Archived link

...

• The 2026 wildfire season in Canada, which has been particularly severe in Ontario, has prompted significant interest on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
• Many of these posts contain misinformation, including AI-generated maps with incorrect details on the locations or severity of fires across Canada, or conspiracy theories linking wildfires to lasers, 15-minute city initiatives or eco-terrorism.
• Many posts focus on mismanagement and place blame on Canadian governments, which complicates valid critiques of wildfire response and funding with destabilizing misinformation.

...

Wildfire agencies are now also spending precious time and resources combatting misinformation or pushing back on AI-generated images — especially when it targets them. Russill says that degrades trust that is already wearing thin. “In B.C., you know, BC Wildfire is not trusted by every rural community that experiences wildfire, so they already have that issue to deal with.” The effect of untruths and conspiracy theories on public trust is just one of the mental health stresses faced by frontline firefighters.

...

Online misinformation is a problem without a simple solution. Providing facts is important, but there is a depressingly robust body of research suggesting they’re not enough to change peoples’ minds or strongly-held beliefs.

“Certainly around moments of crisis like this, [providing fact checks] can introduce friction into the ways people are engaging with content,” Russill says. “Maybe they share a little less. Maybe they reset and ground-truth on something that’s happening, as opposed to letting their feelings start to overwhelm them.”

Wildfires are still at their worst during hot, dry seasons; misinformation can burn all year long. At least for now, you can still limit your exposure to one of those risks by closing an app.

...

[The author of this piece is Dr. Jessica Davis, the president and principal consultant at Insight Threat Intelligence, who served in various roles for 17 years in the Canadian security and intelligence community including the Canadian Forces, Global Affairs Canada, FINTRAC (Canada’s financial intelligence unit), and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).]

Archived link

...

The 2024 election disinformation campaign was far from Moscow’s first foray into illicit political finance. Credible reporting indicates that Russia has engaged in vote buying, bankrolling political parties and candidates, funding propaganda and influence networks, and a host of other (sometimes illegal) activities designed to bolster preferred candidates and shape a political outcome. While Russia is not the only country that does this—India, Iran, and China also use various methods to interfere in the politics of other countries—it is a big player. Since 2014, it has channelled at least $300 million to political parties, officials, and politicians in more than twenty-four countries. And that’s only what we can trace.

...

According to research published by Disinfowatch, a group that exposes foreign disinformation campaigns targeting Canada, between late 2025 and early 2026, the Pravda News Network published dozens of stories depicting Alberta as a province systematically exploited by Ottawa. An influence campaign known as Storm 1516 reportedly went further, creating websites such as albertaseparatist.com to circulate fabricated claims—including the assertion that the federal government fleeces $20,000 a year from every Alberta family. Russian state-aligned outlets, like Sputnik and RT, then helped elevate these narratives, alongside inflammatory commentary from sympathetic US influencers on YouTube and X, giving fringe claims the appearance of mainstream debate.

These messages are not always entirely consistent or aligned. Russia is well-known for advancing any divisive narrative and for testing and refining what works and gains traction. The objective is corrosion: to convince Canadians their democracy is irreparably broken and that the country’s internal divisions are deeper than they really are, particularly as Alberta moves toward a referendum.

...

When I worked at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, I learned a very important lesson: there is money behind every threat to the security of Canada. Terrorism requires money, as does the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and foreign interference and transnational repression are no different. When states try to influence political processes, they do so with the full power of the state behind them. This means they use corporate structures, but they also enlist their intelligence agencies, as well as covert operator networks. The trick is figuring out how states are paying for this activity, because if you can cut off the flow of funds, you can seriously limit the amount of damage they can do. Even shining a light on the flow of funds can have important deterrent and messaging effects.

...

Canada currently has no integrated system for detecting foreign illicit political finance. CSIS, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (or FINTRAC), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and election authorities each play a role, but no single body is responsible for connecting the dots or disrupting these networks before they take hold.

...

In Alberta, separatist advocacy is becoming big business. It is clear from the evidence that the US and Russia are both actively interfering in the referendum process, either through engagement with Alberta separatists, like the Alberta Prosperity Project, or through social media influence campaigns.

...

[Edit typo.]

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10837925

Canada could help meet Europe's need for a diversified supply of critical minerals, but it has to be more strategic and proactive.

[The authors of this piece are Joanna Kyriazis, Clean Energy Canada’s director of policy and strategy, and Evan Pivnick is Clean Energy Canada’s associate director of public affairs. Clean Energy Canada is a think tank at Simon Fraser University.]

Archived link

...

Canada has significant reserves of critical minerals. But with the Americans failing to play fair, Canada has an opportunity to take its business elsewhere, chiefly by prioritizing trade with jurisdictions where we have reliable and functioning free trade agreements. Enter the European Union.

...

The EU ... is actively seeking countries like Canada to solve a growing problem: a reliance on a small handful of non-allied countries — China in particular — for its critical minerals supply.

...

