RCMP national security unit monitored 'threats' linked to Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline activism, records show

An RCMP national security unit monitored First Nations-led anti-pipeline activism for "potential threats" to the energy, transportation and banking sectors between 2021 and 2022, internal police documents show.

Records obtained by CBC Indigenous reveal Ottawa-based federal policing groups tracked and analyzed protests against TC Energy and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), citing concerns about "anarchist groups" or "fringe environmentalists" sabotaging infrastructure or targeting executives in solidarity with Wet'suwe'ten hereditary chiefs.

It's a concern one of those chiefs feels is unfairly used to justify surveillance of Indigenous rights-based activism.

"This really isn't news to us," said Na'Moks (John Ridsdale), a leader of the Tsayu, or Beaver, clan.

"It's disturbing, but it's really not unexpected."

The hereditary chiefs have long opposed construction of the now-complete Coastal GasLink pipeline in their unceded northern British Columbia territory, a resistance that included blockades the Mounties raided three times between 2019 and 2021 to enforce a court injunction.

In recent years, Na'Moks and others turned their advocacy toward the corporate bottom line, campaigning against RBC for its funding of the pipeline owned by Calgary-based TC Energy. 

The documents, released under access to information law after a two-year wait, suggest this caused concern among units like the National Critical Infrastructure Team. 

"There is a potential for incidents of mischief and/or sabotage to both the energy and transportation sectors, in addition to RBC, carried out by either anarchist groups in solidarity or by fringe environmentalists if tensions continue to escalate or there is an RCMP action that could be perceived as unjust by the activists," the unit warned in October 2022.

This assessment appears in an unclassified intelligence report titled "Potential Threats to Energy and Transportation Critical Infrastructure."

The report warns that "adversaries of TC Energy's Coastal GasLink" had called for a day of action following a webinar on Oct. 19, 2022.

Na'Moks was one of the "adversaries" who addressed the webinar. He says such labelling won't deter him, but he does feel it's undemocratic.

"We want to go berry picking, get our salmon, be who we are, practise our culture, be able to be who we are, and we're being restrained, which is basically the goal of a police state," said Na'Moks.

"And when you get into the police saying what you can and cannot do, where you can and cannot go, then you're absolutely into a petrol state. So who are really the bosses here? Is this truly democratic?"

Sociologists raise concerns

Two sociologists say the records raise questions about civil liberties.

According to the RCMP, the critical infrastructure unit is responsible for "capturing intelligence and assessing physical and cyber criminal threats." It collaborates with various other entities, including the private sector.

For Tia Dafnos, an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick, the records reinforce, at minimum, the optics that national security police resources are being used to protect corporations and their financial interests.

What makes a piece of infrastructure "critical" is not well defined, and that looseness gives national security units broad discretion to "pre-emptively keep an eye on people," she says.

"That power of discretion is significant because there's always a way to just end up justifying that surveillance," she said.

Jeffrey Monaghan, an associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said he feels the records show an RCMP interest in controlling dissent that could spark bad publicity.

In the "background" section of its threat assessment, the infrastructure group discusses the "nationwide activist movement" that led to over 40 blockades across the county in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en in 2020. Monaghan suggests the Mounties were caught flat-footed then but clearly don't want to be again.

"They don't want to look bad. I think they're sick of looking bad," he said.

"I think that all three major Wet'suwet'en raids have resulted in the RCMP looking like a bunch of colonial meathead militaristic goons."

Monaghan singled out a different report: a heavily censored, secret-marked report from the Federal Policing Threat Assessment Section dated Nov. 25, 2022.

"On 2022/11/12 a group of seven (7) individuals participated in a climate march in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en people who are opposing the pipeline project [that] took place for a couple of hours in Montreal, QC," it reads.

"The group gathered outside Cabot Square Park before walking to C Division RCMP Headquarters and then to RBC Westmount Branch. Although the demonstration was reported peaceful, the speeches during the protest was described as having an aggressive tone as the group held megaphones, posters and banners."

Monaghan said, "This is getting into a serious grey zone around freedoms of expression and freedoms of assembly, having police presence there noting down when aggressive bad language is used."

RCMP responds

The RCMP declined a request for an interview and responded by statement.

"Although we cannot comment on specific threats posed by certain groups or individuals, we can say that the RCMP is committed to protecting the safety and security of Canada's critical infrastructure," wrote spokesperson Robin Percival.

"The RCMP does have the requirement to identify and investigate criminal threats, including those to critical infrastructure and at public events. There is no focus on groups, but rather on the broader criminal threats."

The RCMP stressed its law enforcement mandate that includes protecting "protestors' rights to peaceful, lawful and safe demonstration" and ensuring "the general public and businesses have a right to a safe environment."

The RCMP has publicly warned of anarchist attacks in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en before, pointing to information posted on the anarchist website Montreal Counter-Information. 

Among the posts was one claiming responsibility for the torching of police cruisers in Smithers, B.C., on Oct. 26, 2022, for instance. Montreal Counter-Information is referenced multiple times in reports from late 2021.

"The Montreal Counter-Information website encourages an ideology that justifies violence. Employees of the site have claimed responsibility for a number of vandalism incidents," says a Nov. 19, 2021 critical infrastructure situational brief.

"Although the site continues to encourage arson and further vandalism to RBC locations, it should be emphasized that RBC executives are also identified as worthy targets."

Na'Moks says the hereditary chiefs never sanctioned and would never condone such acts.