Last updated by The POOG on September 29, 2021.
Propaganda is the psychological operation (psyop) used to control the public narrative that is the official position of the state on all matters that concern the state.
The Liberal government has made a number of moves to control the MSM in Canada and therefore the official narrative (read ‘The MSM in Canada’ in Mainstream Media (MSM)).
It has come to light recently from several sources that the Canadian military has been actively preparing propaganda and psyop initiatives to use against dissent in Canada.
The Role of the Canadian Military
Rebel News has attained documents[1] under the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) acts that show that under a program called Operation LASER (Op LASER), the Canadian military had developed plans to suppress what they call “mis/disinformation”.
The active site has been sanitized so we must go to the original source document provided by Rebel News from which we will reproduce parts of it. Emphasis is ours:
2. … the existence of mis/disinformation in the [Information Environment] IE constitutes what may be characterized as a contested IE, where unofficial actors and sources of information have and will continue to emerge to compete with the attention, focus and understanding of Canadians. Such efforts are not currently attributable to foreign powers or any malign intent, but their adverse effects must be mitigated none the less. … [COVID-19] measures taken … have resulted in a real and perceived loss of freedom and personal agency from individual Canadians. This disempowerment and general context of anxiety will lead to increases in irrational behaviour which may run counter the overall response efforts and public wellbeing. The [Canadian Armed Forces] CAF must support [Government of Canada] GC mitigating this overall perspective of fear and anxiety to promote and enable a rational, fact-based response to this crisis.
3. Countering Mis/Disinformation. CAF must support GC, [Other Government Departments and Agencies] OGDA partners and civil authorities in pro-actively mitigating the effects of mis/disinformation which exists in the IE regardless of their provenance or intent. Critically, this must be enabled while also balancing the individual rights of Canadians as well as the overall role of CAF in a domestic response.
3. d. At this time, no authorities have been issued for the conduct of psychological operations (PSYOPs). Similarly, loudspeaker operations require specific [Rules of engagement] ROE. These activities will not be conducted without explicit prior approval;
10. a. (5) CYBER. As per Annex QQ, only defensive cyber operations (DCO) are authorized on Op LASER at this time.
(6) PSYOPs. PSYOPs is not authorized, however the underlying skillsets of PSYOPs operators may be leveraged in support of [Public Affairs] PA and OGDA collection, planning, analysis, production, design and dissemination.
Discussion of the Military Role
To begin with, this is a well planned operation. Proposed staffing goes to the level of colonel. Authorization to develop such a plan presumably must come from at least this level. A couple of privates talking over a beer didn’t decide to put this together. It may involve general staff either in initial direction and authorization or ongoing status reporting or both.
This is a plan by the military to operate against the people of Canada directly. That implementation was cancelled by the highest level of the military does not change the fact that they had the mindset and ethic to plan this. They are a tool of the state, something not to be forgotten.
Recall that in the section ‘Active Suppression of Dissenting Viewpoints’ of the article ‘Mainstream Media (MSM)‘, the Prime Minister and Chief Health Officer used the term ‘mis/disinformation, many times. It refers to anything published that does not support the official narrative.
This term is used in the first quote, of section 2. of the rebel document. Also note the phrase ‘unofficial actors and sources‘. It reflects the government’s preoccupation with having only “trusted” and vetted sources of public media. The report goes on to reference “a real and perceived loss of freedom and personal agency” and “disempowerment“, an admission that seems out of place in this document. In other words, COVID-19 restrictions have taken away some of our freedoms which should be a Charter violation. If you let your freedoms go without a fight, you’ll never get them back.
Section 3 of the report, is titled “Countering Mis/Disinformation“. Action is to to be taken “pro-actively mitigating the effects of mis/disinformation” against individuals and sources “regardless of their provenance or intent.” In other words, they will go after any and every one and will act proactively which sounds highly aggressive.
Sections 3.d. and 10.a.(6) confirm that PsyOp techniques will be used although it will not be an official PsyOp operation. Finally, section 10.a.(5) states that cyber operations may be used, presumably against social media and independent internet sites.