The EU is leading the field when it comes to the energy transition, making big moves to cut dependence on (pricey and usually imported) fossil fuels by supporting electrification and building more domestic renewable power. EU lithium demand from EVs and energy storage is projected to increase nine- to 12-fold by 2030, for example.

And yet the EU does not have sufficient domestic resources to meet the increasing demand for critical minerals. In fact, it is aiming to supply just 10% of its extraction needs domestically and, for the remaining 90%, has set ambitious targets to reduce its reliance on any one single country. The EU is also specifically seeking global partners that meet its high environmental, social and governance standards.

...

The last year or so has seen a flurry of memorandums of understanding and agreements on critical minerals, with Canada signing deals with numerous EU partners, including Italy, Germany and Sweden.

While these represent real progress, we need to move past the MOU stage and focus on key areas of EU demand while leveraging Canada’s existing strengths. The upcoming Canada Investment Summit on September 14 and 15 represents a key opportunity to get these wheels turning, provided the right people are at the table.

To more effectively woo European interest, Canada needs to do a better job of promoting its ample advantages and tailoring them to the EU’s requirements. Canada has a number of specific opportunities that it could seize, from sending our low-carbon raw cobalt to refineries in Finland (reducing the EU’s dependence on the Congo) to exporting graphite to German EV battery manufacturers (limiting their reliance on Chinese supply).

...

Additionally, Canada should stop splitting Canadian public investment resources across tens of critical minerals and focus a greater share on just six that are essential to the global energy transition and the EU’s growing clean-energy sector: cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.

By being proactive, Canada could also unlock new EU financing opportunities. Canada already has a letter of intent with the European Investment Bank — one of the biggest multilateral financial institutions in the world — to cooperate on critical minerals. The next step is to convert this into a signed framework and first transaction as soon as possible. Canada could also work to get more Canadian projects onto the EU’s strategic projects list, which could further unlock European investment.

...

Archived link

In January 2023, Mehmet Tohti, a Uyghur Canadian activist, answered a call that appeared to come from Hong Kong. Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, later told Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission that Chinese police had placed a relative on the line to tell him that his mother and two sisters were dead. He eventually learned that his 76-year-old mother had died in a detention camp. The timing, he said, carried an unmistakable warning: her death was “the cost you have to pay if you continue to advocate.” The call came days before the Canadian Parliament debated a plan to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.

On February 1, 2023, the House of Commons unanimously adopted Motion M-62, calling on Canada to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in need of protection. Yet, three years later, as of March 2026, fewer than 300 have actually arrived. At this pace, Canada is nowhere near on track to fulfill its commitment, which is scheduled to conclude at the end of 2026.

...

Although Canada has recognized that Chinese repression tactics cross international borders, it has not built an equally effective system of protection. Sanctuary cannot mean admission alone; it must include both a timely route to Canada and the freedom and protection of Uyghurs’ free speech once they arrive.

...

The resettlement process is not simple. Applicants generally need a referral from the UN refugee agency, a designated organization, or a private sponsor, and must pass medical, criminal, and security checks before travelling to Canada. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) claims operational details must sometimes remain confidential to protect applicants, staff, and referral partners. Those are legitimate constraints, particularly when documentation is difficult to obtain, and third-country host governments may not cooperate.

However, the confidentiality issue does not explain the scale of the Canadian government’s shortfall. By September 2025, more than 140 people had arrived in Canada, while over 740 applications were still being processed. In March 2026, a senior departmental official reported that fewer than 300 people had reached Canada — less than three per cent of Parliament’s target of 10,000.

....

Moreover, arrival in Canada does not necessarily place Uyghurs beyond Beijing’s reach. Transnational repression occurs when a government tries to monitor, threaten, or silence people outside its territory. Uyghur Canadians who spoke to the Foreign Interference Commission described threatening calls, hacked devices, surveillance at protests, online harassment, and pressure directed at relatives in China. One participant also reported physical and verbal assaults while protesting outside Chinese consular buildings. Threats against family members are especially effective because they turn ordinary communication into a source of danger.

...

Ottawa cannot reliably prevent reprisals against relatives inside China, but it can improve support for people targeted within Canada. A single multilingual portal and hotline should allow victims to report suspicious calls, digital intrusions, and protest monitoring without first deciding whether a case belongs with police, CSIS, or another agency. A trained coordinator could refer victims to law enforcement, cybersecurity specialists, legal aid, or trauma-informed counselling and explain what follow-up is possible. Agencies should proactively brief at-risk communities rather than waiting for victims to navigate several institutions on their own. IRCC should also issue regular aggregate updates on M-62 applications, approvals, and arrivals while withholding identifying and operational details. These measures would connect two policy areas that Ottawa treats separately: refugee resettlement and protection from foreign interference.

Canada’s promise to Uyghurs will remain largely symbolic if those in danger cannot arrive and those who do arrive cannot enjoy the liberties of free speech, press, and association. Meaningful sanctuary requires both a route to safety and protection from the government that made refuge necessary.

...

Canada could help meet Europe's need for a diversified supply of critical minerals, but it has to be more strategic and proactive.

