RCMP Spied on Indigenous Groups for Decades

0:00It's March 24th. From your city to your ears, this is Toronto News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with The Story. CBC News is launching a series of stories revealing a massive RCMP surveillance program, targeting indigenous organizations from 1968 to 1982. The operation involved 150 officers monitoring hundreds of indigenous people and 30 groups mainly in the 1970s. The 6,000 pages of declassified documents from the RCMP's Racial Intelligence Section detail widespread spying, investigators uncover tactics like paying informants, physical tailing, secret filming, travel tracking, and media monitoring. For the first time, files confirm wiretaps on the National Indian Brotherhood's Ottawa offices now the assembly of First Nations in the mid-1970s. CBC's indigenous team fought for four years to access these records, appealing to the Information Commissioner and challenging government claims of.

1:01National Security Rists in federal court, officials relented, releasing redacted files after intense pressure. Indigenous leaders long suspected this infiltration, driven by fears of growing activism for self-determination. The documents use outdated racist terms, like native extremism, and survivors like Doreen Manuel express betrayal over informants who targeted figures, such as her father, George Manuel. Experts call these files a major historical breakthrough, with reactions from former chiefs and premieres highlighting their relevance today. As discussions unfold, calls grow for informants to come forward in the name of truth and reconciliation.