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Canada's national security departments and agencies
Canada’s national security operations involve not only CSIS and the RCMP, but also more than twenty other federal departments and agencies.
As revealed in the 2006 Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, the federal government “draws upon the expertise and mandates of several federal departments and agencies in pursuing an increasingly integrated and coordinated approach to national security.” Provincial, territorial and municipal police forces also work with the federal government and have an important role in Canada’s national security. The following federal departments and agencies, according to the Privy Council Office, have “key” national security responsibilities: • Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) • Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) • Communications Security Establishment (CSE) • Department of Finance • Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) • Department of Fisheries and Oceans/Canadian Coast Guard • Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) • Department of Justice • Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces (CF) • Health Canada/Public Health Agency of Canada • Integrated Threat Assessment Centre • Privy Council Office (PCO) • Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) • Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) • Transport Canada • Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) PCO identified the following departments and agencies as having national security responsibilities: • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada • Canadian Food Inspection Agency • Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) • Canadian Heritage • Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) • Environment Canada • Natural Resources Canada • Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission • Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) |
 Linden MacIntyre joined the fifth estate as co-host for the 1990-91 season. He is one of Canada's most distinguished... Read more Connect with the fifth estate
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reveals exclusive video footage Corrections Canada didn't want Canadians
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Theo Fleury.
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has captured the country's attention, leaving people to wonder: What
really happened? Who is the man behind the headlines?
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90
Thanks to CBC for re-broadcasting Enemies of the State and to Linden MacIntyre for helping to make it happen. As we watched the program my wife started combing through her mother's voluminous files, and there they were -- repeated references to form C-215, instructing some office in the RCMP to update her C-215 to incorporate the new intelligence they had collected.
Keep up the good work. We must work hard to maintain our public broadcaster, and complain vociferous when it panders to the prevailing powers that be.
The truth of the matter is that all governments fear true democracy and will go to no end to see that opposition is investigated, cataloged and marginalized.
I was also approached when I was 8 or 9 years old and told something along the same line as you, these low-lifes are not only criminals missing quite a few DNA sequences but they are also psychotic. It must make them feel important to threaten and try to bully children, it's a disgrace that the Canadian government can't disband this subversive immature and inept clan and put them in jail where they belong.
Someday the rest of Canada will know of their shameful criminal behavior.
Hello cbc.ca/fifth....I had facsimiled and wrote into you in 2007 and informed cbc in regards to alot of USA/Canada disinformation and disgracful acts being performed onto me personally since 1963 when at the age of five years old I was put onto that Canadian PROFUNC LIST...as my parents immigrated here to Saskatoon,Sask Canada on December 5th,1957 I was directly approached 2 days before my 5th birthday and straightout threatened and for 35 minutes scolded out & told I will never have a life of any kind here in Canada and for me to tell my parents to obey...or else they will be sent back to Hungary faster than they arrived.The attacks on me as of today are appalling and so much so that I am denied all services & access to justice & I even had my disability pension taken in full for the last 5 years now...and it is endless to their surveillance and monitoring me 24/7/365 & even more so now due to I am trying to find an attorney to represent me in regards to as I am under the title of National Security & listed as a Home Grown Terrorist. CPIC/PIRS FPS:799126B and Operational Intelligent Information R.C.M.P. file # 144910 and the National Security file # 144911 according to National Security & Defense Senate staff menmber Ms.Barbara Renyolds.. Great hey...that
I am a US citizen that loves to watch The Fifth Estate. We had our Joe McCarthy and I now know that Canada had Profunc. Thank You so much for airing this excellent episode! I would like to be able to watch it online but it cannot be streamed out side of Canada. Again, Thank You for all of your excellent episodes!
This particular government HATES the CBC... they are becoming less and less government funded all the time. To insinuate that the CBC is working for the Harper administration is completely insane.
No wonder the right wing leaders still need to be imbedding fear in their ranks, if they were allowed to think for themselves and the majority, the era of lies and retoric would have to curtail.
The majority of canadians will just have to wait and watch the thick thieves shoot down each other one by one, with not to far to go.
What would do without cbc even though completely sensored as it is, it is all we stand for, freedom of speech, and one canadian/canadien tv station.
Seriously?? without The Fifth Estate you would consider leaving Canada?? Can I offer you a ride or cab fare to your nearest airport??
AMEN!!!!
you claim that this man was a friend yet you dont even recall the year of his death
perhaps because that has nothing to do with the story they were reporting
we might trust you if you could spell
What language was this written in? It almost looks like English, but it's not. Can someone at CBC please translate it so it can actually be understood?
