PROPAGANDA PROGRAM'S DOCUMENTS VANISHED
DND can't find papers on public manipulation
Documents related to a controversial military propaganda program designed to influence and change the behaviour of the Canadian public have disappeared.
The Canadian Forces spent $1.2 million on behaviour modification training used by the parent firm of Cambridge Analytica, the company at the centre of the scandal in which personal data of Facebook users was provided to U.S. President Donald Trump's political campaign.
At the time, the Forces justified the cost in 2019 and 2020 to train 40 military and civilian public affairs staff by pointing out that the fee also covered the purchase of the rights to the courseware, production of various reports and a test scenario of the behaviour-modification techniques.
But National Defence now admits the detailed course curriculum, progress reports and a live case study conducted by Canadian Forces personnel using the behaviourmodification techniques can't be found. “We do not currently have access to these documents,” spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier confirmed.
Details about the two contracts with Emic Consulting were revealed in 2020 in a report by Emma Briant, a Fellow at Bard College in the United States and a specialist in researching military propaganda.
Briant noted the training the Canadian military staff received was a direct descendent of SCL Group's “behavioural dynamics methodology,” which promises to help militaries analyze and profile groups to find the best strategy to effectively influence behaviour.
SCL, a strategic communications firm, has been linked to propaganda campaigns used by various militaries, having drawn on psychological and social science research to distil techniques aimed at manipulating group behaviour. Its subsidiary is Cambridge Analytica.
The contract to Emic came at a time when the Canadian Forces was ramping up its skills in “influence operations,” propaganda and data mining for campaigns that could be directed at either overseas populations or Canadians.
The Ottawa Citizen revealed how information was culled by the Canadian Forces from social-media accounts of Ontario residents and data were compiled on peaceful Black Lives Matter gatherings. Military commanders also proceeded with a plan to use propaganda techniques used in the Afghanistan war, claiming it was needed to head off civil disobedience by Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, there was a September 2020 incident where military personnel forged a letter from the Nova Scotia government warning about wolves on the loose in a particular region. The letter, part of a military test of propaganda techniques, was inadvertently distributed to residents, prompting panicked calls to Nova Scotia officials who were unaware the Canadian Army was behind the deception.
A series of internal investigations in 2021 concluded that military commanders violated federal rules and acted without authority when they ordered intelligence teams to collect information on the public and to use propaganda techniques against Canadians. “Errors conducted during domestic operations and training, and sometimes insular mindsets at various echelons, have eroded public confidence in the institution,” noted a June 9, 2021, document signed by then acting Chief of the Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre and then Deputy Minister Jody Thomas.
Eyre, later promoted to full-time defence chief, was head of the army when its members launched the wolves propaganda initiative.
The Emic contract was part of a shift at National Defence headquarters to embrace “the weaponization of public affairs.” The department noted in 2020 the Emic training would help military public affairs staff “better identify and understand key audiences” so they could create communications campaigns that “are more customized and beneficial.”
Le Bouthillier said the department contacted Emic to see if the firm had the records but received no reply.
The Information Commissioner of Canada is investigating the disappearance. The probe was launched after National Defence responded to an access to information request from the Canada Files website requesting the curriculum, progress reports and the live case study. The Canada Files, which describes itself as a socialist platform conducting investigations and analysis into Canada's foreign policy and the military-industrial complex, was informed no records could be found.
Emic's director, Gaby van den Berg, did not respond to a request for comment.