What if the objective isn’t to make Canadians support a foreign adversary—but to make Canadians hate each other?
By Walter Beaver & Frank McFacts Research & Analysis | Fact-Check Editor
Foreign interference sounds like something that happens in Ottawa.Secret meetings.
Election meddling.
Intelligence officers.
Politicians.
But what if it is much closer than Parliament Hill?
What if it reaches your phone?
Your Facebook feed?
Your community?
The argument you had with a neighbour?
The post that made you furious before breakfast?
Canada’s own intelligence service says foreign states seek to sow discord, influence public opinion, disrupt our economy and damage social cohesion.
CSIS says foreign actors target governments, businesses, universities, civil-society groups and Canada’s ethnic, religious and cultural communities.
Think about what that means.
Someone outside Canada can study what makes us angry.
Immigration.
Race.
Religion.
Alberta separation.
Indigenous issues.
Climate change.
Oil and gas.
Ukraine.
Crime.
Left versus right.
They don’t necessarily need to invent the argument.
They can find one we’re already having.
And push.
THEY DON’T NEED TO CREATE THE ANGER Imagine discovering that someone had secretly entered your home and spent months turning members of your family against one another.They whispered different things into different ears.
Exaggerated grievances.
Spread rumours.
Encouraged suspicion.
And whenever the family began coming together again, they found another reason to restart the fight.
imagine someone doing it to a country.
Canada’s Cyber Centre assesses that state-sponsored actors are combining cyberattacks with online information campaigns to intimidate people and shape public opinion.
It says Russia uses cyber operations alongside disinformation and influence efforts to erode trust in democratic institutions and psychologically weaken its opponents.
And this isn’t hypothetical.
Global Affairs Canada identified a PRC-linked Spamouflage operation targeting people in Canada.
It used coordinated activity on X, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, including deepfakes and AI-generated profiles.
At points the operation generated 100 to 200 new posts per day.
Foreign interference doesn’t always need to convince us.
Sometimes it just needs Canadians to share the material.
Then we distribute it ourselves.
WHAT IF IT LOOKS CANADIAN?
This may be even more disturbing.
Foreign interference doesn’t necessarily look foreign.
CSIS says hostile states use proxies and cultivate covert relationships with politicians, journalists, public servants, academics and community members.
It also says proxies can be used for social and political interference and media manipulation.
Evidence presented to Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission described attempts to influence legitimate community organizations through proxies and sympathetic leadership.
That does not mean Canadian community organizations, protest movements or political groups should be presumed foreign-controlled.
A group calling itself a freedom organization, patriot movement, environmental organization or social-justice group isn’t suspicious because of its name or politics.
The same applies to racist and far-right organizations.
Their existence does not prove foreign involvement.
But angry, polarized or extremist communities can provide fertile territory for anyone whose objective is division.
The questions Canadians should ask aren’t “Do I agree with this group?”
They are:
Who created it?
Who funds it?
Who supplies its information?
Who is amplifying it?
And is there evidence of foreign direction or manipulation?
IT DOESN’T STOP AT SOCIAL MEDIA The interference Canada faces can cross from words into the physical world.
CSIS says hostile states sometimes use organized-crime groups or other proxies.
Its current assessment specifically says Iranian intelligence services operate indirectly through agents, contacts and sympathizers, including people in Canada associated with organized crime.
CSIS also says foreign actors are expected to continue using people connected with transnational organized-crime networks against perceived enemies abroad, including in Canada.
Canada’s Cyber Centre also warns that state-sponsored actors are targeting critical infrastructure and preparing for possible future disruptive or destructive cyber operations.
Power.
Water.
Transportation.
Communications.
Pipelines.
Government systems.
These aren’t abstract computer networks.
They are the systems Canadians depend upon every morning when they wake up.
And our allies have faced something darker still:
suspected physical sabotage and arson connected with hostile-state activity.
CSIS itself has warned about Russian sabotage attempts and noted reporting about an alleged plot involving incendiary devices destined for Europe and North America.
WHAT ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE A FOREST FIRE?
It’s an uncomfortable question.
A deliberately started wildfire could consume enormous emergency resources, close roads, force evacuations and disrupt infrastructure.
Could someone theoretically use fire as sabotage?
Yes.
But evidence matters.
We found no credible public evidence that a foreign government is deliberately starting Canadian wildfires.
We should not turn possibility into fact.
The same rule applies to drugs, street crime and political organizations.
Foreign states have demonstrably used proxies, criminal networks, cyberattacks and information operations.
That does not mean every Canadian crime, protest, fire or angry social-media account is foreign interference.
Paranoia would accomplish exactly what an adversary seeking division wants.
THIS IS THE PART THAT SHOULD ANGER CANADIANS Canada belongs to Canadians.
And so do our disagreements.
We have every right to fight about immigration, pipelines, taxes, climate policy, Indigenous reconciliation, Alberta’s place in Confederation or who should run the country.
We can protest.
We can criticize our government.
We can be furious with one another.
That’s democracy.
But when another government secretly enters that conversation—hiding behind false identities, manipulating information, cultivating proxies, intimidating Canadians or deliberately magnifying our divisions—it crosses a line.
It is trespassing in our democracy.
Our conversations.
Our communities.
Our relationships.
Our country.
And perhaps that’s the part of foreign interference we haven’t taken personally enough.
Foreign adversaries don’t necessarily need Canadians to love them.
They may simply need us to hate each other.
So the next time an anonymous account makes your blood boil, a shocking video appears perfectly designed to confirm everything you already believe, or someone tells you another group of Canadians is your enemy, there is one question worth asking before hitting Share:
Whose purpose am I serving?
Sources: Canadian Security Intelligence Service; Canadian Centre for Cyber Security; Global Affairs Canada/Rapid Response Mechanism Canada; Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.
CSIS — Foreign Interference and You
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — National Cyber Threat Assessment
Global Affairs Canada — Spamouflage investigation
Foreign Interference Commission
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