Ottawa giving RCMP cash for high-tech surveillance targeting Mohawk tobacco trade

Tobacco store in Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory.

APTN National News, Feb 11, 2014
OTTAWA–The federal government is continuing its battle against the underground Mohawk tobacco trade by giving the RCMP new high-tech border surveillance tools, according to the federal budget unveiled Tuesday.

RCMP reacts to exposure of its surveillance of BC Indigenous protest

by Martin Lukacs, Vancouver Media Coop, May 11, 2012

Blog posts are the work of individual contributors, reflecting their thoughts, opinions and research.

In response to our Toronto Star article exposing a police unit that monitored Indigenous protest in BC, the  RCMP issued a letter — see below — to “First Nations Leaders and Communities”.

They call the article “irresponsible,” “sensationalist” and “not correct.”

Sounds to me like damage control, but let’s assess their concerns.

RCMP spied on B.C. natives protesting pipeline plan, documents show

Martin Lukacs and Tim Groves, Toronto Star, May 09 2012

The RCMP has been spying on a group of British Columbia First Nations whose vocal opposition to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline has taken them to the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Toronto, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request.