it the opposite?

Is it that, if they did claim it, it would actually require greater retaliatory measures because it would be a much more aggressive act if it were not denied?

[Eric Laporte]

Certainly, on the latter point, if they openly declared that this was theirs, then it forces a much more rapid response, whereas denying it leaves it out there and allows them, again, to see how a government or the alliance responds to these challenges.