Threats to Canada: An Overview
National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Annual Report 2020

19. In its 2018 annual report, the Committee outlined a number of threats to Canada's national security. The Privy Council Office briefed the Committee on these threats in 2018 and their continued relevance was validated by the security and intelligence community in 2020. This year, the Committee decided to update and expand on those threats with a specific focus on the five issues identified by the security and intelligence community: terrorism; espionage and foreign interference; malicious cyber activities; major organized crime; and weapons of mass destruction. The Committee has addressed some of these issues in greater depth through its reviews. For example, the Committee examined foreign interference in its 2018 Special Report on the Prime Minister's trip to India and its 2019 review of the government response to foreign interference, and it will release its examination of the government's defensive cyber capabilities in 2021.

20. This chapter addresses the five threats in turn. Each section describes the threat and its evolution since 2018, including any implications from the pandemic, and key conclusions.