AS SOMEONE WHO HAS KNOWN FROM CONSTABLE TO OFFICER IN CHARGE THESE NATIONAL SECURITY POWERTRIPPERS AND SEEN INTIMATELY THE INSIDE WORKINGS OF THEIR MENAGERIE OF LUNACY, PLEASE INFORM THE PUBLIC TO BE SCARED BE VERY SCARED FOR THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THIS COUNTRY. IN SHORT, IN THE HANDS OF THESE PEOPLE, WE ARE SITTING DUCKS.
THEY FUSE ANALYSE AND INTERPRET THIS COUNTRY INTO WHAT IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING IN THE END THEY WILL BENIFIT FROM
I KNOW THIS MORE THEN ANYONE FIRSTHAND TRUST ME
It is time that we should declare the Islamic State of Pakistan as a 'Rogue State'
My father wrote a book on communism and I have reason to believe that these low life idiots have been watching my family for over 40 years, I found a microwave listening device in my home in 1995 and I have been harassed, had my life interfered with by their inept children which they hired. A microwave listening device is a bug that does not have a battery and is powered by them focusing a beam of microwave energy at it which it uses as a power source to transmit your (my) conversations. They have absolute power and it has absolutely corrupted them, they can use this microwave beam to induce heart attacks and have done so, the children they have hired as junior agents have committed a murder and tried to blame me for it as I was accused by one of their agents that was supposed to be a friend. They have let their children get away with murder, these scum are a dishonorable disgrace to Canada and should be disbanded. As the show stated it is not a crime to have communist beliefs or even vote for the communist party of Canada yet these criminal fools think they are protecting Canada, if the communists were to attack Canada it would be no contest, Canada would lose and all the victims of PROFUNC would be the first ones released from jail and what would the PROFUNC program have accomplished ?
Nothing ... They are misguided and corrupt with their absolute power have ironically become subversive to Canada. A complete waste of Canadian tax payers money for ignorant mobsters.
It's all relative to the times and places.I 'm so gratefull to the U.S.A.;and all the Western Allies/for one thing ;i would not be alive here and now to even write this comment; neither would YOU.Let's not be ungratefull or try maybe living in China, or Iran or North Korea,or a few hundred other places/and i'll respond to your comments in your next lifetime'if you make it.
If any of you think for a moment that we are "FREE",open your friggin eyes.I thank anybody's god for the mess of "G20"It's about time Canadians woke up to who's who in the jungle.I'm proud as a Canadian to say that we finally had a real protest!!BuT i'm not proud of the way our protectors "protected" us.Thanks to our "leaders" and "protectors" for showing the planet that we are nothing but a poorly run 3rd world country!!
A question that requires an answer, Since we now know that CIA agents are in various positions both military and other sections of government, foreign service for example! Ambassador to Iran some years back. Are they still double dipping?
Just a note to say we all owe a serious debt of gratitude to the wikileaks gentleman. He is very correct no government needs to have secrets with held from the citizens that put that government in
POWER in the first place. Anything like that makes the country dictator ship. People like that need to face the TAR & FEATHER BRIGADE.
A gentle man named Joe Poreeba would differ with you however he is deceased. Perhaps an accident, but doubtful. He was arrested the night before he was found some fifty miles east Hung! He had told several of us what he had been put through by these CSIS/RCMP types, waterboarding and fake hanging seems they had a minor problem, he was a Polish refugee and would not spy on his Polish friends and his Russians friends, so they killed him! 1980 or 81. He was my friend and I was told of his arrest by his girl friend. It was reported that he drove his car to Matsqui. He had no car!!!
Simply put, this is proof that we are not as free as we think. Any time government gets too big, people loose.
All officers should be charged. Police Chiefs,fired. All records of personal information obtained and recorded should be destroyed. All officers name photo should published and charged like the UN would do if this was a foreign country and put on a no fly list and persons that acted against human rights.
Mahmoud, many of us thought the same thing as you did when we watched this programme. But think about it, information like this only becomes available when it's 'history.' We all have to use our imaginations, and extrapolate from what was presented to us. The world has not changed in its essentials, neither has Canada. There are always groups of people who find it useful to invent enemies, and others who imagine them. Those of us who try hard to think honestly have no difficulty in identifying those putative enemies. We need to stand in solidarity with them—and against the freaks and opportunists in organisations such as the RCMP and the CSIS.
governments today are too busy covering up, their lies..But they must control , the populace..on Dec 13th 2010, they took and totally usurped , your rights, and freedoms, This allows them to lock you up, for any reason, with out warrant, and seize whatever they want, for as long as they want.. This bill c-36, gives Carte Blanche on your rights, to Government interpretations, as to any direction, they wish to take, with out interference from you , your lawyers, in fact, technically, the g-20 protest,s are nil and not valid, and could be prosecuted, by our federal Government..Read a little, and do not believe , Oh"" we would never do this or that, because they have got us....... Bill Simone( This bill passed with out contest or concern, you are kept too busy paying your bills, and worrying about your jobs, and "oh" you do not vote any way , so , what do you expect..)
