Clement: As a former RCMP officer who tracked global narco-finance and espionage, I believe we’re running out of time. Only a radical overhaul of our national security system can stop the erosion.
By Garry Clement
The Gathering Storm: Where Organized Crime Meets Espionage
From my earliest days in the RCMP through years embedded with global financial intelligence units, one reality has remained consistent—and it’s now accelerating: Canada is a soft target.
In Undercover in the Shady World of Organized Crime, I chronicled how criminal empires—from Italian syndicates to Asian Triads—operated in the shadows, laundering vast fortunes through our banks, casinos, and real estate. Back then, the fight was tactical. Today, it’s existential.
We are witnessing a merger of interests between transnational organized crime (TOC) and hostile foreign states. China’s United Front Work Department and the PRC’s intelligence arms don’t just exploit criminal infrastructure—they integrate with it. Safe houses, shell companies, and crypto laundering chains—they’re tools of both cartels and foreign governments. This convergence is the new hybrid threat, and Canada has not adapted.
Law Enforcement Paralysis: A System in Denial
Organized Crime: A “Geopolitical Weapon”
CSIS reports that approximately 668 organized crime groups operate across Canada; 7 are considered “high-level threats,” with 45% active beyond provincial borders.
Fentanyl superlabs in BC, Ontario, and Quebec show rising domestic drug production and export, including to the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
Money laundering—estimated at $45–113 billion annually through real estate, casinos, banks, and crypto—is systemic and undermines fiscal and institutional integrity.
Experts have warned in reporting by The Bureau: Organized crime networks are now “geopolitical weapons,” destabilizing communities, overwhelming services, and weakening borders.
In Canada Under Siege, I outline how our institutions—political, financial, and judicial—are outpaced by threat actors. As recently as 2024, CSIS acknowledged over 668 organized crime groups operating domestically. Yet funding, resources, and political will remain grossly inadequate.
Canada’s failure to implement meaningful anti–money laundering reforms—despite the Cullen Commission and FATF warnings—has left us vulnerable to becoming a hub for global illicit finance. We talk transparency while foreign-backed actors launder fentanyl profits through Vancouver condos. I’ve seen the evidence. We have the tools—but not the leadership.
RCMP units are still hamstrung by bureaucracy, resource gaps, and turf wars. Cybercrime enforcement? Understaffed and reactive. We’re deploying 20th-century structures against 21st-century adversaries.
The big problem: Canada’s enforcement remains under-resourced, fragmented, and reactive—threatening public health, safety, and economic integrity.
