By Canadian Press

Canada’s spy agency plans to offer ‘significant’ help assessing climate change threat

Nov 3, 2021 | 11:55 AM

OTTAWA — A senior Canadian Security Intelligence Service official predicts the spy agency will make a “significant contribution” to understanding the threats posed by a warming planet as climate change accelerates.

Tricia Geddes, deputy director for policy at CSIS, tells an intelligence conference today that global warming will have a profound effect on Canadians, including aspects of national security.

Geddes says CSIS must continue to anticipate the next threat and understand it in order to support other government players.

Her comments come as world leaders gathered this week in Scotland to devise plans to curb global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Daniel Jean, a former national security adviser to the prime minister, tells the intelligence conference that officials are already seeing environmental effects on security, such as conflicts fuelled by water scarcity in Africa.

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Jean says Canada faces security questions prompted by climate change in the North that is making once-frozen waters more navigable.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2021.

The Canadian Press