There never was, never has been any justification for enforcing fear through ignorance! Just because a State Apparatus exists does not make it immune from accountability. How many succumbed to this tactic? We learn't well from our American Big Brother! What a shame.....
Democracy is the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions and privileges.
(Merriam Webster Dictionary, 1974) .., the vote and majority rule are the tools we use to obtain this.
My Parents, siblings and I emigrated here from Holland in the early 60's. The primary reason for us moving here was because this is not "America." I am in my mid-fifties now, had served as CF Officer for almost 13 yrs. Excelled at management in my civilian life. I only mention this to show you that I am informed and not a "quack."
Yes we have come above that, recognise it openly as a mistake, learn from it and forgive ourselves.
I have observed though that we are becoming more "American," and loosing our Canadian Identity and noticed in something as simple as our written and spoken language. For Example: BEER is both singular and plural, not the American "BEERS," it's like saying "SHEEPS," or dropping the "e" off the end of "Tomatoe or Potatoe," or dropping the "u" from "Colour or Honour." I could go on-and-on.
Unlike the American Philosophy of "My Country Right or Wrong!" Our Philosphy should be "Protect the Right at Any Cost!"
Canada is a Democracy which is clearly evident by the fact that we are pondering over something which never happened and lest should we forget that the security of the state is un-doubtedly the most important duty to be realized on the part of any incumbent government
A-men.
Of course, fortunately, there are people of good hearts and/or good will who want to see social justice, and a kind of public utilitarianism that translates ideals to the benefit of more and more people.... And then, unfortunately, there are schemers with ambitions, who want to rule in lieu of the powers that be. We still have Kremlinists, even tho' Bolsheviks seem outdated today. We still have other organized hate-mongers who would kill people quite dead merely for attending the church or mosque of choice, for example. Bravo for police and security personnel who actually uphold democracy and freedoms and liberty of conscience. And bravo for excellent journalists, too!
Are we really any better off today.....in My opinion Canada is now one of the most corrupt countries on earth.....right up there with good ol' US OFA!!!.
If you are suggesting the Bildebergers, I don't think they live just in Canada, they are everywhere.
Everywhere except the "Axis off Evil" states,..I guess that is why 'They' have tagged them as such.
I further believe that, most, if not all "Terrorism", is one of the few things still made in the USA.
I believe I am on the "List", for cheering on the USSR, hockey team in 72. Not before the series, but after game #1. I saw how Canada Terrorized them, especially after the first game, & condemned the Russians for allowing their players on the same ice as Canada, a true violation of 'Human Rights', that continues today.
Anyway, that's how I became a "Commie" suspect, reported by a moron, who saw too many 007 movies.
Like the guy said, "with friends like this (Can. Gov.), you don't need any enemies.
I am a close relative of Igor Gouzenko.. The 'system' is crawling with secrets and spies, the RCMP was not a fan of my family even though they were hired to 'watch' over us for security reason for over 20 years. We could NOT and did NOT trust them.
So what is difference between living under the communist Russia and So called democratic, open, free society in Canada? Not much, just look what they have done during recent G20 expression of democractic values we laud so loudly day in and day out. The so called free media acts as cheer leader for the autocratic plans and policies of the governments and the so called free people suffer controlled autocratic regulations intended to serve the establishment and in particular the established corporations. The facade of freedom, open society, liberty and all those rosy adjectives are for public consumption whereas in reality they do not exist.
Anyone else out there smell some more cuts coming to OUR CBC's budget, more "effective" ones?
Thanks. We should always be cognizant of communist horror.
My Grandfather Isaac was incarcerated for many months in 1917 under the 'Sedition Act' (Rex vs. Bainbridge), A Federal Criminal Proceeding... which Act is still in effect to this day. I wonder whether the RCMP and CSIS have files about his entire family which includes me? I am very proud of my Grandpa for his efforts in a time of turmoil. Has anything changed in the last 93 years?
great program. a nation that blocks dissent by secret threats is not a democracy. As a member of the Victoria Raging Grannies, I'm proud that we got on CSIS list of potential enemies of the state, even though we only rated the"minor" list!
Red Crimson hit it right on the nose. What a waste of television time. One sided babble which is typical of the CBC .Linden , the sky is not falling.
If my last comment is dismissed, then who monitors who? It cannot all be one sided. I spoke my mind, I am not a radical, I say what is on most Canadians mind. I believe in freedom for all, but it will be interesting to see if my comments make your comment board to ensure I still have freedom of speech, or if your team dismiss it because it does not meet YOUR criteria, and it will show if your jounalism is one-sided, or against the true freedoms of Canada?
