Despite the worrying ongoing emergence of Kremlin proxies and targeted disinformation, Canada has done little to detect or respond to these attempts to undermine our democracy
As the United States continues to reel from an onslaught of revelations about Russian manipulation of its elections and members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Canadians should be alert to the fact our media and political system are vulnerable to similar attacks by the Kremlin regime.
Despite the worrying ongoing emergence of Kremlin proxies and targeted disinformation, Canada has done little to detect or respond to these attempts to undermine our democracy. While many Canadians were shocked by U.S. revelations of Russian election manipulation, we cannot dismiss the possibility that the Kremlin attempted to do the same in Canada during the last election.
As the 2015 federal campaign entered its final stretch, a political bomb dropped half the world away, freezing campaigns and permanently altering the trajectory of the polls.
On a remote beach in Turkey, the three year old son of a Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi, was photographed face down in the sand. His family’s boat had capsized after joining tens of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria for Europe.
Canadian media reported that Vancouver-area NDP MP Fin Donnelly had personally requested the help of then-immigration minister Chris Alexander with the Kurdis’ refugee application. The story was further sensationalized with the fabrication that Alexander had denied the non-existent request. It was later revealed that Donnelly had, in fact, failed to give the family correct advice, and a proper refugee application was never delivered to Canadian authorities.
What we now recognize was false news had a hand in altering the outcome of the 2015 federal election. Polls taken after the Kurdi incident show a dramatic downturn in Conservative support, which ultimately continued through election night.
It is widely accepted that Vladimir Putin seized the opportunity to weaponize the Syrian refugee crisis in order to destabilize Europe and erode confidence in western liberal democracies. Its effects are being seen in polls around Europe and the U.S., where governments friendly to Russia’s illiberal authoritarian regime threaten to be, or have already been, elected.
While the refugee crisis is an example of indirect Kremlin manipulation, Canadians have been exposed to a direct stream of constant Russian disinformation, fake news and influence in the media since 2008 or earlier.
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Canadian tv shows infiltrated by RU lies/propaganda. How infected is US mainstream tv? https://t.co/l4apUMRNbY
— Dēmokratía (@AppellateJunkie) February 22, 2017
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