BC Government Tracks Non-Protest Issues, Raises Civil Liberty Concerns

0:00A British Columbia government group called the Critical Incident Secretariat meets every two weeks with ministries, regulators, and the RCMPs. Critical response unit to track protests against natural resource projects. But a January 12 internal report shows they're also keeping eyes on First Nations Treaty negotiations and climate action efforts going beyond. Just demonstrations. The report highlights CRU-BC intelligence monitoring opposition to two liquefied natural gas pipelines. The Eagle Mountain, Wood Fiverr, and Prince Rupert. Lines plus old-growth logging protests on Vancouver Island. It notes online activity tracking and broader situational awareness on those non-protest issues. RCMP officials say they don't directly monitor treaty talks, just give briefings from ministries involved while sharing protests until from open. The public safety ministry insists they respect peaceful protests and base reports on threat assessments for public safety and infrastructure, using.

1:03Only lawful info without personal data sharing. Still, civil liberties experts and First Nations leaders warn of a chilling effect on free expression and democratic participation. This echoes decades of RCMP surveillance on indigenous rights groups from the 1960s to recent pipeline oppositions. Global outfits like my sea to sky report feeling targeted despite lawful advocacy and past government privacy breaches in wet-so-wet-and-talks. Fueled this trust. With CRU-BC under investigation and calls to disband at over-illegimous conduct, questions linger on transparency and balancing industry protection, with civil rights in BC. That's the story for today, Canada News Today, driven by AI.