Secure Line

In this emergency episode, the team examines the deadly attack targeting ILO's Montreal headquarters and what it reveals about Canada's evolving extremist threat landscape. They unpack the perpetrator's manifesto, the convergence of misogynistic, anti-capitalist and conspiratorial ideologies, why they believe the attack should be understood as terrorism, and the troubling lack of publi...

In the season three finale, hosts Steph, Leah, and Jess share their summer reading lists with a national security flavour, along with personal updates and summer plans. They might not be what you think of as traditional beach reads, but these books have it all for Secure Line listeners.  Steph is calling in from the south of France, where she's spending 12 weeks on an intensive French language...

In this episode of  Secure Line , the hosts unpack the federal government’s proposed new Financial Crimes Agency and what it could mean for the future of financial crime enforcement in Canada. Jessica Davis explains why Canada’s current fragmented approach—largely dependent on the RCMP’s overstretched federal policing mandate—has repeatedly failed to prioritize complex financial crime investigatio...

Bill C-22, the federal government’s latest lawful access legislation, is back—and so is the debate over how Canada should balance privacy rights with the needs of law enforcement and national security agencies. In this episode of  Secure Line , Steph and Leah West unpack the major reforms made to Bill C-22 since its predecessor, Bill C-2, and assess whether the government has meaningfully addresse...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Jessica Davis and Leah West are joined by  Thomas Juneau  and  Stephanie Carvin  to discuss their new article examining the  National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) —one of Canada’s most important, yet least understood, national security institutions. The conversation explores a deceptively simple question:  who reviews the reviewers?  Drawing on...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Jessica Davis, Stephanie Carvin, and Leah West are joined by leading Canadian national security law expert Craig Forcese to unpack a timely and complex question: is international law breaking down—or simply evolving under pressure? The conversation begins with the concept of “rupture” in the global order, sparked by recent political rhetoric and shifting geopoliti...

This episode of  Secure Line  features Dr. Cassandra Steer, a leading expert in space governance and space law, for a timely conversation on the growing national security risks at the intersection of space and cyber. Drawing on a recent workshop she led on the “space-cyber nexus,” Steer explains why satellites and cyber systems are now so deeply interconnected that vulnerabilities in one can quick...

Research security is quickly becoming a core pillar of Canada’s national and economic security. In this episode of  Secure Line , Steph, Leah, and Jess explore why protecting research and innovation has become such an urgent priority as geopolitical competition increasingly centers on intellectual property, emerging technologies, and scientific talent. Universities and research institutions sit at...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Stephanie Carvin and Jessica Davis break down several recent Canadian national security developments that, taken together, raise concerns about government messaging and policy direction. In what they jokingly call a “natsec bitch sesh,” they examine three stories from the past two weeks: controversy surrounding government comments about Indian foreign interference...

In this episode of Secure Line, Steph, Leah, and Jess are joined by Chris Nardi, parliamentary reporter at the  National Post , to unpack what it’s like to cover Canada’s national security world from the press gallery. Nardi explains how his beat grew “organically” through major transparency moments like the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC)and the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference (...

Synopsis: In this episode of  Secure Line , Steph and Jess unpack one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history and ask a difficult but essential question:  can understanding the perpetrator help prevent future violence? To help make sense of the attack in Tumbler Ridge, the hosts are joined by Dr. Emily Corner, Associate Professor at Australian National University and one of the world’s...

In Season 3, Episode 2 of  Secure Line , Steph Carvin sits down with Jess Davis for a deep dive into Jess’s new book chapter, “State Secrets: Hiring Criminals for State-Sponsored Activities,” published in  Killing in the Name of the State: State-Sponsored Assassinations in International Politics  (Lynne Rienner). The episode unpacks a disturbing but increasingly visible trend: states using organiz...

Season 3 kicks off with a hard look at the world as it is—not as we wish it were. In this episode of  Secure Line , Steph Carvin, Leah West, and Jess Davis unpack Mark Carney’s much-discussed speech at the World Economic Forum, and what it reveals about the collapse of the liberal international order, Canada’s shrinking room to maneuver, and the uncomfortable reality of great-power competition. Th...

