Spies in our midst: RCMP and CSIS snoop on green activists

This is the first installment in a two-part investigative series on governments, spies, and the oil and gas industry to be published by the National Observer

By Bruce Livesey, National Observer, May 5 2017

 

“Mr. Tremblay, do you remember me?”

Ron Tremblay was just walking out of the Lord Beaverbrook hotel when a young woman in a dark-blue pantsuit approached him. The Lord Beaverbrook is a beige, unremarkable edifice that sits in downtown Fredericton, kitty-corner to the New Brunswick legislature. On this summer morning last August, a panel of Canada’s federal energy regulator, the National Energy Board (NEB), was holding hearings at the hotel about the proposed Energy East pipeline – which is designed to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to New Brunswick’s port city of Saint John.

RCMP defends use of secretive cellphone surveillance technology for the first time

An IMSI catcher pretends to be a cellphone tower to attract nearby cell signals. When it does, it can intercept the unique ID number associated with your phone, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity, or IMSI. That number can then be used to track your phone. (CBC)

Unprecedented briefing with reporters comes in wake of CBC investigation into illegal spying in Ottawa

By Dave Seglins, Matthew Braga, Catherine Cullen, CBC News, April 5, 2017

The RCMP for the first time is publicly confirming it uses cellphone surveillance devices in investigations across Canada — but at the same time says the potential of unauthorized snooping in Ottawa, as reported by CBC News, poses a threat to national security.

28 people charged after Muskrat Falls protests

Protesters slowed work at the Muskrat Falls work site in Labrador in 2016. (Katie Breen/CBC)

Charges announced by RCMP on Tuesday

CBC News, March 7, 2017

Twenty-eight people have been charged in connection with last year’s protests at the Muskrat Falls site, the RCMP announced on Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 60 charges were laid, including mischief, breaches of a court order, and taking a motor vehicle without consent.

RCMP watchdog’s probe into review of northern B.C. policing thwarted by poor record keeping

Agency looked at reports of public intoxication, missing persons, domestic violence and strip searches

By Alison Crawford, CBC News, Feb 15, 2017

The RCMP’s federal watchdog has found that nearly half of the missing persons reports in northern British Columbia fail to show that Mounties investigated cases quickly or thoroughly.

It’s one of the findings of the self-initiated report by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, which is looking into how Mounties do their jobs in the 35 detachments in B.C.’s North District.

Canadian police hit by major computer network outage

‘It’s like flying blind,’ 1 frontline RCMP officer said about computer outage

By Alison Crawford, CBC News,  Jan 19, 2017

The failure of a critical core computer network device prevented Mounties and other police agencies including the Toronto Police Service from accessing a critical computer program they need to do their jobs called the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database.

35 Indigenous anti-shale gas protesters in N.B. on RCMP ‘threat’ list

Mi’kmaq face RCMP riot cops on Oct 17, 2013, near Elsipogtog, NB.

313 activists across Canada secretly investigated, 89 profiled, Ottawa researchers discover

By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon, CBC News, November 17, 2016

Thirty-five of the 89 Indigenous activists secretly investigated and profiled by the RCMP as potential threats to public safety have ties to New Brunswick, a recently released document shows.

RCMP officers cleared in shooting death of Site C protester in Dawson Creek

The scene of the RCMP shooting in Dawson Creek, BC, July 16, 2015.

James McIntyre was killed by RCMP after he confronted them wearing a mask and wielding a knife

By Andrew Kurjata, CBC News, November 16, 2016

The Independent Investigations Office has cleared an RCMP officer of any wrong-doing in a fatal shooting in Dawson Creek last year.

On the evening of July 16, two officers were dispatched to the Stonebridge Hotel where a meeting on the controversial Site C dam project had just taken place.

Identities of two Mi’kmaq Warriors on RCMP ‘threat’ list revealed

Women warriors at a tire fire blockade on Hwy 11, Dec 2, 2013, during resistance to SWN exploratory work for fracking.

by Jorge Barrera, APTN National News, November 10, 2016

APTN National News has identified two of the individuals on a list of 89 Indigenous rights activists considered “threats” by the RCMP following a review of details contained in a recently released report compiled by the federal police force’s intelligence centre.

The RCMP’s “Project Sitka” full PDF document

For your viewing pleasure, the full PDF document of Project Sitka, which identified 89 Indigenous people regarded as “threats.”  To view the PDF click: project-sitka-report

RCMP intelligence centre compiled list of 89 Indigenous rights activists considered “threats”

Mi’kmaq warriors at tire fire blockade near Elsipogtog, New Brunswick, December 2013.

by Jorge Barrera, APTN National News, November 7, 2016
Rattled by Idle No More and Mi’kmaq-led anti-shale gas demonstrations, the RCMP compiled a list of 89 individuals considered “threats” as part of an operation aimed at improving the federal police force’s intelligence capacity when facing Indigenous rights demonstrations, according to an internal intelligence report.