I think this was a case of cheap journalism. Remember, this was in the past when intelligence and technology was not as it is in this generation. It was only a paper trail-no one was arrested, detained,tortured, etc-this was sensationalism only.I would like to think the RCMP, CSIS, and the government are keeping an eye on radicals,communists,etc. That is why we have a democracy, albeit imperfect, but we still have our freedom. I would like to think this organisations are presently monitoring the moslem community for radicals and al-quaida terrorists to continue protecting our society and ensuring our freedom from the evils of other societies. Remember, nothing happened to these people, they were just monitored. If we left it up to the tree hugging types we would have lost our Country long ago. Are you telling me we have no terrorists in Canada at present?? You would be a fool to believe 'not'. So, who are they, are do we monitor them? In 30 yrs, you will probably,make a programme on their files? Hopefully, that is all it is-paper files-lol. God Bless democracy, freeom, and our soldiers, especially at this time of year!
Replace the word Communist with Terrorist and I wonder if we've made any progress.
The Public Order Bill (AKA War Measures Act) was in effect from 1970 to 1985, almost all of Trudeau's "reign"!
Great expose, Fifth Estate!
Although I couldn't watch it on this site as I'm overseas at the moment, a quick search of PROFUNC on youtube did the trick.
What is it going to take to cleanse this system of this problem? It seems to feed on itself and grow uncontrolled behind a wall of silence built on fear of reprisal. This young woman went from throwing fruit to the depths of despair where self destruction seemed the only way out. She became worse emotionally and psychologically almost from the first days of her incarceration. That speaks volumes of what this kind of treatment achieves.
Hear! Hear! Right on every count & succinctly put. Thanks.
I am so glad this was posted and i am able to use this as part of my understanding ablout communism isuues thank you CBC thank you
Don they have got to continue this story further ,my father also was in russia and trying to do business with china in and around 72, the unspeakable things that the rcmp have done to my family, must come out..!!purgeing conditioning and torture!!!!
Not surprisingly it took 10 years after the initial CP story for the CBC to finally do a story.
This whole process was well known to anyone who had family members who had been in the Austro-Hungarian or German armed forces in WWI.
The many Ukrainian immigrants in Northern Alberta were also subjected to RCMP scrutiny and harshly dealt with in most cases due to inadequate language skills.
What every Kanadian should reflect on is the comment made by a social studies teacher at the time of the Quebec Crisis to our class. "If you think you have freedom in Kanada, run for the Communist Party and see then how much freedom you have". As a social experiment the teacher ran for the Communist Party and was within a short period of time removed from his position as teacher.
For those naive enough to think it still doesn't happen within the ranks of the RCMP those concerned might also want to make an ATIP request and see what information the RCMP will really share with you. A followup story on how the RCMP withhold information would be most welcome.
Im shocked but this doesn't really surprise me. I am an immigrant and migrated to Canada with my family when I was six yrs. old. The reason why i'm not surporised is that this past summer I worked at the G20, and my friends and I felt as if we were being asked strange questions that made us feel uneasy especially from one officer in particular. I questioned their motive, and somehow I feel as if the program help me to see a little clearer..
Interesting. The illusion of living in democratic and free society is alive and well. Every once a while we get breakthrough story about clandestine operation and activities of old where the alleged victims of such operations and the perpetrates are dead or near dead. We can only, after the fact, express surprise, as is apparent on the posted comments.
For many, such well researched expose keeps their faith in the media. But, I dare challenge CBC to produce similar expose about current state of affairs. An investigative journalism, not about the past but about now, that will shake the status quo to its core.
couldnt have said it better. dont forget the 100 million victims of communism in just 70 years!
Far left? Far right? You are still targeted.
How come my comment was not posted?
My question is, why is this story coming out now? Government funded public TV doesn't allow stories like this to come out without an agenda.
Why was my factual comment not printed?
Good for you! Now what bout the 15 years of Public Order Bill (War Measures recycled) from 1970-1985?
Funny thing is... there is no democracy in Canada.
Well I wasted 40 minutes of my life watching this nonsense while expecting to learn something new or exciting. Linden's hyperbole and fearmongering were over the top in this documentary. Of course the government, via RCMP, kept a list of communists and sympathizers during the Cold War. They'd have been fools not to have done so.
Linden then interviews 2 former communists and the son of one, (a whacky leftist with even stupider economic views) James Laxer a supporter of state ownership of the means of production. (This is what the CBC calls a social democrat)
Typically of the CBC to throw in a Tommy Douglas piece. We've known for years that the RCMP had a file on him. So what.
Not once did McIntryre note who the gov't was during 90% of the story timeline. Ah yes those untarnishable Liberal. One segment on the FLQ crisis with Trudeau's infamous quote. That's it.