[The authors of this piece are Joanna Kyriazis, Clean Energy Canada’s director of policy and strategy, and Evan Pivnick is Clean Energy Canada’s associate director of public affairs. Clean Energy Canada is a think tank at Simon Fraser University.]

Archived link

...

Canada has significant reserves of critical minerals. But with the Americans failing to play fair, Canada has an opportunity to take its business elsewhere, chiefly by prioritizing trade with jurisdictions where we have reliable and functioning free trade agreements. Enter the European Union.

...

The EU ... is actively seeking countries like Canada to solve a growing problem: a reliance on a small handful of non-allied countries — China in particular — for its critical minerals supply.

...

The EU is leading the field when it comes to the energy transition, making big moves to cut dependence on (pricey and usually imported) fossil fuels by supporting electrification and building more domestic renewable power. EU lithium demand from EVs and energy storage is projected to increase nine- to 12-fold by 2030, for example.

And yet the EU does not have sufficient domestic resources to meet the increasing demand for critical minerals. In fact, it is aiming to supply just 10% of its extraction needs domestically and, for the remaining 90%, has set ambitious targets to reduce its reliance on any one single country. The EU is also specifically seeking global partners that meet its high environmental, social and governance standards.

...

The last year or so has seen a flurry of memorandums of understanding and agreements on critical minerals, with Canada signing deals with numerous EU partners, including Italy, Germany and Sweden.

While these represent real progress, we need to move past the MOU stage and focus on key areas of EU demand while leveraging Canada’s existing strengths. The upcoming Canada Investment Summit on September 14 and 15 represents a key opportunity to get these wheels turning, provided the right people are at the table.

To more effectively woo European interest, Canada needs to do a better job of promoting its ample advantages and tailoring them to the EU’s requirements. Canada has a number of specific opportunities that it could seize, from sending our low-carbon raw cobalt to refineries in Finland (reducing the EU’s dependence on the Congo) to exporting graphite to German EV battery manufacturers (limiting their reliance on Chinese supply).

...

Additionally, Canada should stop splitting Canadian public investment resources across tens of critical minerals and focus a greater share on just six that are essential to the global energy transition and the EU’s growing clean-energy sector: cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.

By being proactive, Canada could also unlock new EU financing opportunities. Canada already has a letter of intent with the European Investment Bank — one of the biggest multilateral financial institutions in the world — to cooperate on critical minerals. The next step is to convert this into a signed framework and first transaction as soon as possible. Canada could also work to get more Canadian projects onto the EU’s strategic projects list, which could further unlock European investment.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10837925

Canada could help meet Europe's need for a diversified supply of critical minerals, but it has to be more strategic and proactive.

[The authors of this piece are Joanna Kyriazis, Clean Energy Canada’s director of policy and strategy, and Evan Pivnick is Clean Energy Canada’s associate director of public affairs. Clean Energy Canada is a think tank at Simon Fraser University.]

Archived link

...

Canada has significant reserves of critical minerals. But with the Americans failing to play fair, Canada has an opportunity to take its business elsewhere, chiefly by prioritizing trade with jurisdictions where we have reliable and functioning free trade agreements. Enter the European Union.

...

The EU ... is actively seeking countries like Canada to solve a growing problem: a reliance on a small handful of non-allied countries — China in particular — for its critical minerals supply.

...

The EU is leading the field when it comes to the energy transition, making big moves to cut dependence on (pricey and usually imported) fossil fuels by supporting electrification and building more domestic renewable power. EU lithium demand from EVs and energy storage is projected to increase nine- to 12-fold by 2030, for example.

And yet the EU does not have sufficient domestic resources to meet the increasing demand for critical minerals. In fact, it is aiming to supply just 10% of its extraction needs domestically and, for the remaining 90%, has set ambitious targets to reduce its reliance on any one single country. The EU is also specifically seeking global partners that meet its high environmental, social and governance standards.

...

The last year or so has seen a flurry of memorandums of understanding and agreements on critical minerals, with Canada signing deals with numerous EU partners, including Italy, Germany and Sweden.

While these represent real progress, we need to move past the MOU stage and focus on key areas of EU demand while leveraging Canada’s existing strengths. The upcoming Canada Investment Summit on September 14 and 15 represents a key opportunity to get these wheels turning, provided the right people are at the table.

To more effectively woo European interest, Canada needs to do a better job of promoting its ample advantages and tailoring them to the EU’s requirements. Canada has a number of specific opportunities that it could seize, from sending our low-carbon raw cobalt to refineries in Finland (reducing the EU’s dependence on the Congo) to exporting graphite to German EV battery manufacturers (limiting their reliance on Chinese supply).

...

Additionally, Canada should stop splitting Canadian public investment resources across tens of critical minerals and focus a greater share on just six that are essential to the global energy transition and the EU’s growing clean-energy sector: cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.

