Canada Spied on Indigenous Leaders in 70s

0:00In the 1970s, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service spied on Dean Nane Nation leaders through a secret operation called THE. Native extremism program. Newly declassified documents show they paid five informers specifically to target the group, which was pushing for land rights and self-determination. Amid plans for the McKinsey Valley Pipeline, the surveillance kicked off in 1973 and ramped up by 1976, with informers feeding details on chiefs and presidents. Like Francois Paulette, George's Erasmus, and Stephen Cockfrey. One got $300 a month plus expenses, while the effort included fears of militant ties to groups like the American Indian movement. Dean Nane leaders suspected break-ins and buds in their Yellowknife office for years, finding listening devices and ransacked files with only documents. Missing. Figures like Erasmus treating them as enemies of the state while Cockfrey fell deep anger over the betrayal in a country they trusted. According to the nearly 1700-page dossier, Mounties worried about revolution inspired

1:04by global decolonization and even ran operation. Checkmate to disrupt activities. They monitored hundreds of indigenous people and dozens of groups across the North. These findings confirmed long-held suspicions and exposed how paid spies eroded trust in indigenous organizing. The scars remain, fueling ongoing calls for accountability from that 10th Cold War chapter. Local news powered by AI. This is Canada News Today. I'm Corey with The Story.