Oh and Bob Kaplan one the geniuses of the Trudeau administration- What a joke.
So we now come the the most sloppy part in the whole pointless episode. The Montreal communist claiming peace with the workers and families and they never hurt anyone because that's not the communist way. Up on the wall is a laudatory display of Che Guevara. Oh yes another murdering, bombing terrorists who would never hurt women and children. Pay attention Linden to your own cameraman's work.
But criticizing Che would never be allowed on the CBC.
If the only names the CBC got were three communists, the son of one, and Tommy Douglas, they didn't dig very deep.
As for Mr.Rabinovitch. So they had his name from university days. If the RCMP had done a security screening as Mr Rabinovitch was promoted up the public service ladder, don't you think they might have flagged him as problem security wise?Obviously if they did no one cared, and if they didn't maybe Linden can do a story on the how the RCMP security screening failed to use information they had at hand.
Regardless Mr. Rabinovitch's career never seemed to have been hurt - even succeeded during the Mulroney era.
I'll be in my grave before the CBC produces such a segment.
So my recommendation is that Linden leave the hyperbole, creative character development (Laxer), and paranoia to his novels. His fiction is much better than his facts.
Hi 5th,
just watched "The Unofficial Story" on the 911th Truth Movement. I was anticipating an aggressive story supporting the Truth Movement's dissatisfaction with the official story and demand for a new investigation. I thought you chose weak facts and a couple of the strong facts were not explored to their strengths. The program is too short to completely examine all the suspicious facts but you could have hammered on some of the facts why the 911 truth movement is so strong. Like this doozy:
The 9/11 Commission Investigation reported of being restricted; under-funded; not given enough time to investigate; lied to by military officials; and set up to fail. The Commission considered recommending criminal charges for the false statements.
"We to this day don't know why NORAD told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."
9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland resigned stating "it is a national scandal. One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9/11 is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up."
9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer stated "we were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting."
Really you need a show of about 20 hours to grasp this subject. There are well over 20 documentaries on 911 and they all demonstrate the official story is an obfuscation of the truth. Keep Up The Good Work
So why do we think that the Profunc program was summarily ended with the intervention of a politician in the early 80s (with a vague instruction to stop doing whatever it was they were doing which was creating problems for old lefties at the U.S. border) when he and his successor's clearly don't demand or get full disclosure of what is being done under their watch? Even if they actually fully complied at that point in the early 80s, why would we assume they didn't just come up with another similar initiative? Involvement in political dissent can at times be the responsibility of those who support true democracy. Now also think of all of the Canadians who have been complicit in the decades of spying and the clerks who maintain the documentation for all of the potential PROFUNC detainees and then assume that something similar continues even now. Untold expense? Major understatement,obviously, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The cultivation of a civil service and police forces populated by those who confuse responsible political engagement with criminal behaviour, and who would endorse the suspension of civil liberties for thousands of their fellow citizens is even more galling.
I have just finished watching this incredible story. While the Associated Government and Police Agencies were watching those under suspicion of being against Canada and the Government,they seem to have blithly ignored those who have sold the Natural Resources of Canada out from underneath us.
It makes me angry that to stand up for ones rights and freedoms,one has to be subjected to secret investigations and inuendo by the "powers that be".One wonders who the real threat to Democracy and the country is?
It is now clear to me that there had to be thousands of government employees and tens of millions?(hundreds of millions?) of Tax dollars used to perform this kind of monitoring of Canadians for questionable reasons. Perhaps this could have been put to better use in providing Canadians with better Health Care, affordable housing, better pensions etc.
These actions are those of despots like Stalin,Hitler,not of a democratic government.Who were the real "communists" here.
What about those who escape communism to Canada. Those who suffer greatly from the hands of "peace loving communists" abroad? Their experience with communism is not worth mentioning here? More people suffer from Communism than from Nazi, isn't that something worth mentioning? Terrible, one sided piece of journalism ..... I am watching this completely shocked, indeed! I am not going to be surprised if this comment won't be published in your non objective, red domain.
Thank you for alerting canadian that Democracy has to be defended. Journalists like all you who work in Fifth state, are the best.
M. Ch
I think CBC needs to be applauded, we need alot more discussion on the subject of spying in Canada, not just regarding what was going on, but what IS currently going on in our country today.
I became interested in Intelligence by accident; I have been targetted by CSIS. I have been targetted by CSIS in a very aggressive manner for years,it became alot worse once I confronted them and complained to the SIRC. The reason for the targeting is ridiculous and I have been misreprestned. Their interference in my life goes counter to the Universal Human Rights, as outlined by the UN.
That being said, I personally don't have an issue with them asking questions. I am an avid capitalist, so I am sympathetic to their efforts to support capitalism, however, those who do not believe in this system have a right to voice their opinion unmolested. In my case they didn't ask any questions, they simply spied on me and have made a case to continue to spy on me (justifying their existence) for a number of years.