By being proactive, Canada could also unlock new EU financing opportunities. Canada already has a letter of intent with the European Investment Bank — one of the biggest multilateral financial institutions in the world — to cooperate on critical minerals. The next step is to convert this into a signed framework and first transaction as soon as possible. Canada could also work to get more Canadian projects onto the EU’s strategic projects list, which could further unlock European investment.

...

Canada’s economy bounced back strongly in Q2. Hiring picked up to drive the unemployment rate lower. Domestic demand remained resilient, while net trade recovered from a soft Q1.

U.S. Section 338 tariff threats won’t derail overall growth in Canada, as they target a narrow base of Canadian products. Impact to targeted producing regions and industries will be more significant.

The Bank of Canada is more comfortably on hold amid signs of a firming economy and soft core inflation prints.

"We expect modest adjustment hikes in 2027 should these trends persist," it says.

Summary of BoC forecast changes in August:

• We raised Canada’s Q2 2026 GDP growth from 1.7% annualized to 3.4% based on early monthly GDP readings. That pushed the expected annual growth rate to 0.9% from 0.7%—still an acceleration from 2025 once Canada’s unprecedented population declines are accounted for.

• Monthly GDP readings have been highly revision-prone, but they are consistent with expenditure data showing solid increases in spending and investment across Canadian households, businesses, and governments in Q2, supporting the GDP rebound.

• U.S. GDP and unemployment rate forecasts are little changed. Growth in Q3 was marked slightly stronger (from 2.1% to 2.4% annualized), and the unemployment rate slightly lower. Overall, the economy is expected to grow at a similar pace in 2026 as in 2025 just above 2%, with unemployment rate hovering around historical lows.

• The U.S. yield curve is expected to remain steeper than previously expected. The gap between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields is expected to average 60 basis points over the remainder of 2026, before narrowing in 2027.

...

Archived link

...

Earlier last month, Belgian authorities arrested Biwei Zhang, a Canadian intern of Chinese origin working at NATO’s military headquarters in Mons, Belgium, on suspicion of espionage. Prosecutors say she is suspected of spying on behalf of a third country—identified by Reuters as China—and of belonging to a criminal organization. Before her posting to NATO, Zhang had worked across the Canadian federal government, including stints at the National Research Council, Statistics Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency. She even cleared a CSIS and RCMP background check, despite a 2023 finding that she had committed fraud.

The Hub’s managing editor Harrison Lowman spoke to Richard Fadden, former CSIS director and one-time national security advisor to the prime minister, to discuss how Zhang slipped through Canada’s vetting system, the brazenness of China’s espionage efforts, and whether Ottawa’s national security posture (including its new foreign influence registry) is keeping pace.

...

Richard Fadden: ... In the West, unless we want to turn into something like what was pictured in Orwell’s 1984, we’re going to get caught every now and then.

…So my main reaction, to be honest, is I was not surprised.

...

I think one of the messages we have to take from this young woman’s arrest is that yes, it’s unfortunate. We have to figure out when wrong. It’s going to happen again, and what we have to do is close as many doors and windows as we can, and chug along with our allies and hope that we don’t let any really significant espionage take place.

...

I think what they [Chinese spies] are telling us is that they are very practised in the skill of schizophrenia.

If you look at Chinese political pronouncements, they are as pure as the driven snow. They advocate for the UN Charter for peace. On the other side of their personality, they have the one of the most advanced, if not the most advanced, security and intelligence offensive apparatus on the planet.

…

On things like their [China's] national interest and security, they have an entirely different mindset. They have almost unlimited resources, unlimited access to technology and people, and no legal and constitutional restraint. They trawl for people, for technology, that might help them and just keep at it. In a way that will drive wedges in the West, that will periodically bring them intellectual property or intelligence that they find useful.

...

Prime Minister Carney said he wanted a “strategic relationship” with China. I think they were ill-chosen words. A strategic relationship means more than trade. I understand we have to diversify trade. It’s important. By all accounts, he’s doing a pretty good job at that. But to think that we can have a strategic relationship with China, given what I call their schizophrenia, I think is rather optimistic.

...

I think we need to be schizophrenic too ... we need to acknowledge even more than we have that they [China] are not our friends geopolitically, and we have to build defences against them.

…

Every now and then the government should come out and say, “Look, guys, enough.” I think occasionally we should try and do this a little bit more than we have. I think Mr. Trudeau’s government was mostly on social policy. Mr. Carney seems to be mostly on economic policy. But I think we elect governments to cover the waterfront: social, economic, national security, and operational policy. I don’t think they have found the right balance.

...

Why can’t Canada, like virtually every other country in the West, have a foreign, a defence, and a national security policy? I think it’s sending a message both to the Canadian public and possibly to the planet, that we’re not quite as serious about these things as we could be.

And I don’t mean a 600-page royal commission-like report. I just mean an articulation of our broad objectives—acknowledging that yes, there’s some real positive things in the world, but there’s some really negative things in the world. And we don’t do that. If we could do the equivalent of the prime minister’s Davos speech around national security policy I think it would be a good thing.

...