More articles on the Canadian military’s use of propaganda against its own people come from David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen[2][3].
Pugliese had previously exposed a psyop program in Nova Scotia using a fake story of wolves on the loose[4].
James Corbett has been doing a series of videos on propaganda. Next, is one where he discusses the Canadian military and their use of propaganda:
A more recent expose has come from Pugliese giving background on the activity in the military to control Canadian citizens to their objectives.
Control of the Internet
In Mainstream Media (MSM), we noted how the Canadian Government without explicit definition, is labelling all dissent as mis/disinformation. We also noted how the government bought control of the MSM. The alternative voice on the internet they cannot buy so they are attempting tom shut it down. The first step is Bill C-10 introduced to parliament in January, 2021.
Bill C-10[5] (November 03, 2020)
Introduction
The Department of Justice provides an overview of the act[6] which is considerably shorter than the act itself[5]. It provides a statement of “Charter Considerations” of how the bill relates to the ‘Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’. Of the ‘Considerations’ they note:
A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament on a bill’s potential effects on rights and freedoms that are neither trivial nor too speculative.
Section 1 of the Charter provides that rights and freedoms may be subject to reasonable limits if those limits are prescribed by law and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. This means that Parliament may enact laws that limit Charter rights and freedoms.
Department of Justice[6]
The threat to our rights and freedom then rests on subjective assessments of terms such as “trivial”, “too speculative”, “reasonable limits”, and “demonstrably justified”. This of course is what we have lawyers and judges for – to make their own subjective meaanings of such terms. These judgments then become enshrined in case law.
The Bill
The primary purpose of this bill is to amends the Broadcasting Act (the Act) with respect to the role, policies and powers of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It also amends the the mandate for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
The focus is on “broadcasting undertakings“, what these are and how they are to be treated. We will review the act clause by clause for impact on persons who use the internet for transmission of information.
Section 1 lays out the changes to definitions found in the Broadcasting Act[7]. The crux of this act will rest on the definition of program and programming as used in definitions such as:
online undertaking means an undertaking for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet for reception by the public by means of broadcasting receiving apparatus;
Bill C-10[6], Section 1.
Section 2 governs programming requirements to be followed by those individuals or organizations to which the official notion of “programming” applies. If the government tries to get heavy handed, read the act to find out if it applies to you , firt. The notion of “public” broadcasting is strong so you may have to create a private forum to which people must subscribe (free or pay) and sign an acceptance of conditions waiving all the political correctness requirements of the act. Content warnings may be necessary.
Section 4 provides an exclusion to the act for social media platforms that don’t contribute programming themselves. The alternative media may have to reorganize to separate the program from staff making contributions. Paragraph 4(3)(h) may offer some defensive measure.
Section 5
Concluding Remarks
Depending on how repressive the government makes this act, other solutions might need to be used such as incorporating offshore, using servers offshore, and using more secure technologies such as VPNs, P2P technology, encryption, and new solutions that will appear in response to oppression.
References
- Propaganda Plan. Rebel News, September 16, 2020.
- David Pugliese. Fight the Information War Without Sacrificing Canadian Values. Ottawa Citizen, October 27, 2020.
- David Pugliese. Canadian military wants to establish new organization to use propaganda, other techniques to influence Canadians. Ottawa Citizen, November 02, 2020.
- David Pugliese. Forged letter warning about wolves on the loose part of Canadian Forces propaganda campaign that went awry. Ottawa Citizen, October 14, 2020.
- BILL C-10: An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts. Gov. of Can. FIRST READING, November 03, 2020. PDF.
- Bill C-10: An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. Dept. of Justice. November 18, 2020.
- Broadcasting Act S.C. 1991, c. 11. Justice Laws Website. As of January 28, 2021. PDF.
- Pugliese D. Military leaders saw pandemic as unique opportunity to test propaganda techniques on Canadians, Forces report says. National Post. September 27, 2021.