Steph, Leah, and Jess kick off Secure Line’s first-ever video “Festivus” episode with a holiday tradition: the airing of the grievances. After a quick tribute to producer Lena (the only person exempt from criticism), the trio runs through what’s been frustrating them most about Canada’s national security landscape—and what they think needs to change. Leah opens with a perennial—and increasingly ur...

Secure Line  closes out 2025 by taking stock of a year defined by geopolitical whiplash: grinding wars in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine; rising tension in the Indo-Pacific; instability across Africa’s “coup belt”; and a U.S. foreign policy that’s reshaping alliances as much as it’s responding to threats. With a newly released U.S. National Security Strategy pointing toward a more transactional, hemisph...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Leah West and Stephanie Carvin break down the most consequential defence budget Canada has seen in generations—joined by special guest Philippe Lagassé, Chair in International Affairs at NPSIA and author of  Debating Canadian Defence . With Jess Davis away this week, Leah and Stephanie dive into the headline-grabbing $81.8 billion defence package unveiled in Budge...

From balance sheets to ballads, the 2025 budget doubles down on soft power and spectacle, but keeps Canada’s national security stuck in the same old song. In this episode of  Secure Line , hosts Stephanie Carvin and Jessica Davis dive into the 2025 Canadian federal budget — a self-proclaimed “transformative” plan that, on closer inspection, mostly reinforces the national security status quo. From...

In this episode, former Canadian environment and infrastructure minister Catherine McKenna joins Secure Line to discuss her memoir  Run Like a Girl  and the escalating threats faced by public officials—especially women—working on contentious files like climate policy. McKenna recounts how online harassment (“Climate Barbie”) evolved into offline intimidation during and after her time in office, an...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Stephanie Carvin, Leah West, and Jessica Davis speak with returning guest Thomas Juneau to unpack a turbulent year in the Middle East and what it means for Canada. Juneau argues that U.S. policy under President Trump lacks a consistent doctrine and is driven largely by personal involvement that helped force a fragile Gaza ceasefire through pressure on Israel and c...

In this episode of  Secure Line , hosts Stephanie Carvin and Jessica Davis unpack the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency’s (NSIRA) October 2 report on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The review examined the CRA’s handling of audits on charities for potential terrorist financing, following long-standing allegations of bias against Muslim-led organizations. Davis explains how NSIRA —...

This episode asks the deceptively simple question:  is espionage legal?  Host Leah West sets the stakes for Canadian operators—CSIS and the CAF must comply with international law unless clearly authorized otherwise—before welcoming scholars Asaf Lubin and Russell Buchan to square off on how international law actually treats spying. Using the African Union–Huawei affair as a provocation, Lubin argu...

In this episode of  Secure Line , hosts Stephanie Carvin and Jessica Davis unpack the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency’s (NSIRA) October 2 report on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The review examined the CRA’s handling of audits on charities for potential terrorist financing, following long-standing allegations of bias against Muslim-led organizations. Davis explains how NSIRA —...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Leah West, Jessica Davis, and Stephanie Carvin unpack one of the most contentious parts of the Carney government’s  Strong Borders Act —the sweeping amendments to Canada’s  Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) . Joined by immigration lawyer  Jackie Bonisteel , they explore how sections 6 through 9 of the omnibus bill grant the government broad powers to s...

Jess, Leah, and guest Michael (Mike) Nesbitt unpack Canada’s proposed Combating Hate Act: what it actually does, why it’s being introduced, and where it may overreach. They break down the bill’s key moves—creating a stand-alone hate-motivated offense, criminalizing intimidation or obstruction outside religious, cultural, educational and similar spaces, banning public display of certain terrorist/h...

In this episode of  Secure Line , Jess, Steph, and Leah dive into the Strong Borders Act—Bill C-2—an omnibus bill that stretches far beyond its title. While marketed as a measure to curb fentanyl and strengthen Canada’s borders, the legislation also proposes sweeping changes to immigration, refugee processes, anti–money laundering powers, and surveillance authorities. Leah takes the lead by unpack...