I think [Canada's newly introduced foreign influence registry] is a useful tool. Is it going to solve the problems? Absolutely not.

I think it’s very useful for example, if a former minister or official is being paid to work for another country. I think that’s a good thing for us to know. Because there are a lot of them around, and people don’t really acknowledge it. And if people try and get around it, we should fine them significantly.

...

Ontario’s race to extract lithium is heating up, and one company says it could open the province’s first mine in two years.

Rock Tech Lithium is aiming to bring its Georgia Lake project in northwestern Ontario into production while three other major companies compete to develop the province’s largely untapped lithium resources in the region.

“I believe it is the ideal time for it,” the company’s CEO, Mirco Wojnarowicz told BNN Bloomberg.

...

He says his company is helping Canada establish lithium production and processing capacities to reduce its reliance on China for the critical mineral. And Canada already has the raw materials, while also being the seventh largest producer of lithium in the world.

“What Canada also offers, in particular Ontario, is very competitive energy prices,” says Wojnarowicz.

...

Both Canada and the U.S. have been quietly shadowing two Chinese icebreaking research ships in Arctic waters off Alaska over the last couple of weeks.

The Xue Long (Snow Dragon) and Xue Long (Snow Dragon) 2 sailed north through the U.S. exclusive economic zone in the Bering Sea in July, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The appearance of Chinese research ships every summer in the Arctic Ocean over the last few years has been a subject of growing concern among security and defence officials.

Data compiled by Steffan Watkins, an independent research consultant and ship tracker, shows a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 surveillance plane has been operating out of Alaska since early July.

...

"The Canadian Joint Operations Command is actively monitoring maritime traffic in the Arctic, including the vessels Xue Long and Xue Long 2," defence spokesperson Cheryl Forrest said in a written statement.

...

Last year, the Canadian military began a focused effort to better monitor northern waters and co-ordinate with allies in the Pacific Ocean, including the Bering Sea off Alaska, under the banner of Operation Latitude.

The Royal Canadian Navy has committed the frigate HMCS Ottawa and the Arctic offshore ships HMCS Max Bernays and HMCS Robert Hampton Gray, in addition to the air force's surveillance aircraft.

The defence department says Canadian Special Operations Forces Command personnel and the icebreaker CCGS Des Groseilliers are also taking part.

...

When asked about the Chinese ships on Thursday, Defence Minister David McGuinty said the Canadian military actively monitors the country's waters.

China, which has declared itself a near-Arctic state, has repeatedly said the deployment of its icebreakers to the region is strictly for peaceful scientific research, environmental monitoring and global climate change studies.

Both research ships, however, have been known to deploy advanced sonar and telemetry buoys. Western defence officials say these devices not only track environmental changes and undersea topography, but are also useful in tracking submarine activity.

...

There are no major international undersea fibre-optic cables in the Bering Sea region, but there is a regional subsea network vital to Alaska. Shimooka said he wonders how much time the Chinese are devoting to mapping that grid, in the same way the Russians are doing in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic.

...

The federal government has begun investing heavily in the construction of new destroyers and begun the process of acquiring Arctic-capable submarines. It also plans to deploy an undersea network of sensors.

[Conservative defence critic James] Bezan said time is of the essence because the country's sovereignty is at stake.

"Russia and China do not recognize our maritime claims" in the Far North, including the Northwest Passage, Bezan said.

"So, we need to be investing in the Arctic. When you look at the vast amounts of resources, a high percentage of energy resources that are locked in the Arctic, including in the Beaufort Sea, we have to do more to protect it and defend against these adversaries."

...

How does a critic of China know when they’re being effective? Answer: When the Chinese state organizes online campaigns against you to try to destroy your credibility.

Opinion piece by Margaret McCuaig-Johnston is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the China Strategic Risks Institute, a global thinktank. She is a Senior Fellow, Institute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa and the China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada.

Archived link

In March, I appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to testify about Chinese electric vehicles. I spoke about the risk that its industry uses aluminum processed by forced labour of the Uyghur people, as documented by Human Rights Watch.

At the committee, Liberal MP Michael Ma asked aggressive questions that appeared aimed at undermining my expertise. He later apologized on X.

But Chinese state media such as Tianshan Net, the sole state news network in Xinjiang, portrayed Mr. Ma as a hero for taking on a critic of China, and me as a zero. From March to May, each of these posts generated thousands of comments from everyday Chinese people. Similar messaging appeared on the Chinese platforms WeChat and Weibo, and then in Canada, via WeChat.

Many comments mimicked the state’s messaging. But many others agreed I was right, saying that there is forced labour across China, with some referring to their own experiences. “How can I testify on behalf of this righteous woman?” one said. Others reached out through e-mail to thank me for speaking up about forced labour and offer evidence, which I’ve passed on to the non-profit China Labor Watch.

...

Just when I thought these events had played out, I was contacted by the Office of the National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator about another campaign against me. It was identified by the Rapid Response Mechanism, a team at Global Affairs Canada established to monitor Canadian elections for foreign interference, whose purview has expanded to identify attempts at transnational repression more broadly across Canadian society. According to the Hogue Commission, China targets diaspora communities and is “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”

...

