True North

The Liberal government wants the military to be involved in a propaganda operation targeting Canadians. 

A groundbreaking report by the Ottawa Citizen revealed a series of documents that outline a Canadian Forces operation intended to advance “national interests by using defence activities to influence the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of audiences.” 

The Canadian Forces has already invested over $1 million in training its public affairs staff on the same techniques used by the controversial UK data-mining company, Cambridge Analytica.

According to the October 2020 document, the intended audiences are Canadians in their own country, as well as citizens of other countries abroad. The plan also details a new research body that would collect the personal information of Canadian, journalists and others from their social media accounts. 

“Defence StratCom will focus on effects and outcomes among key audiences and will provide clear direction on aligning actions, efforts and resources in pursuit of strategic objectives,” read the plan. 

While the above mentioned document remains in the draft stage, steps have been taken to turn the proposed operation into a reality. 

Earlier this year, it was revealed that military intelligence officers within the Canadian military were ordered to monitor and collect information on the social media activity of Ontarians. 

Once the project was revealed, the military then said that the information was being used to assist the army’s intervention in the province’s long-term care crisis. 

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has stated that the operation has not received the necessary authorization required to be put into effect. 

“No such plan has been approved, nor will it be,” said Sajjan’s press secretary, Florianne Bonneville. 

Despite the denials, military personnel have already engaged with and met to discuss the tactics included in the documents in a series of town halls. 

A controversial Canadian imam told his congregation that the French teacher beheaded by an Islamist extremist last month in France was a “filthy excuse of a human-being.” 

“Not too long ago, a teacher in France chose to show those insulting cartoons to his class, at his school,” said Younus Kathrada in a video published by MEMRI. 

“Then about a week ago, it is said – I repeat, it is said – that a young Muslim man confronted this cursed individual, he confronted this evil-spirited man, he confronted this filthy excuse of a human-being on the street, and he beheaded him.” 

On October 16, 2020, middle-school teacher Samuel Paty was brutally murdered and decapitated him on his way home from school by an 18-year-old Islamist extremist. 

The perpetrator, who is believed to have shouted “Allahu akbar” during the attack targeted Paty for showing kids cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a civics class on freedom of speech. 

Seven individuals have so far been charged in relation to the killing. 

In the sermon, Kathrada also calls for his followers to boycott French goods and asks Allah to “destroy the enemies of Islam, and annihilate the heretics and the atheists.” 

Kathrada is no stranger to courting controversy for his beliefs in Canada. Last year, Kathrada told his congregation to not vote for “filthy” candidates who support “homosexuality, zionism” in the 2019 federal election. 

Earlier that year, he also told a youth audience that saying Merry Christmas to somebody was a sin worse than murder. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the brutal murder and other terrorist attacks in France in recent days.

“We believe in the Enlightenment, and women have the same rights as men. People who think otherwise, let them do it somewhere else, not on French soil,” said Macron.

France’s security alert has been raised to its highest level in recent weeks and Macron has deployed 4,000 troops across the country to handle the flare up of extremism. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that free speech is “not without limits” in response to the terrorist attacks. 

“We will always defend freedom of expression. But freedom of expression is not without limits,” said Trudeau.

“In a pluralist, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, of our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience a great deal of discrimination.”