Declassified reports show the Security Service monitored Inuit leadership changes, internal paranoia about surveillance, and conflicts between moderates and perceived hard liners. Between 1972 and 1980, Mounties compiled a three-volume intelligence dossier on ITC under the so-called “Native extremism” surveillance program, though this file remains classified.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed said it’s completely unacceptable and unfortunate Canada’s kneejerk reaction to Inuit political organizing was to spy.
“There needs to be a reckoning from this,” he said in an interview, adding he looks forward to speaking with Library and Archives Canada about accessing the dossier.
“The government of Canada had no right to infringe upon the individual rights and freedoms of Inuit in that time period, or to try to impact and interrupt our political movement,” Obed said.
“Although it is maddening and frustrating, there were so many awful things being done by the government of Canada during this time that this is another chapter in a very dark legacy of this country’s history.”
“internal paranoia about surveillance”
IIRC paranoia is the irrational belief that everything revolves around the individual experiencing it. They were being surveiled by covert government forces. That makes it rational and a completely correct assessment.
Not paranoia.
In the immortal words of Kurt Cobain
"Just because you’re paranoid,
Don’t mean their not after you"
How dare any Canadian people ally with each other! Don’t they know they’re supposed to be at each other’s throats all the time fighting for the scraps we give them?
I personally and individually hate all of you. It’s called equity, eh.
We spy on / infiltrate men’s groups. We spy on / infiltrate race-based “white” person groups (white nationalists). We do those things legitimately because there’s a risk to the broader public if the negative parts of those groups gain authority / the ability to enact their agendas.
There are elements of most FN community’s calling for things like “Land Back”, “Colonials out”, and the dissolution of Canada – all incredibly common things to see as graffiti in cities like Vancouver – so there’re already minor crimes being committed supporting this sort of anti-Canada, pro-racist sentiment. They have elements of their movements openly calling for the end of Canada – and there’ve been coordinated actions by these groups to disrupt Canadian projects.
And in the 70s/80s, you had groups like the FLQ in Quebec, another anti-Canadian type movement, that was literally kidnapping foreign dignitaries and publishing manifestos. It’s one reason Trudeau senior declared martial law there for a bit, to counter the terrorist elements of the Quebec separatist movement.
The Air India bombing in 1985 took forever to hold anyone accountable, because it was a racial demographic that basically didn’t cooperate with the RCMP, and the RCMP had no ‘insider’ options due to the lack of diversity on the force – sikhs/indians didn’t exactly trust the government due to their treatment in India by the govt at the time, and the force didn’t employ any good spies to sneak in to those circles, so getting things like witnesses/insiders to come forward was nearly impossible, and it made seeking justice really difficult. It’s one of the strong arguments for why it’s important to have diversity in the RCMP/Law Enforcement – so that members of different minority communities feel more comfortable working with law enforcement, rather than against it.
Any group that’s anti-governments, and contains extremist elements that pose a potential risk to the public interest/good, should be monitored by law enforcement. FN are clearly in that category too, and warrant surveillance. Pretending like they aren’t is silly.
