When Advocating for First Nations is Considered a National Security Risk

When the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) reported that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) dedicated countless INAC staff and thousands of dollars to spying on Cindy Blackstock - I think most of us in Turtle Island gave our heads a shake. While it has been known for sometime that Canada spies on our our Indigenous leaders and community members who defend our lands, I don't think most of us were aware that any First Nation advocate was a target. This is what shocked me the most - that Canada's "national security" laws are so broad as to make someone like Cindy Blackstock an enemy of the state.

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/11/14/federal-aboriginal-affairs-department-spying-on-advocate-for-first-nations-children/

If someone were to ask me who was the LEAST likely to be spied on by Canada, I would have said Cindy Blackstock because for anyone who knows Cindy or her work, they know she is a peaceful, law-abiding citizen with a big heart. Her only alleged "subversive" or "hostile" act against Canada is that peacefully advocates on behalf of the most vulnerable in our society: First Nations children.

Cindy does not do her advocacy by riding in on combat helicopters or tanks - but instead runs the First Nation Child and Family Caring Society, donates her free time to spreading information and speak publicly about the realities faced by First Nations children, and is now running the HAVE A HEART campaign to raise money for First Nations children.

http://www.fncfcs.com/have-a-heart

(I know I include alot of links in my blogs, but please click on the above link and read about the HAVE A HEART campaign and do what you can to support her efforts.)

The level to which Cindy was spied on by INAC is also quite surprising. For a department whose mandate it is to improve the lives of First Nations peoples, but claims to have no money for housing, water and basic necessities for First Nations - they sure spent a great deal of time attending Cindy's events, spying on her personal Facebook page (not her public one), and reporting to both INAC and Justice Canada about her activities. They even violated her most private information by accessing her registration records and that of her family. Incredibly, INAC has been doing this for some time, so the costs must be astronomical.

So, what was INAC's response to all of this? Minister Duncan said there would be a probe into whether or not government officials broke privacy rules.

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/11/17/aboriginal-affairs-minister-launches-probe-into-blackstock-spying-affair/

However, it is important to note that the "probe" will be headed by Duncan's Deputy Minister. Once the public knew that the DM was one of the many INAC employees who were copied on the surveillance reports on Cindy, we knew any "probe" would be a complete sham. For a government that complains about lack of transparency and accountability by First Nations - here INAC is having one of their spies investigate whether they were improperly spying - can anyone guess what the outcome will be?

This whole situation made me wonder about my own situation and whether my work qualifies me as "hostile" or "subversive". My advocacy activities have always been peaceful and mostly consist of volunteer activities like sharing information through social media, speaking engagements, working with individuals and community members on a wide range of Indigenous legal, cultural, social and political issues, training sessions, publications, appearing before the House and Senate on legislation impacting our people and organizing pow wows.
I still wondered whether this would garner the attention of the multi-layered, well-funded, spy industry within Canada. So, I made an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request to CSIS, INAC, RCMP and DND for any and all records, reports, security assessments, surveillance reports, etc that  they might have in relation to me and my work. To date, only CSIS has responded.

In the CSIS letter of Dec.8, 2011, they refer to three different types of information: (1) Security Assessments/Advice; (2) CSIS Service Records; and (3) CSIS Investigational records. On the first set of information they provided me with some records of assessments done when I worked at INAC and Justice Canada, but refused to disclose other material, stating:
"Portions of the material have been exempted from disclosure by virtue of section 15(1) (as it relates to the efforts of Canada towards detecting, preventing or suppressing subversive or hostile activities) of the Act."
For the second part, they confirmed they have no service records in relation to me (no surprise there) and for the third type of information they stated that they would "neither confirm nor deny that the records you requested exist." However they did say that even if such records do exist, they would not release them to me anyway as part of their efforts in "detecting, preventing or suppressing subversive or hostile activities".

