Canada faces a series of 'crises' that will test it in the coming years, RCMP warns

The «crises» rocking national and international affairs are likely to get worse over the next few years and could have a significant effect on the federal government and Canada's federal police force, says an internal report prepared for the RCMP.

«The global community has experienced a series of crises, with COVID-19, supply-chain issues, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all sending shockwaves throughout the world,» says the report, entitled Whole of Government Five Year Trends for Canada.

«The situation will probably deteriorate further in the next five years, as the early effects of climate change and a global recession add their weight to the ongoing crises.»

The report was prepared by the RCMP's three-member Strategic Foresight and Methodology Team, a special section set up in February 2022. The report was shared with management at the RCMP's federal policing section, RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival said in response to questions from CBC News.

The report was obtained through access to information law by Matt Malone, an assistant law professor at Thompson Rivers University, who shared it with CBC News.

The heavily redacted nine-page report looks at shifts «in the domestic and international environments that could have a significant effect on the Canadian government and the RCMP.» Percival said it was written between March and December of 2022 «for situational awareness and to inform decision making» over the five years following the report's completion. It has not been updated since then.

The report says it is based on «open source, foresight material, horizon scans and environment scans from law enforcement agencies, government agencies and private entities, both domestic and international.»

The report paints a bleak