Extremist actors see the 2021 federal election as an “opportunity” to plan “acts of violence”, the Canadian Internal Intelligence Service said on Friday.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has revealed that it has informed government agencies of threats to the federal election, including “ideologically motivated” figures who see the election as an opportunity to dissuade Canadians from participating in democracy or planning acts of violence.
Read more: Threats within: Canada’s spy service raises awareness of “ideological” domestic extremism
CSIS, which is responsible for tracking threats to national security in Canada, also said the agency has seen a significant increase in threats against politicians and government officials since 2020.
“Ideologically” motivated violent extremism is the agency’s overarching term for a set of extremism fueled by malice, but includes far-right, anti-authoritarian and anti-government, and racist groups motivated by violence.
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“There have been seven attacks and three destroyed conspiracies in the Canadian space (ideologically motivated extremism) since 2014. These attacks killed 26 people and wounded 40 others on Canadian soil – more than any other form of violent extremism,” the agency said. report published on friday, read.
“A variety of complaints motivate… the willingness of actors to incite, enable and / or mobilize to violence. Not all of these cases meet the national security threshold, but the CSIS has seen a significant increase in threats of violence against elected government officials and representatives over the past two years.
Read more: Canadian security agencies learn lessons from ’emergency’ convoy blockade
The 2021 federal election marked a level of post-campaign protest – especially Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tour – unprecedented in the last election.
Trudeau was greeted by mocking crowds at stops across the country, especially at suburban Ontario stops. Although much attention was paid to an incident in which a protester threw gravel at Trudeau, he also had to cancel a planned rally in Bolton, Ont., Due to concerns for the safety of the crowd.
After canceling the event, Trudeau said he had never seen the same “intensity of anger” show during the campaign.
9:07 “I’ve never seen this intensity of anger,” says Trudeau after the cancellation of a security rally. “I’ve never seen this intensity of anger,” Trudeau said after a rally canceled for security – August 27, 2021.
The Toronto Star reported that threats against Trudeau and his cabinet increased between 2020 and 2021, when the country was locked in by the first waves of the global pandemic. In July 2020, former Canadian reservist Corey Heron broke his truck through the gates near Trudeau’s official residence and was arrested with multiple firearms and a note threatening Trudeau.
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Heron is currently serving a six-year sentence on multiple gun charges.
Read more: The alleged intruder in Rideau Hall cites the need to wake up in a letter: sources
But anger in some pockets of Canadian society extends beyond the inner feelings of Trudeau’s liberals. Deputies from many parties have detailed hostilities and threatening behavior while performing their public duties.
Calgary Conservative MP Michel Rempel Garner has made public detailed allegations of harassment, threats and “violent language” aimed specifically at women in the election campaign.
“I also received a death threat from someone who called my office in days of escalating verbal violence,” Rempel Garner said in a 2021 statement.
“This meant that I could not advertise the location of my campaign office. I cannot attend public events where my presence has been announced. I needed to step up security. I’m on the edge and I’m scared when I get in and out of my car and generally go out in public. “
Provincial politicians, including Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s education minister, also had protest groups appearing on their doorstep against COVID-19 public health restrictions. This behavior also extends to employees such as Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Strang. Two protesters – including far-right Jeremy Mackenzie – were arrested in front of Strang’s home in March 2022.
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Read more: Prime Minister Doug declares state of emergency amid protests at land border in Ottawa
The convoy’s protests – which included the participation and encouragement of Canada’s far-right and anti-government activists – have sparked reflection in Canadian intelligence and law enforcement circles on how to investigate increasingly apparent civil unrest.
CSIS, for example, is prohibited from monitoring legitimate protests. But the moment the protest turns into an occupation – or a valid national security concern, as Ontario police estimated the Ottawa convoy’s protest on Feb. 7 – isn’t always obvious right away.
What is clear from CSIS’s point of view is that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat has been “fueled by an increase in extreme anti-authoritarian and anti-government rhetoric, often rooted in the weapons of conspiracy theories.”
The agency’s 2021 report says Canadian “influencers and proselytizers” have emerged within the movement to “promote misinformation and action, including violence.”
Global News reported in March that CSIS is now devoting as much time and resources to tracking “ideological” domestic extremism as religiously motivated terrorism, a significant change in the agency’s priorities over the past six years.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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