Portions of a military information campaign meant to influence the Canadian public during the COVID-19 pandemic continued to operate months┬аafter the chief of the┬аdefence staff at the time┬аordered it┬аshut down in the spring of 2020, CBC News has learned.
The Canadian military recently┬аconducted four reviews of controversial initiatives. A copy of one of those reviews┬аwas obtained by CBC News under access to information legislation.
That review shows┬аthat┬аeven after the then-chief of the defence staff,┬аJonathan Vance, verbally called off the overall influence┬аcampaign in April 2020, some influence activities aimed at Canadians carried on for another six months тАФ┬аuntil Vance issued a written edict in November 2020.
“The public affairs, [civil-military cooperation] and influence activities that were taking place, particularly within [Joint Task Force Central], did not stop,” says the review document,┬аwhich looked at the origins of the influence campaign.
The review’s conclusion┬аis significant because Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan assured Parliament last year that the activities were halted almost immediately after they got underway. But a┬аvariety of problematic initiatives carried on for months after Sajjan’s made his statement, including a propaganda training exercise involving fake wolves in Nova Scotia.
The┬аreview document seen by CBC News┬аfound that public affairs staff and members of the military’s Civil Military Cooperation section (CIMIC)┬аdidn’t catch the “ambiguity” and didn’t see the “obvious link” between what they were doing and what Vance saw as a violation of federal rules.
According to a directive released Wednesday by acting chief of the defence staff┬аLt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre┬аand Sajjan’s deputy minister┬аJody Thomas, the military deployed┬аpropaganda techniques in Canada without approval during the pandemic and gathered information about Canadians’ online┬аactivities┬аwithout permission from authorities.
The directive from┬аEyre and┬аThomas┬аconcedes that the military┬аwent too far.
“Notwithstanding the best intentions of some members, errors conducted during domestic operations and training, and sometimes insular mindsets at various echelons, have eroded public confidence in the institution,” reads the directive signed by Eyre and Thomas on June 9.
Eyre sent the directive to top military and civilian leaders on Wednesday after CBC News asked the┬аDepartment of National Defence (DND) why the results of the reviews тАФ all completed at varying times over the last seven months тАФ┬аstill┬аhad not been made public.┬а
DND said┬аit needed┬аtime to look at the results collectively and will release all of the findings in the “coming week or so.”
That timing coincides with Parliament’s summer recess тАФ and the reviews’┬аfindings could get lost in the noise of a fall election, if one is called.
DND insists it hasn’t used ‘psyops’ on Canadians
The Ottawa Citizen first reported on the directive Thursday and has written a series of groundbreaking stories about the Canadian military’s┬аuse of information operations┬аduring the pandemic.
The military is permitted to run psychological operations while deployed abroad┬атАФ but┬аit is prohibited from doing so in Canada without specific permission from the federal cabinet.
DND insists the activities undertaken to monitor and shape public discourse as it related to the pandemic did not constitute psychological operations.
In fact,┬аDND denies it has used psychological warfare techniques, honed during the Afghan war, on Canadians. But the line between psychological warfare and information operation campaigns has become increasingly blurry over the last few years.
The directive┬аsigned by Eyre and Thomas┬аreminds commanders that “no domestic military operation” in the informational environment should be directed at Canadian citizens.
Consultation ‘minimal and hurried’
The review┬аdocument obtained by CBC News┬аsays┬аthe Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), which was being led by Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau┬аin┬аApril 2020, “liberally interpreted” department┬аpolicy. The unit decided it had the authority to conduct information operations on Canadians without government approval because it was asked by the government to help with the response to the pandemic.
The review document says that, instead of getting┬аpermission from DND┬аor Vance, CJOC “liberally interpreted” a policy on information operations in Canada.
The review document┬аconcludes that┬аCJOC’s consultation was “initially minimal and hurried.” It says┬аthat only after concerns were raised by the assistant deputy minister of public affairs staff┬аdid┬аthe unit consult┬аpeople elsewhere in DND┬аheadquarters. When the matter came before┬аVance, he shut down the operations, says the review.
Even though CJOC’s┬аinformation operations were ordered┬аshut down,┬аthe CJOC order launching the operations┬а“enabled a chain of decisions and problematic activities at lower echelons that caused reputational damage to DND/CAF,” says┬аthe directive.
The reviews┬аfound information operations were conducted on Canadians without approval┬аand “unsanctioned” reports were produced aimed at monitoring Canadians’ activities online.
The Ottawa Citizen reported last year that a specialized intelligence team scoured people’s social media accounts in Ontario, claiming it was to help the military’s work at long-term care homes hit hard by the pandemic. The data obtained through that work┬аwere┬аshared with the Ontario government, the newspaper said.
“Further, teams contravened requirements by not conducting risk assessments prior to conducting activities on the Internet and they collected Canadian citizen information without our explicit direction,” the directive says.
Crying wolf
The military launched another investigation┬аafter a reserve┬аunit specializing in information warfare conducted a propaganda training exercise in September,┬а2020 in┬аNova Scotia┬аinvolving a fake letter warning of grey wolves wandering around.┬а
The military apologized and called the exercise a mistake тАФ┬аbut even if it was inadvertent, it did amount to a┬аpsychological operation used on Canadians to influence their mindsets. Many Nova Scotians believed wolves were on the loose and the province’s┬аLand and Forestry department had to respond publicly,┬аsaying the warning was fake.
“These reviews again concluded that members and leaders lacked formal training, policies governing PSYOPS were not well understood, and adequate control measures were not in place for this type of training,” says the directive from Eyre and┬аThomas.
The directive┬аsays “it is clear” that various information operation tools the military is deploying in Canada “have suffered from a lack of institution-wide” direction to ensure the appropriate authority┬аand oversight are in place.
