Public Safety Committee on Oct. 6th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Noormohamed.

Ms. Michaud, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

General Eyre, you said earlier that Canada might have something to fear and that, as a North American country especially, it could be a target.

Doesn't it have more to fear than other countries because of its vast northern border with Russia in the Arctic?

I imagine it does, but could you give us more details on how you are paying attention to the Arctic in your discussions with the United States, for example, and with NATO or NORAD?

In what ways are you paying close attention to what might happen in the Arctic?

[Gen Wayne D. Eyre]

Thank you for the question.

We must continue to focus on the Arctic to protect our sovereignty, not only today, tomorrow and in the coming weeks, but over the next decade.

The threats to our sovereignty are not very critical right now, but in the next decade they could get worse. So we must invest to protect our capabilities across all domains, whether on land, at sea, in the air, in space or in cyberspace.

With respect to our current operations, I will turn the floor over to the commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Mr. Auchterlonie.

[VAdm J.R. Auchterlonie]

Thank you.

It's a huge challenge for the Canadian Armed Forces.

In the north there are a number of challenges we face. One of them would be training, as the chief has noted. There are infrastructure challenges in the north. There are capability challenges. The main awareness is a challenge because of the vastness of this.

In terms of specific training, we do conduct training annually in the region. We're seeing ever-increasing training across domains in the north involving the army, the navy and the air force and including our allies and partners around the globe. We conduct an annual series of exercises to make sure we're able to operate in the north, because it is a very hostile environment.

As I said, consolidating that infrastructure, that sustainment, that training and the exercising allows us to have those capabilities in the north to support Canadians.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

General Eyre, my next question is not about a threat to Canada specifically, but a threat that could disrupt the world order.

We were discussing China and Russia, but some states on the Security Council and in the United Nations General Assembly abstained from voting on a motion to condemn Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory.

Do you fear that these states may join forces with countries like Russia and China to further disrupt the world order in the coming years?

[Gen Wayne D. Eyre]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, certain states, most of them authoritarian and friends or customers of superpowers like Russia and China, are taking the same position as them on the world.

Other countries do not wish to join the West or the authoritarian countries. They want to protect their strategic space and be able to make the decisions they deem necessary to protect their interests.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Michaud.

We will go now to Mr. MacGregor for two and a half minutes.

Take us home.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have just one question for CSE. We're talking about cybercrime. I want to focus specifically on the cybercrime that's originating from Russia.

We know that a lot of Canadian companies are very worried about attacks or threats coming their way going public. Such a thing can damage their reputation. It can cause a loss of investor confidence and can really harm their brand.

I know this is a real challenge for your organization, but with respect to the organizations or individuals who are launching these kinds of attacks, could you inform our committee what kind of a profile you're witnessing? Are these loosely affiliated criminal organizations in Russia? What kind of a relationship do they have with the Russian state? Are you witnessing some kind of a coordinated strategy?

I know a lot of that is probably fairly classified, but perhaps you could go into fairly broad terms for this committee.

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.

As was mentioned, we can't speak to the specifics, but what we can say is that when we become aware of what a cybercriminal's traits look like or what their profile is and that's something we are able to declassify, we definitely want to share that with industry.

That was witnessed in the bulletin we put out in January in particular. We went out and told private industry what Russia might be capable of in the critical infrastructure space just to provide a warning in general about what one should be concerned about, because we know they can operate in a sophisticated manner.

For industry, in relation to hostile states in general and not just Russia in particular, when we understand a profile, such as the one we've been watching for Russia, we give them the necessary advice so they can patch their systems to prevent them from being vulnerable and to really monitor them. That's the other piece that's really important—always keeping an eye on whether things are going as they are supposed to be going.

We offer information sessions, as well as bulletins with advice, on a regular basis. As soon as we are able to provide information that is transparent to the public, we do so.

That goes to the question asked previously about how we really work hard at trying to find ways in which we can declassify the information and make it more public so people are made aware of what the Russians are possibly capable of doing.

Unfortunately, that's about the extent of what I can say.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Sure.

I'll just end by again thanking each of you for appearing today. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

That does in fact wrap up our questions.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all our witnesses, the whole panel, for sharing their time with us today. I know you're very busy people, and we do appreciate it. You've been a help, so I thank you.

With that, we will suspend to go in camera. For the members online, you should have been sent a link for the in camera portion.

We will suspend for five minutes.

[Proceedings continue in camera]