Canada: RCMP plans to infiltrate online "extremist groups"

The vague scope of these informational missions raises concerns among privacy advocates.

In early November 2024, CBC revealed an internal strategic document from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) disclosing its intention to use fake online profiles to entrap extremists. “In recent years, activity related to ideologically motivated violent extremism has grown significantly online, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads this document dated April 2024.

The Canadian federal police emphasize the need to extend their investigations beyond online surveillance, using infiltration and data collection programs. The RCMP specifically seeks to create credible “pseudonyms and personas” to infiltrate these “extremist groups.” When asked about the implementation of this program, the federal police declined to provide details on their current informational techniques “to preserve the integrity of [their] operations.”

However, this practice worries privacy and civil liberties advocates, who fear potential abuses. They point to the RCMP’s extremely broad definition of “ideologically motivated violent extremism” in its report, which includes white supremacists and neo-Nazis as well as left-wing organizations focused on environmental and animal rights issues.

“If legitimate groups that will not commit criminal acts are being monitored, it infringes on their right to association and freedom of expression,” warned Dominique Peschard, an activist with the Ligue des droits et libertés (LDL), in an interview with Radio Canada. He cited the example of Indigenous communities setting up blockades “to defend their territory.” “These groups may indeed engage in disruptive actions, but that does not make them terrorists,” the activist emphasized.