Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The CIGI special report Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy is a cri de coeur arguing for a new approach to national security strategy and honest, transparent engagement with the reality of the threats we face as a country. It outlines the key threats that we now confront: a vastly altered geopolitical environment with the rising power of China at its core, ongoing and future pandemic threats, climate change security impacts, uncontrolled technological change and the undermining of economic security.
Meeting these threats requires a sovereign, made-in-Canada response that protects Canada’s democracy and national interest and that operates within an environment of informed public understanding.
To call attention to rising national security threats and the current deficiencies of the Canadian strategic outlook is not a counsel of despair or based in fearmongering. But it is a call for action — action to change thinking, to engage with Canadians, to improve the nature of policy making and to better understand not only the threats that might be generated within our borders, but also the larger dangers that confront us. Canada must pivot to face looming global threats and can and must do so from a position of knowledge and strength.
The special report makes a series of key policy recommendations to assist the Government of Canada in addressing the challenges of a new security environment.
In addition to the special report, CIGI gathered more than 250 experts in interdisciplinary working groups to address 10 key areas of emerging national security threats and produce a series of reports. Learn more about the Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy project at cigionline.org/canada-security/.
The CIGI special report Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy is a cri de coeur arguing for a new approach to national security strategy and honest, transparent engagement with the reality of the threats we face as a country. It outlines the key threats that we now confront: a vastly altered geopolitical environment with the rising power of China at its core, ongoing and future pandemic threats, climate change security impacts, uncontrolled technological change and the undermining of economic security.
Meeting these threats requires a sovereign, made-in-Canada response that protects Canada’s democracy and national interest and that operates within an environment of informed public understanding.
To call attention to rising national security threats and the current deficiencies of the Canadian strategic outlook is not a counsel of despair or based in fearmongering. But it is a call for action — action to change thinking, to engage with Canadians, to improve the nature of policy making and to better understand not only the threats that might be generated within our borders, but also the larger dangers that confront us. Canada must pivot to face looming global threats and can and must do so from a position of knowledge and strength.
The special report makes a series of key policy recommendations to assist the Government of Canada in addressing the challenges of a new security environment.
In addition to the special report, CIGI gathered more than 250 experts in interdisciplinary working groups to address 10 key areas of emerging national security threats and produce a series of reports. Learn more about the Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy project at cigionline.org/canada-security/.