So, the moral of the story is that they have at least one type of file on me, and that they would not release the whole file so as to protect Canada from my alleged "subversive or hostile" activities. This to me is like being judged without knowing what I am accused of, and then being sentenced to ongoing spying on undisclosed activities for an undetermined amount of time so as to reduce the security risk to Canada in relation to my peaceful Indigenous advocacy activities.

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/01/03/indigenous-prof-puzzled-by-csis-answer-to-information-request/

If Canada's national security laws permit such broad surveillance of our activities - then my question is what First Nation activities are NOT considered a potential threat to Canada? I would like to know how much money across all federal departments are allocated to spying on First Nations people? I would also like to compare that to the costs to provide housing, water and basic necessities of life to First Nations in need. I am guessing that I would not be entitled to this information either.
In my previous blogs, I wrote about INAC issuing contracts to people to spy on First Nation elections and Facebook users.
More Than Empty Promises
http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-than-empty-promises-canadas.html

Secret Agent Harper
http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/06/secret-agent-harper-conservative-spy.html

From Savages to Terrorists
http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

Then, The First Nations Strategic Bulletin (FNSB) which came out in December 2011 explained how after the Conservatives came to power, the RCMP created the Aboriginal Joint Intelligence Group (JIG)partnering with the ENERGY and PRIVATE SECTOR to spy on First Nations. First Nations like Six Nations, Tyendinaga and others were all targeted. The JIG was run by RCMP Criminal Intelligence Branch and the RCMP National Security Criminal Investigations (NSCI) which deal with: "threats to national security and criminal extremism or terrorism".

Most shockingly was that FNSB also reported that the RCMP shared their surveillance reports with private businesses and that private businesses shared information with the RCMP about First Nations.

The irony of the situation is so outrageous. It was Canada and its Indian agents that were hostile and subversive to our peoples - not the other way around. It is we who have pre-mature deaths, worse health, less education, less employment and less access to land and resources. It is we who continue to suffer the inter-generational effects of their colonial laws and policies which STILL exist today. Can you get any more hostile that the over-apprehension of our children from our communities at 3 times the rate of residential schools? Or that some of federal prisons have 100% Indigenous inmates or that the Indian Act still provides for our legislative extinction dates?
Yet, we are supposed to be appeased when representatives of Canada speak about moving forward, looking ahead,  and reconciliation. How can First Nations be expected to come to the table with any hope of making real progress when their treaty "partner" comes to the table alleging good faith but with no less than 4 federal departments spying on our people and treating us like we are terrorists on our own lands?

But will any of these important issues make it to the agenda for the First Nations-Crown Summit in January? Of course not. In case you haven't noticed, very little of the core issues are on the table for discussion and resolution. Instead the agenda consists of program areas like economic development, education and accountability - important issues, but all ones which could easily be addressed by directors and a commitment to equitable funding. Issues like self-determination, First Nation jurisdiction, equitable funding, fair share of the land and resources, recognition of our treaties and Indigenous rights are all OFF the agenda.

So, I will wait to see what information about my files I get from the RCMP, DND and INAC, and will also wait and see if NC Atleo addresses any of these fundamental relationship issues with Canada. But in the meantime, my bet is on our grass roots people and the youth in turning this situation around and taking back control over our own lives.

More than Empty Promises: Canada's Military Still Fighting Indians Today

Why is it that Indigenous Peoples are always accused of creating an us vs. them dynamic in Crown-First Nation relations, when in fact it is the opposite that is true. Our treaties were negotiated so that we could move forward cooperatively, yet Canada (which includes Canada includes ALL federal departments, agencies and commissions as well as the provinces and territories) has broken every promise it has made. Given that our treaties were to maintain peace and friendship, Canada has breached the treaties at every step.

We wanted to maintain our connections to the land and Canada wanted to assimilate us. When we exercise our "Canadian" right to peaceful assembly and protest, Canada sends in the military to take us down. It seems that no matter what we do, Canada's answer always seems to be to "get rid of the Indian problem" and it does so by very strategic military means.