There definitely needs to be legitimate oversight, and oversight with teeth, unlike the SIRC which is essentially a lap dog for CSIS....
Thanks for your time.
This is what happens when fear becomes the ultimate tool of Government.
Well, interestingly my comments on this program were not posted. fifth estate made it seem as if all that profiling and extensive surveillance is in the past and only extreme radicals today are watched. What a joke.
I was under active RCMP and CSIS surveillance and then harassment between 1998 and 2005.
This episode has helped me affirm that I will and always will be a Communist, and it brings with it a new pride.
Who's to say radicals aren't spied on today? They likely are. "National security" and what not.
You can't intern ideas.
I recall back in the late 70's seeing internal job postings for the Federal government that, despite their vagueness, made it quite clear that they were looking for people to make up these lists. I think it was for the Solicitor General's office. Pity I didn't keep a copy of the posting... Scary as hell!
the concept of profunc hasn't gone away, it's just reinvented itself. as a pro-Palestinian activist among other things there were no surprises, and special thanks to Stefan for going before the camera and speaking about his experiences. i wish the fifth estate would go further and investigate what's going on now, in the name of our so-called security. yes, i've used my full name, it's not like they don't know it already.
I would have to agree 100%. Profunc was shut down in 83 supposedly but those xenophobic types that tend to work in security agencies haven't gone away. Programs like profunc don't just go away. The enemy just becomes some other group of "others"
Good episode. Scary content. The threat is certainly worse now than it has ever been. I'm a principled libertarian / voluntarist. I am not interested in a federal government of any kind. I wonder who's watching me?
My father was detained at the US border in the 1970s on the way to Ohio for a family reunion. He remained locked up (as was my mother) until the relative in question came to the border and personally vouched for mom and dad. Both my parents are now deceased. No one could understand why this happened until this evening. Thank you so much for this program.
My father was a WW II vet and a civil servant when he retired. His apparent crimes against the state: a visit to Cuba and a guided trip to Russia after he retired. I guess being CCF and then NDP didn't help either. As his son, I guess I'm probably on that list as well. So much for true democracy.
6th generation Canadian,
Don_D
I have huge respect for Linden MacIntyre, especially from a retired broadcaster. I was instrumental in blowing the whistle on Lt Calley and the My Lai massacre in Vietnam when I worked for ABC Los Angeles and KPPC Pasadena where we first broke the news after visits from soldiers involved. It cost me my career (general manager) and I escaped the US in 1971. There was way more to it than just that and odd things have happened to me over the years. This expose rang a few bells for me. I am curious as to the powers and procedures involved to make my exit from broadcasting. I'm 74 now but sometimes curious about the relevance of these events. I was dealt a shitty deal but I am still surviving, just barely. Many of my peers are dead. But who cares?
In the past our enemies were overseas ..... but now they appear to be .... our own Government and the Police.
I am watching this completely shocked. Although this happened in the past, I'd argue that the fear of communism is similar to our fear of "illegal (brown) immigrants" or terrorism - and that individuals who are involved in anti-war movement are seen in a similar light as the communists were in the 1950s.
A fascinating documentary. However, it only interviewed 2 people whose parents were under investigation. I do not know why the producers did not interview Communist Party members who were directly affected by this program. Since the opening of the People's Co-operative Bookstore (1945) in Vancouver, its members were photographed, some were threatened by the RCMP. The RCMP even photographed average Canadians who purchased books at the store. Who were these people that the government harassed? They were people who struggled for pensions, medicare, workers rights, peace and democracy. It is obvious that the real threat to democracy comes from the RCMP and those in government who advocate surveilance of Canadian citizens.
Wow, how far we have digressed.
Freedom requires effort and vigilance.
Communists... Enemies of the State?? LOL!
Anyway, I'm sure the 'security' agencies have much longer lists than that of real enemies of the State. I suspect given how well the State has handled things (eg: economic manipulations) in recent years, and the chaos that is bound to result from that, many of us will be rounded up shortly. Might wake some up to fact that the state is NOT our friend and we'd all do well to become its enemy.
Are you kidding me? And here we shake our heads in shame over Joe McCarthy. The shame is on us.
This is an amazing piece of journalism, the data well-analyzed, and remarkably well-presented. Thank you, all of you. You have done a service to Canada. With a little public light of day, maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to stop some of the current abuse of civil liberties, and perhaps prevent it from becoming as bad as it could get. ... But I agree with Penner, you're probably on the List now...
