Canada the NEW Reality

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC, FEC, CET, P. Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East As we celebrate the 155th anniversary of the country still called Canada a lot of new, increasingly limiting things are happening in our society, led by a liberal government savvy in exerting more and more control over us. Just days ago in a "remarkable" disclosure, Canada's national police force, the RCMP, described for the first time how it uses spyware to infiltrate mobile devices and collect data. Their methods include remotely turning on the camera and microphone of a suspect's phone or laptop. However, the RCMP quickly added that it only uses such tools in the most serious cases, when less intrusive techniques are unsuccessful. But until now, the force has not been open about its ability to employ malware to hack phones and other devices, despite having used the tools for several years. Maura Forest of POLITICO conducted an interesting investigation on this matter recently. In her article of June 29, 2022, she raised valuable points regarding privacy issues for ordinary citizens. She said that the police agency outlined the techniques used by its Covert Access and Intercept Team (CAIT) in a document introduced in the House of Commons last week. The RCMP provided the information in response to a question from a Conservative MP about what government programs gather data from Canadians. The team, which exists to intercept communication that can't be obtained using traditional wiretaps, uses "on-device investigative tools." The RCMP defines those as computer programs "installed on a targeted computing device that enables the collection of electronic evidence" - spyware, in other words. The RCMP can use spyware to collect a broad range of data, including text messages, email, photos, videos, audio files, calendar entries and financial records. The police can also gather "audio recordings of private communications and other sounds within range of the targeted device" and "photographic images of persons, places and activities viewable by the camera(s) built into the targeted device," the document says. These tools are only used, the force says, during serious criminal and national security investigations and always require authorization from a judge. In the document the RCMP also says it didn't consult the federal privacy commissioner before launching the CAIT program in 2016. However, it says the police force began drafting a privacy impact assessment in 2021 regarding CAIT activities, including the use of spyware, and plans to consult the privacy watchdog as part of that process. "RCMP's CAIT tools and techniques are not used to conduct mass surveillance," the document reads. "The use of ODITs [spyware] is always targeted and time-limited." A spokesperson for privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne confirmed that his office has not been notified about the CAIT program, and said the office will be following up with the RCMP. Government institutions are required to notify the privacy commissioner of "initiatives that may have an impact on the privacy of Canadians," the spokesperson said in an email. "The use of this type of technology raises important privacy considerations. We look forward to receiving a [privacy impact assessment] that describes when and how this technology will be used, and the measures the RCMP plans to take to ensure its use remains in compliance with the Privacy Act." As a way to protect the safety of our citizens and country, there may be justification for the police to use any tools they can, but the problem arises when under pressure from various levels of political power, deep state type, these tools can be misused for other, more sinister purposes of control. What I have said may only be speculation, but the latest controversy about the RCMP and liberal government pressure seems to confirm the fact that this danger exists in our current society. In news reported by the Canadian press on June 28, 2022 about a recently released, scathing letter from an RCMP communications manager, it says that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki referred to direct pressure from the federal public safety minister Bill Blair to release firearm details in the days after the Nova Scotia mass shooting. The letter from Lia Scanlan dated April 14, 2021 - almost a year after the killing of 22 people - claims the RCMP's leader was focused on the Liberal government's agenda of passing firearms legislation when she criticized Halifax staff during an April 28, 2020 conference call. According to Scanlan, who was the strategic communications director at the time of the shootings, Lucki had come on-line, incensed that the Halifax staff hadn't released the gun details, suggesting they had let down surviving children whose parents were killed. Scanlan wrote that Lucki had informed those present during the meeting that she faced "pressures and conversation with Minister Blair, which we clearly understood was related to the upcoming passing of the gun legislation." Lucki told those present she had promised the federal Public Safety Department and the Prime Minister's Office that information on the guns used by the shooter would be released because it was "tied to pending gun control legislation." So with this said and the example of the federal government's Bill C-11 officially known as the Online Streaming Act, but probably more accurately described as the Internet Censorship Bill currently making its speedy way through the federal Parliament in Ottawa, we will be increasingly put under the watchful eye of the government. What you are allowed to see when you go online could soon be decided by the government. The Bill opens the door to regulating not just corporate media, but user-generated content too - everything from TikTok videos to podcasts, audiobooks and citizen journalism. The Bill gives authority to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to treat content creators as broadcasters and regulate user-generated content as a program. Governments rarely ignore their own sweeping powers - Emergencies Act, anyone? So even if you believe the *current* government when they say they definitely, totally, absolutely, won't ever use these new powers… do you trust that no *future* government will, either? Government control of what you see when you go online is an infringement on freedom of expression, as well as the free market. Canadians must be the sole deciders of what content they consume, not the government. In view of these examples we should get used to being watched by our big brother government and beware of false steps that can be costly to individuals in the future if things go ahead according to plan. Good luck and be safe! Happy summer.