The RCMP plans to conduct covert surveillance online using fake personas to investigate ideological extremists in Canada, an internal strategy document says.
Canadian experts on ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) say this strategy is outdated at a time when online extremism threatens to spill over into real-world violence. They warn that extremist activity in Canada could increase in the wake of the U.S. election, regardless of who becomes the next president.
Civil liberties advocates say police officers using fake personas to conduct online sting operations can violate Charter rights or cause people to take actions they otherwise would not take. He says he is concerned that there is.
They point out that the RCMP clashed with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada over other online investigative activities earlier this year. They also want to put in place guardrails to cover covert online surveillance.
The internal strategy document, dated April 2024, was obtained by Matt Malone, a Balsillie Scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, through Access to Information Law and shared with CBC News.
The term IMVE covers everything from white supremacists and neo-Nazis to far-left environmental and animal rights groups.
Many of the internal documents discuss the need for police to work together to combat threats to national security, but they also outline the RCMP’s plans to go beyond simply monitoring online posts and proceeding with investigations. There is.
“The RCMP’s lack of covert online presence was previously highlighted in an OIR (Operational Improvement Review), which stated that the RCMP will develop its own online infiltration program to assist in national security criminal investigations. ”, the strategy document states.
“The Federal Police National Security Service (FPNS) is currently taking steps to address this recommendation through proactive legend building and backstop personas, but to meet future demands for online infiltration operations. must prioritize and accelerate this work.”
The force also said it needed additional resources.
“As federal law enforcement expands its online undercover and intelligence capabilities in the IMVE field, additional online personas, nicknames, and information technology equipment will be required to sustain these operations,” the document states. is stated.
It’s unclear how much progress the RCMP has made with its online undercover program since the strategy was written in April, or whether officers are using fake IDs to conduct online undercover operations.
RCMP officials were silent when asked about the status of the program.
“To protect Canadians and advance serious criminal investigations, the RCMP uses a variety of technical investigative tools and techniques to lawfully obtain evidence,” the RCMP said in an emailed response. said. “In order to maintain the integrity of our work, we generally do not disclose the specific technologies and tools used in the course of investigations and do not comment further on the status of these technologies.”
The military also defended its use of covert operations.
“All undercover investigations are unique, independently assessed and subject to extensive planning, review, monitoring and approval processes, and the use of all investigative tools by the RCMP is [Charter of Rights and Freedoms] If applicable, you will be subject to appropriate judicial proceedings,” the email states.
“Police sting operations, among many tools, remain an effective technique for deterring the commission of serious crimes and solving historic crimes.The focus is on uncovering the truth, confirming the facts, The purpose is to determine whether someone is involved.”
Allies provide ‘just a piece’ of information: document
The strategy document states that intelligence-led policing is essential to the RCMP’s counterterrorism efforts, including counter-IMVE operations. The RCMP has received intelligence documents from Canadian and foreign partners, but says many of them cannot be used because they are missing critical information.
“In many cases, we are given only snippets, perhaps a name and some suspicious activity, but not enough to begin an actual investigation,” the document states. “If you build your own in-house intelligence capabilities, you will be able to access intelligence with far fewer restrictions.”
According to the IMVE strategy, the RCMP’s operational improvement review states that the RCMP should move away from terrorism charges as the gold standard. Instead, police should pursue other methods that disrupt public safety, including other charges, immigration and refugee protection procedures, terrorism peace assurance and de-escalation, and mental health interventions. There is.
Barbara Perry, director of the Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the Ontario Institute of Technology, said this strategy is outdated and that most Western countries are far ahead of Canada in countering the threat of IMVE.
She said a “fragmentation of movements” is occurring as people drawn to ideological extremism are less likely than before to join certain groups, making it harder for law enforcement to monitor them. said.
“They are exposed to a variety of narratives that are xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, anti-feminist, anti-women,” Perry said. “They are exposed to works both online and offline, and without necessarily affiliated with any particular group, they use them as a way to understand what they see and how they understand the world. Participating in or naming a specific group.
Mr Perry said the election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016 led to a surge in right-wing extremism, and the election of Barack Obama in 2008 led to a “dramatic increase in white supremacist groups”. .
Garth Davis, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University and an expert on violent extremism, said he is also concerned that the U.S. campaign is increasing the IMVE threat north of the border.
“Like a lot of people, I’m worried about the elections south of the border because it’s definitely going to have an impact on Canada and it’s likely to matter at a political level,” he said.
Davis said Canada’s legal situation makes it more difficult for national security agencies to conduct online sting operations, but it is necessary.
“That doesn’t happen often, but I would suggest that movement in that direction is necessary and will take a long time,” he said.
“There will be concerns, there’s no question about that. But to handcuff our national security and intelligence agencies to a point where they can’t function in a space where extremists are operating so openly,” he said. is counterproductive.”
Tim McSorley, national coordinator for the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, said there have been problems with the RCMP’s online operations in the past. He cited the Privacy Commissioner’s concerns and Mounties’ use of fake Facebook profiles to monitor Black Lives Matter and Idle No More activists.
“It’s good to see the RCMP working on a strategy to deal with IMVE and recognizing that IMVE is one of the major threats to Canadians,” he said. “We have overall concerns about how the RCMP and the government as a whole have responded to violent extremism in the past and sought to ensure that civil liberties were protected.”