The RCMP surveillance activities appear to have hit hard the Finnish emigrant community. Oldtimers tell how they spent hours taking down plate numbers of fellow Finnish immigrants who had gone to the Don Hall (left wing) in Broadview. Even though programs were cancelled, no one told the right wing Finns that it was all over, and unfounded attitudes remained such as describing NDP as "communist". Those surveilled appear to have taken it somewhat casually. A retired professor of architecture told me that "RCMP was just a nuisance".
One of my favourite ol' lady socialists says, "If they don't have a big, fat file on you, you're not doing your job as a citizen."
Congratulations to the CBC for airing this program. Linden MacIntyre has to one of the bravest reporters in Canada. Who among the private sector would dare to report on anything as secretive and dangerous as PROFUNC? Mr MacIntyre, take your place as one of the premier investigative journalists of our age. Woodward and Bernstein, move over. You have a Canadian in your midst.
One day they came for the commies and that was OK., then they came for the trade unionists and that was OK, then they came for the educated and that was OK, THEN THEY CAME FOR ME....
THANK YOU Fifth Estate and Linden MacIntyre! And special thank yous to James Laxer and Mr Penner for facing the cameras and interviews and speaking from their hearts.
I grew up knowing that my parents and many of 'their comrades' who believed in social justice and publicly funded health care and nuclear disarmament were at risk. We knew our phone was tapped and that they were at times watched and followed.
But this documentary gave it new meaning!
Oh Canada what is going on?
Same old same old with a new name/plan I have reasons to fear.
We have to continue to speak up!
Good show. Me and some of my sister activists got on CSIS list for less than being a Communist. Hope you will stay on this and find out what are government practices now, especially under Harper.
My late father was a union organizer from 1950-1980 in B.C. He talked about the RCMP following him and how although he wanted to visit Russia he would never be allowed. I am not sure I believed him until I watched this show. I am encouraged to investigate further after watching CBC.
Watching this enlightening piece of journalism puts into perspective what my father and many of his friends believed at that time to be the only way a working class family could survive, by believing in the communist state (without the hindsight of what we know today)hoping for a fairness for all. They were all for the common good of man, not how much money you had. I respected what my father stood for, he helped to form what my family believes today.
My moms dad was hung in jail, he had a law degree and was considered a communist, my mother has tried to get information regarding his death and everything seems to be dead ends one place will send her to another place and that place will send her back It's like a wild goose chase, she seen this documentary the other day and she says that this seems to be the only thing that makes sense. It's crazy how the government works.
It is important to note that the government did NOT approve of this.
It was all done in the shadows by the RCMP
Who Has Access To These SECRET Lists???
Who Has The Capacity To Identify "Dangerous" People?
How Does Canada STOP Boatloads, Bombers (Air-India) and Terrorists???
.....
Clean-up CSIS, RCMP, Administrators who promote their own AGENDAS!
This information does not surprise me. And it still happens to today, only under different names.
Many thanks for filling us in on this aspect of "security" in our not-so-illustrious history. Our current young activists are being targeted for having a political/social/environmental agenda different from the mainstream. They have had their social justice groups infiltrated by secret service agents and police, have been put on lists, and several are still in jail or home arrest. These are not the folks who smashed windows, by the way.
Good episode and I am glad to see the curtain being pulled back on these secret operations. People need to know exactly what transpired in those years. I have already asked for documents and been refused by CSIS & the RCMP stating my grandfather's records are 'sealed' for min. 75yrs! He was picked up & interned for 26mths in the 1940's - most likely the beginning stages of Profunc. I have obtained 9 pages of documents from the Archives of Canada, stamped Top Secret from RCMP Headquarters on my grandfather, but I feel there are probable many more documents before his arrest & internment and after his release concerning surveilance activities by the RCMP & CSIS and his children. There are very few books written about these events. Not many people are aware these things even occured.
Thanks to all the staff at ' The Fifth Estate'. Without people like you I would consider leaving Canada! You make this Country a great place to live in. Keep up the good work.
Thanks to all the staff at ' The Fifth Estate'. Without people like you I would would consider leaving Canada! You make this Country a great place to live in. Keep up the good work.
The greater horror to all of this is how long it took any media to uncover the programs existence. A conspiracy as large as this needed to be, with the costs that necessarily were associated with it, should have been more obvious to the media.
Profunc itself shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, that Canada would have continued with the idea of internment for enemies of the state should have been obvious. With no respect paid to those below that post about G20 detainees the current plan would focus on islamic persians, specifically those coming from the area between Egypt and China and on landed Koreans.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comment. With treatment of activists like Jaggy Singh in the 90's and of course those at the G20 summit this type of surveillance of people who are exercising their legal democratic right is not new nor does it appear to have ceased. Unfortunately the people who are doing this, have people under surveillance for years and no one ever determines that the subject is not a threat since they have not done anything violent, illegal or conspiratorial in the least.
