CSIS – Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA — The collective vocal opposition to COVID-19 health measures has evolved into a broader movement fighting “government overreach,” according to a newly released assessment by Canada's intelligence agency.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service's analytical brief traces the evolution of the Freedom Movement, which began to emerge after protests in early 2022 that paralyzed downtown Ottawa and key points along the Canada-US border.

In early February 2022, the streets around Parliament Hill were jammed with demonstrators, many of whom arrived in the capital in late January in large trucks.

Originally billed as a demonstration against COVID-19 health restrictions, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates, the gathering drew people with various grievances against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government.

Exactly two years ago, the federal government responded by invoking the Emergency Act, which provided for temporary measures including banning public gatherings, ordering banks to freeze assets and banning support for participants.

The Canadian press used the April 2023 CSIS briefing, “Defining the 'Freedom' Movement,” and the Access to Information Act to obtain estimates of what the intelligence agency calls ideologically motivated violent extremism.

The movement may collectively hold extreme views, but only a minority of those involved may be willing to engage in serious violence, CSIS said.

The task force focuses on constitutional protections of free speech and emphasizes that it will not investigate a legitimate protest unless it is carried out in conjunction with actions related to threats.

As many health care measures begin to be repealed in early spring 2022, CSIS has observed that individuals “broaden the scope of their grievances” and identify as members of the Freedom Movement.

This change was evident to those who saw and heard the flag-carrying protesters who stood near the parliament building and gathered at the crosswalks.

The Freedom Movement focuses heavily on the fundamental narratives of the public health action movement, including opposition to globalization and suspicion of government infringement on individual liberties by pharmaceutical companies, the CSIS analysis says.

“While this perceived tyranny is prevalent in the movement, other narratives are prevalent among supporters,” the brief said, referring to the objection:

— The LGBTQ+ community, especially extending conversation time and including materials in public school curricula;

— Increased global scrutiny of Canada by international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Economic Forum;

— Communism;

— and at the heart of the 15-minute cities concept, planning for walkable communities is a plan to curtail mobility rights and create a mass surveillance state.

CSIS looks at the potential for such conversations to lead to disruption and violence, said Barbara Perry, director of the Ontario University of Technology's Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism.

“They think these protests can drive people to the point of violence, if you will,” Perry said in an interview.

CSIS defines an ideologically motivated violent extremist movement as a loosely organized collection of individuals of a particular identity, linked by virtual and offline networks.

Such movements engage in adversarial relationships with clearly defined adversaries and aim to effect, resist, or prevent social change, the intelligence brief said.

The movement has no formal or legal leader, but is instead led by people who join it more or less spontaneously, CSIS says.

According to Perry, this shift to looser, more individual-based movements is in some ways a “disturbing trend” because “it's harder to determine which of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are taking action.” extreme violence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 14, 2024.