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For Your Information What the Ministers and Others Had to Say on Anti-Foreign Interference and Anti-Fake News Plans (Excerpts)At the technical briefing for the press Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould stated: "Let me be clear, this is not about refereeing the election. This is about alerting Canadians of an incident that jeopardizes their rights to a free and fair election. If something happens during the campaign, Canadians will be able to trust that the right people have decided to make it public, that the information is accurate, and that the announcement is not partisan in nature because this issue rises above partisan considerations. "In no way whatsoever does this announcement limit Canadians' freedom of expression or free speech. What we're talking about today is foreign interference activities that try to manipulate the conversation. What we saw and what we have seen around the world is incidents where what looks like legitimate domestic actors are actually masquerading -- it's actually foreign actors masquerading as domestic actors. That's not always easy to detect and it's done specifically not to be easy to detect. [...] These are covert operations to try to manipulate Canadians. What we are trying to do is if that information is available to us as a government, or the media, to ensure that Canadians have the tools to make informed choices. "With regards to civic education and civic awareness, there is a multitude of very capable organizations who will be able to provide guidance to Canadians on how to evaluate information that comes at them. Ultimately, it is not our job to tell Canadians what is good or bad information, but to provide them the tools and the resources to, when something comes at them, to make a choice on their own and to say where this information is coming from, who is behind it and what their objective is. With regards to the money that I announced today, the objective is to have civil society organizations in Canada who can help provide some of the civic awareness and education to evaluate news, digital media, et cetera -- the information coming to Canadians -- so they can make their informed choice of how they digest this information and how they share it or not." Minister of Public Safety and Emergency
Preparedness
Ralph Goodale remarked, "For the first time ever, our security
agencies
will provide direct security briefings to key members of national
political campaigns." Immediately tied into coverage of the Liberal Government's announcement, Global Television interviewed Marcus Kolga of the McDonald-Laurier Institute, who said it is not merely a matter of "foreign actors." He said there is also the danger of "proxies here in Canada who will be used to interfere and far-left and far-right groups who have learned from Russian disinformation techniques and deploy them on their own." The McDonald-Laurier Institute released a report on the subject. Some of the excerpts quoted in the media include: "As Canada approaches the 2019 federal elections, the government must pay closer attention to disinformation and influence campaigns that target Canadian media, decision-makers, civil society, and other groups," said the report. "The information warfare that the Kremlin is
currently
engaged in against Canada and its allies is total, and its
objective is to tear apart our society and undermine our trust in
our government, media institutions, and each other."
Prior to these recent announcements, on January
15, the
Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale delivered a speech to the
Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy in Saskatchewan
where he addressed Canada's "national security architecture."
Goodale, in his words, addressed "the new legislation Bill C-59
designed to renovate Canada's national security architecture to
reflect the realities of this tough and turbulent world;
secondly, the issue of high-risk terrorist travellers and how we
deal with the threats they pose; third, Canada's new Cyber
Security policy and the steps being taken to protect all of us
from malicious attacks; and finally, foreign interference in
Canadian affairs by state actors, including those who would use
malicious influence to drive wedges of confusion, fear and hate,
and do damage to our democracy." "[...] "From time immemorial, governments worldwide have been engaged in efforts to mold public opinion and government policy in other countries in order to advance their own interests. And as long as that is done in a peaceful, open and transparent manner, within the law, it's fine. It's called diplomacy or treaty negotiations. "Our Team Canada efforts to provide information, shape opinions and build support in the United States for NAFTA are a good and proper example. All very public and factual. And without objection. "But when that type of activity becomes covert and clandestine, when it's dominated by lies and disinformation aimed at misleading people, destabilizing the economy or manipulating democratic processes -- a bright red line is crossed. "It could be espionage to steal commercial secrets, or sabotage a global competitor. It could be murder to silence a vocal critic. Or maybe foreign agents providing illegal funds to support candidates in election campaigns. It could be coercing members of a diaspora, or using social media to falsely slander a Cabinet Minister. It could be funding bots and trolls to stoke anxiety, even hysteria, around sensitive issues. "These types of hostile state activities have become a leading topic of discussion and concern among Canadians, and between our country and our partners in the Five Eyes and the G7. "There is increasing determination to work in concert to uncover illicit behaviours and confront rule-breaking countries. You will have seen some of that in the past with respect to Iran and north Korea and Russia -- a country that has flouted the rule of law and acceptable norms time and again. "As part of a coordinated response to the nerve agent attacks in the UK last spring, Canada expelled four members of Russia's diplomatic staff. Foreign Minister Freeland said 'the four have been identified as intelligence officers or individuals who have used their diplomatic status to undermine Canada's security or interfere in our democracy.' "At last summer's G7 Summit hosted by Canada in Charlevoix, a new G7 Rapid Response Mechanism was announced to help tackle common threats. It will strengthen information sharing on foreign activities that undermine our democracies, and identify opportunities for coordinated responses. "A very recent example in December was the collective condemnation by several countries, including Canada, of hostile cyber activity that hacked and compromised a number of IT service providers around the world. Canada's Communications Security Establishment and its counterparts in other democracies concluded that the intrusive activity was almost certainly attributable to the Ministry of State Security in China. And we all said so -- collectively and publicly, together. "Protecting our democratic institutions and countering hostile state activity are pressing priorities for the Government of Canada -- and that includes safeguarding the integrity of this year's federal election. "Domestically, Bill C-76 will help. It received Royal Assent in December. Among other things, this Elections Modernization Act will prohibit Canadian third-parties from partisan activities using foreign funds, whether during an election campaign or not. It also requires all organizations who sell advertising space to not knowingly accept election ads from foreign entities. "Most importantly, Canadians themselves need to become more alert to what foreign intrusions look like, and sceptical about fake news masquerading as legitimate information, especially on social media. "Furthermore, when our professional security and intelligence agencies become aware of illicit foreign meddling in our democracy, Canadians need to be informed. One of the key challenges yet to be resolved is this -- who blows the whistle? "In the heated partisanship of an election campaign, for example, what trusted authority, agency or group has the credibility, respect and non-partisan credentials necessary to publicly identify and call-out corrupt activity as originating in a foreign capital for the purpose of perverting the course of our democracy? "It's a challenging problem, but one that needs a credible answer as campaigning gets underway later this year."
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