Mr. Lansdowne, you'll be pleased to know that there is indeed a few list circulating. One of them is to round up all those over the age of 60 with the first name of Brian...
Sometimes I feel as though the only person who REALLY understands me is the government agent who reads all my emails and listens to all my phone calls.
They weren't large., they were small corporationd
A friend of mine is now retired from the RCMP, but has released a rather scathing story of what they are up to (and no, I will never give the name). It has a new name. It has a new target (activists and protesters). The G20 was a classic example of it's power. I sent a letter to the RCMP after that, of which I got a long-winded phone call asking me repeatedly "which organization do you belong to", so I can assume I'm on "the list". We have lost ALL trust of both police and our governments. What will it take to get it back?
Thank you CBC for this valuable work: keep it up!
We know who you are, "Eva".
And once again, canadians outside Canada can not view this story because someone at CBC and/or Government made a decision not to allow the world to see inside Canada. Shame!
Thank you, Linden MacIntyre for this exposé.
As an immigrant, whose parents were from Eastern Europe, I was a bit confused at school when we were learning about the Cold War in history classes during the 1970's.
I was somewhat stunned with this programme, but not entirely surprised.
WOW - great journalism. The broadcast of this shocking story proves that Canada has not yet become a fascist state. It's hard to believe it would have been allowed to have been shown prior to 1984. The RCMP is a para-military force, not a civil police force.
Unfortunately, Canada's government adopted the military mindset dominant throughout British history. There is a widespread delusion that the UK is a democracy - think again, it's run by & for a tiny power elite who will show their iron fist whenever they feel threatened.
I remember in the 60's, my mom told me never to think about getting a job in government when I finished high school('64) as we had relatives that were communists and I couldn't pass a security check. We lived in Toronto and this relative I never met lived in British Columbia. Your show reflected the fears of the day. Thank you.
Well, that probably explains why I was either turned away from the US or, later, always had my bags torn apart whenever I entered. However it ceased a bit later than 1984... thanks for the links, will follow it up. Great program
argh i am geoblocked in argentina. come on CBC, let me watch the programmes abroad...
Much to the fashion of the previous commentators, I was blown away by the absolutely marvelous display of investigative journalism to a standard not often seen in modern media. The revelation produced seems to tie strongly with the overtones of the G20 human right abuses by the Ontario Provincial Police. It serves as a reminder that we are not immune to systemic faults.
Thank you CBC, The Fifth Estate.
I guess that you would be rooting for the building of prisons to hold, perhaps, people whose political affiliation does not mesh with yours?
I think that the idea of this piece was to expose the fascist mentality for the sick, twisted perversion that it is. You seem to think that it is a good thing.
I am amazed at what I just saw. Not only was the story magnificent, but I haven't seen great journalism like that in quite a while.
Another great episode!
Considering the above, it would be foolish to comment.
The old program(Profunc) should be canceled. But this being said it maybe a good ideal to bring in a new program to investigate all the new immigrates and terrorist type of people who found out that Canada is the new landing pad for criminals and enemies of the State.
I have lived here in Canada for some 60 years and to me it is has become like some of the criminal infested states and cities of the USA.
Canada is to soft when it comes to letting unknowns and illegal people into Canada. Close the border. There was a time when Canada needed new people, to build this nation, but that time has pasted. The G20 with the Black Bloc, was enough to convince me that Canada is infested with the wrong kind of LAW ABIDINDING Citizen. We are soft in the head in this country and there is no real leader to stand up against Canada's out dated Laws.
Instead of focusing on the what could have been, why doesn't the CBC focus on the thousands of European immigrants who actually were locked up during WWI and put in Canadian Internment camps and worked hard labour for big corporations
Canadians should have a look at the work on the RCMP and security state by historians Reg Whitaker, Steve Hewitt and Gregory Kealey.
Unless the Fifth Estate/CBC/Radio-Canada has done so already, these prominent and well-respected Canadian historians should be interviewed, especially in relation to the CBC/Radio-Canada's recent findings.
i would argue that the "profunc" blueprint is still used now maybe with a different name. of course current "security" measures are never exposed when they are in play. just like the cointelpros in the states, they weren't exposed until substantially later on.
with the g20 arrests in toronto and the specific targetting of certain activists, it's totally clear that canada still has a program like profunc in place.
I am typing with a jaw dropped!!!
Thank you, fabulous human beings at the CBC. In honour of the ethics of professional independent journalism, which the CBC in Canada seems to affirm more often than do, the private sector media, in Canada, or than they are able to do; and in honour of "The Fifth Estate;" and in recognition of a journalist, named, Linden MacIntyre; I have decided to re-join the local Civil Liberties outfit, and also PEN
Thank you Linden; thank you, CBC!
Michael Helmer-Keir
born in Calgary