As Russia threats worsen, all Canadians can help security: Latvian envoy

'When Russia is lowering the threshold of doing mischief, using force or anything ... it's very worrying,' said Latvia's ambassador to Canada in an interview with Global News.

Canada is taking “positive” steps to boost its defence spending and military presence in Europe, but Canadians themselves need to take collective responsibility toward national security to counter growing threats from nations like Russia, Latvia’s envoy says.

In an interview with Global News in Vancouver, Kaspars Ozoliņš, Latvia’s ambassador to Canada, said “unfriendly countries” are not limited to geography as a means to influence or attack other nations, using everything from cyberattacks to disinformation. That requires businesses and civil society to defend critical infrastructure alongside government and military forces, he stressed.

“It’s not just about whether you spend two per cent or five per cent (of GDP on defence),” he said.

“There is an increased understanding (in Latvia) that it has to be a whole-of-society approach. So we do a lot of planning and training and exercise (with) businesses and institutions every year that has led to that growing acceptance and understanding.”

“I guess this is a relatively new concept for Canadians, and something that needs to be understood a little bit better.”

As a former Soviet republic-turned-NATO ally on the front lines of Europe’s defence from an increasingly hostile Russia, Ozoliņš said Latvia knows the risks posed to democratic allies like Canada firsthand.

“I’ve lived under the Soviet regime,” he said, describing the “influence of terror” that preceded Latvia’s independence in 1991.

“The Soviet regime was much milder than it is right now in Russia. And that scares me.”