In targeting me by name, they might have added that I had been a friend of China for 40 years, helped develop their research regime, and had been vice president of the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa. But China has changed dramatically under Xi Jinping, and those of us with strong values refuse to be silenced by disinformation campaigns.

...

We can expect more of these attempts at silencing. China’s new Ethnic Unity Law was signed into law in March; that policy contributes to the reported “re-education” and “integration” of children as young as three to destroy Uyghur, Tibetan and Southern Mongolian cultures and languages. Article 63 is a provision declaring that those outside China deemed to have undermined “ethnic unity and progress” will be “pursued for legal responsibility.” It’s not clear how Beijing would enforce this abroad.

...

Perhaps the Chinese government thought Canadians would meekly stand down when it sanctioned 20 of us by name in December, 2024, for speaking out about Uyghur and Tibetan repression. Sanctions mean we can’t visit China, but I would not visit a country that has kidnapped innocent Canadians and conducted what Canada’s Parliament has called a Uyghur genocide. Sanctions also mean that I’m no longer able to collaborate with my friends in China; I have cut ties for their protection. They will have seen the online posts about me, but they know that I’m describing an injustice about which they must be silent, or risk detention.

So no: Chinese state-backed campaigns won’t silence us. They only demonstrate that we’re having an impact – and that’s great motivation to speak out even louder.

How does a critic of China know when they’re being effective? Answer: When the Chinese state organizes online campaigns against you to try to destroy your credibility.

Opinion piece by Margaret McCuaig-Johnston is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the China Strategic Risks Institute, a global thinktank. She is a Senior Fellow, Institute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa and the China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada.

Archived link

In March, I appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to testify about Chinese electric vehicles. I spoke about the risk that its industry uses aluminum processed by forced labour of the Uyghur people, as documented by Human Rights Watch.

At the committee, Liberal MP Michael Ma asked aggressive questions that appeared aimed at undermining my expertise. He later apologized on X.

But Chinese state media such as Tianshan Net, the sole state news network in Xinjiang, portrayed Mr. Ma as a hero for taking on a critic of China, and me as a zero. From March to May, each of these posts generated thousands of comments from everyday Chinese people. Similar messaging appeared on the Chinese platforms WeChat and Weibo, and then in Canada, via WeChat.

Many comments mimicked the state’s messaging. But many others agreed I was right, saying that there is forced labour across China, with some referring to their own experiences. “How can I testify on behalf of this righteous woman?” one said. Others reached out through e-mail to thank me for speaking up about forced labour and offer evidence, which I’ve passed on to the non-profit China Labor Watch.

...

Just when I thought these events had played out, I was contacted by the Office of the National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator about another campaign against me. It was identified by the Rapid Response Mechanism, a team at Global Affairs Canada established to monitor Canadian elections for foreign interference, whose purview has expanded to identify attempts at transnational repression more broadly across Canadian society. According to the Hogue Commission, China targets diaspora communities and is “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”

...

In targeting me by name, they might have added that I had been a friend of China for 40 years, helped develop their research regime, and had been vice president of the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa. But China has changed dramatically under Xi Jinping, and those of us with strong values refuse to be silenced by disinformation campaigns.

...

We can expect more of these attempts at silencing. China’s new Ethnic Unity Law was signed into law in March; that policy contributes to the reported “re-education” and “integration” of children as young as three to destroy Uyghur, Tibetan and Southern Mongolian cultures and languages. Article 63 is a provision declaring that those outside China deemed to have undermined “ethnic unity and progress” will be “pursued for legal responsibility.” It’s not clear how Beijing would enforce this abroad.

...

Perhaps the Chinese government thought Canadians would meekly stand down when it sanctioned 20 of us by name in December, 2024, for speaking out about Uyghur and Tibetan repression. Sanctions mean we can’t visit China, but I would not visit a country that has kidnapped innocent Canadians and conducted what Canada’s Parliament has called a Uyghur genocide. Sanctions also mean that I’m no longer able to collaborate with my friends in China; I have cut ties for their protection. They will have seen the online posts about me, but they know that I’m describing an injustice about which they must be silent, or risk detention.

So no: Chinese state-backed campaigns won’t silence us. They only demonstrate that we’re having an impact – and that’s great motivation to speak out even louder.

...

Quantum technologies are expected to transform defence and security through advances in sensing, secure communications, navigation, computing, and decision support. The Quantum Defence Innovation Secure Hub (DISH) will provide a secure environment where government, industry, academia, and innovators can collaborate to rapidly develop, test, validate, and transition these technologies into operational capabilities for the Canadian Armed Forces. The hub will strengthen Canada's technological advantage, improve operational effectiveness, and reduce vulnerabilities in contested environments, including threats such as GPS spoofing.

