India has historically cultivated 'covert relationships with Canadian politicians, journalists and members of the Indo-Canadian community to exert its influence and advance its interests,' CSIS says.Chris Wattie/Reuters
Canada’s spy agency says five countries, including China and India, remain the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage in this country despite all being singled out in a public inquiry into these activities.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service also identified Russia, Iran and Pakistan as countries that engage in foreign meddling and spying in Canada.
In its 2025 annual report, CSIS said the People’s Republic of China’s intelligence services, both civilian and military, have shifted tactics. For example, they post fake job advertisements through front companies on mainstream employment websites to recruit Canadians with access to proprietary or classified information. CSIS used the acronym PRCIS to refer to these Chinese intelligence services.
Unlike traditional targeted recruitment, this approach lets Chinese intelligence engage with a far larger pool of Canadians, who unknowingly apply to work for a hostile intelligence service.
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Even applicants without direct access to sensitive information are useful, CSIS warned, because their résumés and personal data can help identify and target contacts who have access.
“The PRCIS takes advantage of the financial difficulties and career ambitions that drive some applicants to apply for these job postings,” CSIS said.
In 2025, CSIS said it published security alerts highlighting the PRCIS espionage tradecraft that targeted Canadian academic research.
In January, Prime Minister Mark Carney travelled to China to forge a new strategic partnership with the world’s second-largest economy.
Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing in January.Sean Kilpatrick/Reuters
The rapprochement with China is taking place after relations hit a low in the wake of the 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant. China responded by arresting and jailing two Canadians on trumped-up espionage charges.
All three were released in 2021 after Ms. Meng cut a deal with U.S. prosecutors.
China has been accused, through a public inquiry into foreign interference of meddling in Canadian elections, harassing diaspora communities and stealing this country’s technology.
CSIS said India has historically cultivated “covert relationships with Canadian politicians, journalists and members of the Indo-Canadian community to exert its influence and advance its interests.”
“This has included transnational repression activities, such as surveillance and other coercive tactics meant to suppress criticism of the government of India and create fear in the community,” CSIS said.
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With the presence of Indo-Canadians in this country who support an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, CSIS said it must remain vigilant that no harm is done to them.
Ottawa has accused Indian agents of being behind the 2023 slaying of Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a B.C. Sikh temple.
The former Justin Trudeau government expelled six Indian diplomats, including the country’s high commissioner after accusing New Delhi of being part of a campaign of violence against Canadian citizens, including Mr. Nijjar’s killing.
India strongly denied the allegations and responded with tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
When he became Prime Minister, Mr. Carney put diplomatic relations back on track by inviting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Group of Seven summit in Alberta last year and later visiting the country in February this year.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on March 2.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Before the India trip, a senior government official told reporters that India is no longer involved in foreign interference and transnational repression in Canada.
The remark was widely criticized by national-security experts. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand later clarified that no country, including India, gets a free pass to conduct foreign interference in Canada.
Russia has been running what CSIS describes as a combination of espionage, attempted sabotage and disinformation – what the report calls Moscow’s asymmetrical response to Western support for Ukraine.
CSIS said Russian state-linked actors have used proxy networks and AI tools to amplify Kremlin messaging and exploit divisive social topics to erode Canadian public support for Ukraine.
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The Canadian spy agency said it worked with foreign partners to track Canadian technology being shipped to Russia – including microelectronics, satellite communication equipment and precision firearms – and stop it before it arrived.
Russia intelligence services are also active in hacking into e-mail accounts to steal information and to disrupt the activities of companies trying to help Ukraine.
CSIS said Iran remains an aggressive perpetrator of transnational repression. It has been accused of trying to kill former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, a human-rights champion and critic of the Iranian regime.
In July, 2025, CSIS said an alleged Iranian state group hacked systems of Iran International, a Farsi online news operation based in London and Washington. The hackers obtained information of a Canadian resident and published their driver’s licence, permanent resident card and Iranian passport online.
“Within days of being doxed, the Canadian resident began receiving hundreds of violent threats, and their family in Iran was harassed by the authorities,” CSIS said.
To safeguard sensitive technology, CSIS said it reviews federal research funding for national-security concerns. It also provides regular briefings to Ottawa’s Major Projects Office and undertakes national-security reviews for all state-owned or foreign investments from hostile countries.
CSIS said it is focusing more on the Arctic, where Russia and China are eyeing critical minerals, oil and gas development and the opening of new trade routes as a result of global warming.