Canada's in an interesting position because of its heterogeneity. There are tons of diaspora groups here, as our fellow witness online described in her testimony. This is a benefit to Canadian democracy, but it presents a vulnerability in the sense that foreign state actors, in particular, are directly targeting diaspora communities in Canada with an interest in either undermining their trust in Canadian elections and democracy or trying to get them to vote for particular candidates in an election.
I think it's increasingly designed to disrupt or destabilize trust in Canadian institutions at all levels of government. I'm seeing this in the United States and other countries too—removed from the context of elections—when wildfires hit or a hurricane hits and foreign state actors are targeting local communities and even ethnic minorities, trying to get them not to believe that the disaster relief being provided to them can be trusted.
There are all these ways that are conduits for foreign state interference, and there isn't enough investment at the local level in those civic organizations, in community leaders and in the trusted voices in those communities with respect to.... This resilience can't come from Ottawa, nor could it come from Washington in the United States or from another capital. We have to work to amplify and empower the people in those communities whose voices are trusted to get them to build up resilience measures themselves, rather than having these things dictated to them by the federal government.