A University of Calgary-led consortium will receive $20.3 million over two years to establish and operate the Quantum DISH in Calgary. Bringing together organizations from Canada's quantum, defence, and innovation sectors, the consortium will help accelerate the transition of promising Canadian quantum technologies from research into mission-ready capabilities that support Canada's defence and security priorities.

...

"Quantum will shape the next generation of defence capabilities, and Canada must be prepared to lead—not follow," says David J. McGuinty, Canadian Minister of National Defence.

"Through the Quantum Defence Innovation Secure Hub, we're bringing together Canadian researchers, innovators, industry, and government to accelerate Made-in-Canada quantum technologies into mission-ready capabilities that strengthen the operational advantage of the Canadian Armed Forces while growing Canada's sovereign defence industrial base."

...

A new Chinese policy pushing Han Chinese over minority languages has Tibetan and Uyghur Canadians concerned about what it means for family and community affected by the law.

Archived link

A new law in China reinforcing Han Chinese identity at the expense of minority groups such as Tibetans and Uyghurs has rattled community leaders in Canada, who say Beijing is using it to recast their decades-old struggle as a purely domestic matter.

The Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which took effect July 1, formalizes a shift that has been underway in China for close to a decade, pushing ethnic minorities toward what the state calls a single Chinese nation. Advocates call it Han Chinese assimilation: legal pressure on Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Inner Mongolians to prioritize Chinese over their own languages, layered on years of forced relocation, family separation, and labour policy already reshaping those communities.

“If they seriously considered us and inner Mongolians as Chinese, then they should also have rights to speak their languages. Especially, it’s already promised within the Chinese Constitution,” said Sherap Therchin, executive director of the Canada Tibet Committee. “[T]hen, they should also have the right to speak their own languages.” Article 4 of China’s constitution guarantees ethnic groups the freedom to use and develop their own languages, a guarantee the new law appears to directly contradict.

The new law, he said, contradicts those prior commitments while giving Beijing a legal basis to describe foreign criticism as interference in an internal affair.

...

After publication [of the law], Global Affairs Canada said Canada continues to raise human rights concerns about China at international forums, and pointed to sanctions imposed in recent years on individuals and entities tied to rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet.

Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland spoke out against the new Chinese law at a security forum in Taiwan this week.

The law took effect July 1. The next day, a Tibetan man, Lobga Rangzen, self-immolated in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the first such protest incident on American soil. In a final message hours before his death, he called on China to repeal the law, on Tibetans not to give up the cause, and on exile communities to stay united and not forget the people still living under Chinese rule.

...

Canada added 75,000 jobs in July, up 0.4 per cent, as the unemployment rate fell to 6.4 per cent, its lowest level in two years.

Statistics Canada's labour force survey released on Friday said most of those gains were split between full- and part-time work, as wholesale and retail trade alone added 21,000 new jobs.

The agency says employment rose for people aged 25 to 54, and mostly for women in that age group.

The unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent for men aged 25 to 54, Statistics Canada says, while falling 5.2 per cent for women in that cohort.

Ontario added the most jobs of any province in July, with 52,000, or an increase of 0.6 per cent, mostly in the professional, scientific and technical services sector. British Columbia had a similar increase, with 18,000 new jobs.

...

The hike in job numbers was "well above" forecasts, says CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, adding it's thanks to "brisk hiring" in July.

There was also good news for young people, he said, with the student summer job market stronger than it's been in the past two years and unemployment for young people, ages 15 to 24, the lowest since early 2024.

The 6.4 per cent overall unemployment rate may be at its lowest level in two years, he said in a statement, but it's still about half a point higher than what it would be if Canada's workforce was at full employment.

...

Economists have previously said the labour market appeared to be stabilizing after the first quarter of the year brought a mild contraction and employers shed jobs.

The economy likely fared a lot better in the second quarter, with Statistics Canada estimating real GDP grew 3.4 per cent on an annualized basis over the three-month period.

...

Archived link

Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada must “be vigilant” of foreign actors targeting the country’s technology, pointing to artificial intelligence and intellectual property as potential targets.

McGuinty had been asked by a reporter what the government is doing to protect technology being stolen from competitors like China.

“That’s a very, very big question. The government has seized with this responsibility nowhere more obviously than I think in the field of artificial intelligence where Canada is becoming a major player,” he said.

...

“We’re going to have to be vigilant. We have experience with this issue of the loss of intellectual property over time, for example, of Nortel previously.”

McGuinty added: “The safeguards that we’ve got in place now are significant. Our security and intelligence organizations have more than a watching brief on these kinds of activities,” he said on Thursday, announcing over $20 million in funding towards Canada’s third defence innovation secure hub dedicated to quantum technologies.

Canadian telecom giant Nortel dominated the global fibre optics industry for years before filing for bankruptcy in 2009 and liquidating in 2017.

...

Chinese espionage and hacking has been cited as a critical factor in the company’s demise by former company employees and media reporting.

Chinese hackers are alleged to have had a wide array of access to the former telecommunications giant as far back as 2000, which included downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails, among other documents.

