Conclusion
Special Report on the National Security and Intelligence Activities of Global Affairs Canada

257. This review marks the Committee's third examination of a core member of the security and intelligence community. When the Committee started these activity reviews in 2018, its intention was twofold: to shed light on the lesser-known activities of organizations that had never been reviewed before, and to build its own understanding of how the security and intelligence community operates as a whole. The review of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces served as an introduction to the Crown prerogative and the broad range of defence intelligence activities. The Canada Border Services Agency review revealed a niche and concentrated scope of activities conducted in support of border security. Both showed how these organizations exercised their relatively discrete and distinct roles within the broader security and intelligence community.

258. Global Affairs Canada's national security and intelligence activities are more diffuse. Its national security activities operate along a broad spectrum, from diplomatic efforts to promote international peace and security, to funding counter-terrorism projects in fragile states, to coordinating efforts for the safe return of Canadians taken hostage by terrorists abroad. The Department's intelligence activities range from overt diplomatic reporting to supporting its partners' intelligence collection activities within Canada. It plays an overarching role by ensuring the alignment of the activities of the security and intelligence community with the government's broader foreign policy interests. Cumulatively, these responsibilities put the Department at the centre of managing the government's foreign policy risks for all of Canada's security and intelligence activities with a foreign nexus.

259. Global Affairs Canada's governance and accountability structures are not commensurate with the significance of its responsibilities. The Department lacks the policy, oversight and accountability mechanisms that are the hallmarks of a mature security and intelligence organization. It has few frameworks or procedures to guide the conduct of its most sensitive intelligence activities and, most concerning, it has not instituted regular formalized reporting to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to keep her or him apprised of the broad range of national security and intelligence activities and their associated risks. This disparity undermines policy and operational consistency, institutional memory and ministerial accountability within the Department and, where it supports other security and intelligence programs, potentially for other government ministers. Weak governance is also a challenge in the area of foreign policy coherence, particularly between Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, where engagement remains irregular and ad hoc. The Committee believes that the Department must do better if it is going to fulfill its proper role within Canada's security and intelligence community. It expects that its findings and recommendations will assist the Department in doing so.