Spying on the protest movement

Private e-mails find way into military hands; 'I think they enjoy the cloak and dagger stuff'

David Pugliese and Jim Bronskill

The Ottawa Citizen

VICTORIA -- Government agents spied on Vancouver Island peace activists, learning of their intention to build a giant puppet of Liberal cabinet minister David Anderson and to write a series of newspaper letters critical of federal policies.

Heavily edited government records show plans by the Nanoose Conversion Campaign and the satirical Raging Grannies to hold a peaceful demonstration in October 1997 were intercepted by an unidentified intelligence source and forwarded to the Canadian military.

The demonstrators hoped to raise concerns about visits of U.S. nuclear-powered warships to the Nanoose torpedo test range as well as war games being conducted off Vancouver Island. The military was tipped off to their protest, including a suggestion to fashion an effigy of Mr. Anderson, the senior federal minister for B.C., waving an American flag, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.

The records, and other military documents detailing the monitoring of a public service union and a group of Muslim students, raise questions about the extent of government spy operations against lawful organizations and individuals engaged in peaceful protest.

Ivan Bulic, involved with the Nanoose Conversion Campaign at the time, says the military appears to have obtained the minutes from one of the group's meetings. Those minutes were sent by e-mail to a very limited number of people.

Mr. Bulic says the minutes were either intercepted in cyberspace or by someone listening in to telephone conversations. It is also possible a government informant had infiltrated the organization.

Either way, federal spies were wasting their time and taxpayers' money, he says. "What we were doing, such as sending letters to newspapers and holding an information picket outside the base gate, are completely legal and bona fide activities," said Mr. Bulic. "Their reaction reflects a 1950's Cold War mentality of where legitimate protests, contrary to the military's view, are deemed a threat. We've been classified as enemies."

The Nanoose Conversion Campaign advocates peaceful protest as a means of trying to end visits of nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships to Canadian waters. It often uses the courts to challenge the federal government. Several years ago, the organization unsuccessfully launched a legal action to prevent U.S. Navy warships from dumping pollutants into Canadian waters. It is currently in court, contesting the federal government's expropriation of the Nanoose torpedo test range from the province of B.C.

Lt.-Cmdr. Paul Seguna, a Canadian Forces spokesman, said the military's National Counter-Intelligence Unit received the information about the protest plans from a source, but he declined to identify that individual or agency. "In this case we were not the lead agency," said Lt.-Cmdr. Seguna. "This information is obtained on a shared basis with other federal agencies and police forces."

The National Counter-Intelligence Unit's job is to monitor and counteract foreign espionage, terrorism, sabotage, criminal activity and threats to military personnel or installations. According to a statement from the Canadian Forces, "in the absence of a security threat (the unit) does not collect information on individuals, legal assemblies or organizations."

However, there is evidence military spies are interested not only in citizens who demonstrate against defence policies, but anyone who might cast the Forces in a bad light.

In May 1998 the counter-intelligence unit turned its attention to the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which was planning a protest against job cuts at the Defence Department. The unit gave advance warning to senior Defence officials of the union's intention to demonstrate during a visit by Defence Minister Art Eggleton at a Montreal base. Although the unit acknowledged to military commanders that such demonstrations were usually peaceful, it recommended monitoring the situation and working with the RCMP's criminal intelligence branch in reporting any new developments.

With no direct threat involved, why would a military spy organization be worried about public servants gathering to protest job cuts? The counter-intelligence report on the event, obtained by the Citizen, provides the answer: "There is potential for public embarrassment to the (Defence minister) given that the media has been informed" about the demonstration, it warned.

The unit's monitoring has also extended into the realm of religious organizations. A January 1998 threat assessment noted a group of Muslim students from the University of New Brunswick had purchased an old building in Moncton. The threat posed by the students, however, was "assessed as negligible." They had turned the building into a mosque.

Intelligence analysts say the military's pre-occupation with monitoring potential protesters stems from the Defence Department's desire to be warned about anything that might be politically or publicly embarrassing.

"It's partly because they don't have the Cold War anymore so they don't have much else to do, but also it reflects the Defence Department's new priorities," said John Thompson, who studies terrorism trends for the Mackenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think tank. "If the Raging Grannies are going to show up, DND wants to know about it first."

Such efforts are misplaced, however, suggests Mr. Thompson. "These types of people aren't the ones who are going to be bringing Molotov cocktails and bats to a protest march."

Raging Granny Freda Knott finds it amusing that government spies feel they have to keep tabs on her group, a small collection of senior citizens who sing songs to highlight social injustices.

"If they think they'll find that we're out to destroy our country then they're very wrong," said the 65-year-old Victoria resident. "We want to make the world a better place for our grandchildren, for all grandchildren. I don't see too much wrong with that."

Mr. Bulic says the Nanoose Conversion Campaign had an inkling it was being spied on after the group's name was included in a threat assessment tabled in 1998 at the inquiry into RCMP actions at the Vancouver APEC summit. The assessment, sent to various military units, listed the conversion campaign, the Anglican Church of Canada, Amnesty International, the Council of Canadians and others alongside terrorist groups as organizations that might protest or cause disruptions at the 1997 summit.

Lt.-Cmdr. Seguna says just because a group is included in a threat assessment does not mean it is considered a danger to the Canadian Forces. Military intelligence officials simply compile information that might affect security at an event. "How do you decide who not to look at?" asks Lt.-Cmdr. Seguna. "There may be a group that generally is not threatening. But in some of these there may be sub-groups that, for one reason or another" may participate in violence, he adds.

Documents show intelligence agencies have taken an interest in the Nanoose Conversion Campaign and other peace groups for many years. According to a March 1995 threat assessment by the Defence Department such groups have been listed because they protested at military bases or held peace walks.

A September 1997 message from National Defence Headquarters, marked secret, ordered counter-intelligence officers in each major Canadian city to report on any organizations involved in anti-nuclear activities, or which planned or "advocated" a demonstration.

It's that type of mentality that worries Mr. Bulic. He can understand the need to monitor actual terrorist groups but questions why authorities are so preoccupied with those who exercise their democratic right to disagree with government policies.

After the threat assessment listing the Nanoose Conversion Campaign was made public at the APEC inquiry, Mr. Bulic wrote Mr. Eggleton asking for an explanation of the military monitoring of a law-abiding organization.

The minister did not reply. But a short time later, Mr. Bulic received a phone call from military intelligence officials in Ottawa. The captain on the line wasn't about to apologize for what happened. Instead, he demanded to know how the conversion campaign had been able to obtain such a secret assessment.

"I think they enjoy the cloak-and-dagger stuff," says Mr. Bulic. "It seems to be the only way they know how to operate."

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Cracking Down on Protesters

Today is the second instalment in the Citizen series on "the criminalization of dissent."

In the days ahead:

- Authorities added another line to Green Party leader Joan Russow's resume: threat to national security.

- Organize a protest today and you can expect a Mountie to knock on your door.

- The APEC affair showed the RCMP is willing to go undercover to dig up dirt.