As Nortel Networks declined, Chinese multinational technology corporation Huawei grew to become one of the more dominant telecom equipment makers.

...

...

The federal government announced funding of $150 million to support the construction of 435 rental units in Montréal, through the Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP). Located on Sherbrooke Street East, a few minutes from L’Assomption subway station, the EXAL Quartier Olympique project is being developed and built by Construgep, in partnership with Groupe MACH. The project ... will meet high energy efficiency and sustainable development standards and will provide a complete living environment with common spaces, nearby shops and amenities that promote an active lifestyle.

The project is also part of the broader vision to revitalize the Assomption Nord sector through the creation of a vibrant new urban neighbourhood centred on public transit, with convenient access to services, shops and community spaces.

...

The Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP) has a budget of $55 billion. It provides low-cost financing to support the construction of more than 131,000 rental units across Canada by 2031 – 2032.

• The ACLP offers fully repayable, low-interest loans to help boost rental construction for middle-income Canadians. This program has a positive impact on the housing system at minimal cost to taxpayers.
• A stable supply of purpose-built rental housing is essential to ensuring that more Canadians have access to housing that meets their needs.
• As of March 2026, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) had committed $30.82 billion in loans through the ACLP to support the construction of more than 78,200 purpose-built rental units.

...

Canadian officials were involved in the investigation of an intern accused of spying at NATO's military headquarters from the outset, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday.

He said "lessons" should be taken from situations like this, but stopped short of saying that the country's security screening process was being reviewed in light of the allegations.

A Canadian woman was recently arrested by Belgian authorities on suspicion of espionage.

The European country did not release her name as part of the judicial process and only stated that she was a "Canadian national of Chinese origin."

...

A CBC News investigation, however, has identified the woman as Biwei Zhang, a systems engineer with a background in economics. Her online resumé suggests she previously worked for the Canadian Space Agency and Statistics Canada.

...

Zhang is currently being held in custody with a further closed-door hearing to be held in Brussels next week.

Security sources, speaking to media in Europe, including the Reuters news agency, have said the intern allegedly exhibited suspicious behaviour that drew the attention of NATO's internal security services.

She was ... excessively curious about her colleagues, had a tendency to enter areas where she was not authorized and apparently accessed files outside her professional remit in SHAPE's IT Department [SHAPE stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, it is the military headquarters of NATO in Mons, Belgium].

Someone working in that section would normally have broad access to the systems that support NATO's strategic military headquarters, including network operations, cybersecurity and data centre servers.

However, interns do not have as much freedom as full-time staff members and would be subject to closer supervision and face restricted access permissions.

...

Canada's manufacturing sector expanded in July at the fastest pace in more than four years as rising ​domestic activity boosted production and new orders, but weak ‌international demand raised doubt over the sustainability of the increase.

The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) (opens pdf) edged up to 53.5 last month from 53.0 ​in June. It marked the seventh straight month that the ​index was at or above the 50 threshold and ⁠the highest reading since June 2022.

...

“PMI data for July painted a positive picture ​of current growth, with output and new orders both rising at faster rates on the back of firmer domestic demand," Paul Smith, economics director at S&P ​Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement.

...

"Companies were suitably encouraged ​to take on additional workers, raising their staffing levels to bolster capacity and ‌help ⁠support current workloads."

"Whether growth can be sustained at its current clip is doubtful. ​International demand remains ​weak, driven lower ⁠by tariffs and a highly uncertain geopolitical environment," Smith said.

...

Immediate production needs encouraged some manufacturers to take on additional staff. That led to a net increase in employment for a fourth successive month.

...

• Canada's merchandise trade surplus with the world widened slightly from $3.7 billion in May to $3.9 billion in June largely due to a slightly weaker currency. This was the fourth consecutive monthly trade surplus, according to Statistics Canada.

• Total exports were up 0.4% in June to a record $77.5 billion. This represented a fifth consecutive monthly increase, with exports rising 22.8% over this period. In June, increases were observed in 6 of the 11 product sections. In real (or volume) terms, total exports were up 1.1%.

• Following a 4.6% increase in the first quarter of 2026, total exports rose 13.1% in the second quarter. This was the strongest quarterly increase in percentage terms since the third quarter of 2020.

• Almost half of the increase was due to higher exports of energy products, which rose in large part because of higher prices amid the conflict in the Middle East. Exports of motor vehicles and parts (+19.3%) also contributed to the overall quarterly increase. This marked a rebound following two consecutive quarterly decreases.

• In a separate release, StatsCan said that monthly international trade in services deficit remained essentially unchanged at $0.3 billion in June. International imports of services decreased 0.4% to $21.0 billion in June, and its exports of services edged down 0.2% to $20.8 billion.

...

As per Reuters, Marc Ercolao, an economist at TD Economics, said the June data should reinforce the ​narrative that real GDP is expected to rebound following flat growth last quarter.

"Overall, I think that we should do quite well for the second half of the year," said Prince Owusu, senior economist at Export Development Canada.

Owusu said he saw the potential for Canada to ship more gold and autos in particular.

...