Canada’s Cartel Blind Spot

Canada needs a strategy that treats cartels as criminal regimes operating across markets.

A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle that was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026, after the Mexican Army killed cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera, known as "El Mencho.” AP Photo/Armando Solis

Commentary 

In Canada, cartel activity is framed as a crime problem, a public health problem, or a border problem. Those are real. They are also incomplete. Cartels increasingly resemble criminal regimes that compete with the state for control over markets, territory, and legitimacy. That is why labels like narco-terrorist do not capture the full threat.