Canada has long used military tactics against us to accomplish its goal of taking our land and resources. In the beginning, it was blankets filled with small pox and scalping laws. Even the treaty "negotiations" consisted of brutal force to sign treaties:

Their quarrels and wars were not for ambition, empire or bloodthirstiness but to defend their property and bounds...

Their injuries have been very great, as divesting them of their land by force or fraud, first making them drunk and then to sign what they knew not what...

Ad to this our inhumanity to them ... We vilify them with all manner of names, and opprious language, cheat abuse and beat them, sometimes to the loss of limbs, pelt them with stones and set dogs upon them ... too often an Article of Peace has run in one sense in English and quite contrary in Indian, by the Governor’s express order... (T. Bannister to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Calendar, vol. 28).

We all know what happens when a First Nation protects its traditional lands from destruction - we have the RCMP, the police and the military come in and take our people down - even to the point of shooting and killing us. In between military maneuovers against us, Canada has adopted an ancient military tactic of starving us off our lands. Our people are the poorest in the country and thousands of us die pre-mature deaths directly related to the chronic and purposeful underfunding of critical and essential life services like food, housing, water and health programs.

Of course, there is also the other military tactic used around the world - that is to jail the political opposition. No one can argue with the current incarceration statistics highlighted for many years by Canada's own Correctional Investigator. Our people are arrested, detained, and jailed far more often, for longer, and with less rehabilitation programs or likelihood of probation than non-Indigenous people. In some prisons out west, the women's detention centres can be 80-100% filled with Indigenous women.

How is it that all this happens in plain sight and with the passive acquiesence of democracy and equality-loving Canadians? It is because it is in their vested interest to criminalize every aspect of our lives so that Canadians can continue to enjoy the benefits of stolen lands, resources and power. Hunting and fishing has been our traditional means of providing for our communities since time immemorial - now doing so can land us in jail, or worse risk being shot at or run over by enforcement officials. Similarly, preserving the balance on our territories and making sure the land is cared for in such a way that it continues to sustain us and our people seven generations into the future - can land us in jail.

Why then, does Canada continue the facade that it wants to "reconcile" and develop a better relationship when we all know that its actions speak otherwise. Why bother apologizing for the assimilatory foundations upon which residential schools were developed if the plan is to continue assimilation under the Indian Act? Why does Canada promise to apologize for calling us terrorists or spying on us whenever it gets caught doing so, when we all know those apologies will never happen - nor will the spying ever stop.

When news of any of this hits the media, there is usually some uncomfortable word-smithing by federal representatives and occassionally a promise to apologize at some point in time in the future. Always in the future... Yet, treating us like domestic terrorists and spying on us continues. Don't bother making more empty promises, just admit you are at war with us and let the chips fall where they may. If you are going to be our enemy, have the backbone to admit it.

Why am I ranting about this today? Well, it's because once again Canada got caught spying on us.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/military-intelligence-unit-spies-on-native-groups/article2199496/?from=sec431

And that made me think back to the promise by the military to offer us a now long overdue apology for calling us terrorists - which has never happened.

http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/military+apologize+warriors/4019344/story.html

And because despite Canada agreeing to support but not endorse or implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Conservatives have ramped up their spying efforts with INAC (now AANDC) as the lead.

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/06/secret-agent-harper-conservative-spy.html

Canada seems to have a great deal of time and money to spend spying on our people and keeping us in poverty. Since I will no doubt be labled a "radical", I guess there is no harm in sharing some of my radical ideas: why don't we put that extra money into providing lawyers for those granted standing at the murdered and missing Aboriginal women inquiry? Or perhaps invest some in First Nations schools to close the education gap? Or, even more radical, why don't we provide equitable funding for child and family services, housing, water, and sewer on reserve...

I think it's time we all got real about what is happening here and stop promising to make future apologies for military actions against our people when we all know it will continue. It is no longer other distant countries we can point to and sit in judgment over how their militaries treat their citizens. It's time to put the focus back on our own country and stop the war against our people once and for all.

For rabble fans, see my blog at rabble.ca.