The Ontario Provincial Police’s intelligence division suggested that the force consider “covert” surveillance into an anti-government group ahead of the Freedom Convoy’s arrival in Ottawa, newly-released documents reveal.
The suggestion came as part of the OPP’s Project HENDON, a more than two-year rolling investigation into “criminal extremism” and “large-scale protest” movements in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The previously secret intelligence reports were released as evidence in the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is examining the federal government’s decision to invoke emergency powers during February’s convoy protests.
The group singled out by the OPP, “Plaid Army,” is a loosely-connected community of livestreamers, which the Canadian Anti-Hate Network says focuses on far-right politics and anti-government sentiment, mixing in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic messaging. The group is also associated with “Diagalon,” a far-right group that has recently garnered media attention.
The term “anti-government” in this sense does not mean movements opposed to specific parties in power, but is instead against government authority in general. Such groups have been active in protests against Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, but also conservative governments at the provincial levels, for instance.
Figures associated with both Plaid Army and Diagalon were present during the February protests in Ottawa. Pictures of weapons and body armour seized from a group of convoy protesters in Coutts, Alberta, included patches that appear to represent the “Diagalon” symbol.
The Jan. 13 OPP report suggested Plaid Army was a subset of the wider “Patriot Movement,” which remains “steadfast in their opposition of provincial and federal government responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis.”
“Adherents who identify more so as part of the ‘Plaid Army/Bigots’ are believed to espouse ideologies aligned with using force as a means of effecting government change. Police information continues to support this assertion,” the intelligence assessment reads.
“These groups are noted to be scattered across the province and are accessed through online forums, word of mouth, and invites following public events. Private social media platforms also appear to be facilitating/supporting a high level of organizing.”
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The document went on to suggest that in order for the OPP to gain better understanding of both the Patriot Movement and Plaid Army, it would be worth the force considering recruiting “sources” within the movement or deploying “event monitors” at in-person events.
“This could assist in identifying access points into the more extremist-minded anti-government organizing that is taking place at the grassroots level and online spaces. Additionally, operational investigative avenues may warrant exploration including source, surveillance, covert and technological investigations,” the document concludes.
The Project HENDON reports present a rare, inside look at OPP intelligence operations, including how the force collects intelligence and what steps the force has considered in countering anti-government and far-right extremist threats. Outside of a judicial inquiry, it is unlikely any of these documents would see the light of day except in a heavily-censored form.
Stephanie Carvin, a Carleton University professor and former analyst for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said the OPP has “taken the lead” on investigating far-right extremism in Ontario since 9/11 – when federal intelligence agencies pivoted their resources to focus on the threat of religiously-motivated extremism from abroad.
“(The OPP) regularly brief police departments on the far-right threat,” Carvin told Global News in an interview Friday.
“Even just having read the assessments (released to the convoy commission), it seems clear that that (the OPP were) aware of who these groups were before the convoy itself. And it seems reasonable to suggest that they would have been aware of these groups prior to the convoy, because that’s their remit.”
Global News requested OPP comment on the HENDON reports on Thursday. As of Friday’s deadline, the force had not responded to the request.
But evidence released to the Public Order Emergencies Commission this week suggested that the provincial force had accurate intelligence about the potential scale of the convoy protests well before trucks started rolling into downtown Ottawa.
“Online indicators of attendance at a given event are usually inflated … The noted convoys may be an exception,” read a Jan. 20 HENDON report, which, according to OPP testimony, was shared with the Ottawa police.
The assessment was made more than a week before the trucks arrived in Ottawa.
The report went on to say that while OPP intelligence was unable to predict the number of vehicles and protesters that would be involved with the convoy protests a week later, the success of online fundraising suggested that the fellow travelers were not just ideologically committed but also financially committed.
“Despite the information indicating that some organizers are aiming for a lawful and peaceful event, the possibility that a lone actor or small groups of individuals may decide to engage in, or encourage, direct action or unlawful activity that presents a public safety threat cannot be excluded.”
On Feb. 7, the OPP’s intelligence branch determined that the convoy protests presented a potential threat to national security, according to Commissioner Thomas Carrique’s previous testimony before parliament.
On Wednesday, Pat Morris, the head of OPP intelligence, said that the force was not aware of any “credible” and “specific” threats during the protest. But Morris provided the caveat that he was speaking about intelligence indicating a group or groups had a specific target and a plan of attack – not the potential threat the convoy protests posed, according to OPP intelligence assessments.
“I’ll give you an example. ‘On Feb. 2, at 18:30 hours, we’re going to breach security to the West (Block) of Parliament,’ et cetera. And I have been engaged in protests before where things like that have happened,” Morris told the commission.
“And we could find no credible intelligence of those kinds of threats.”
The commission into the government’s use of emergency powers is scheduled to resume on Monday.
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