The State of Information and Intelligence Sharing in Canada

Effective information and intelligence sharing is a complex undertaking, with many legislative, corporate, and cultural obstacles. Given the rapidly evolving security threat landscape, it is vital that Canada can rely on effective sharing conduits between the private and public sectors. The fact that over 80 per cent of Canadian critical infrastructure is not owned by the federal government further emphasizes this point.

This briefing explores the public-private sector information- and intelligence-sharing relationship at a strategic level, highlights the stakeholder categories that public and private sector respondents share with most, and identifies several sharing obstacles and challenges. It also sheds light on how this issue has evolved over the last few years and make six recommendations to improve information and intelligence sharing in Canada.

The briefing is based on insights from a meeting convened by Signal49 Research’s Centre for National Security and the results of a survey of security professionals across Canada.