Attempts at Russian interference in Canada are not limited to elections and are already having very real repercussions on citizens, experts reported Thursday at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defense.
“Kremlin allied influences on the far right, like Tucker Carlson, and others on the far left here in Canada, are using their platforms to amplify pro-Russian narratives about the war in Ukraine,” explained Marcus Kolga, director of DisinfoWatch, an organization monitoring foreign disinformation.
The specialist in Russian and foreign information operations argues that these stories are already having direct repercussions, such as the erosion of Western support for Ukraine and the loss of public confidence in NATO and the Canadian military.
In an interview with former Fox News star Tucker Carlson last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that he had invaded Ukraine to fight “neo-Nazis” and that it was Ukraine that had started the war. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau then declared that President Putin was ready to use “all the propaganda possible” to try to justify his invasion of Ukraine, but said he was convinced that Canadians were “not fooled”.
“These operations have a direct impact on Canadians. They are designed to manipulate public opinion, divide us and erode trust within our society,” argued Marcus Kolga during a panel on threats to Canadian democracy.
Mr. Kolga thus underlined that theories according to which Russia never attacked Ukraine – or that NATO is responsible for the Russian invasion – are finding more and more echo, particularly within a share of the American electorate. “The almost unanimous support of Republican voters for Ukraine in March 2022 has decreased by almost 50%, and it is not surprising that Republican congressmen are blocking American aid to Ukraine,” he notes .
A recent Angus Reid poll indicates that a quarter of Canadians believe the country offers “too much support” to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, compared to 13% who said the same thing in May 2022.
Ukrainian communities targeted
The director general of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Ihor Michalchyshyn, deplored Moscow’s interference in the Ukrainian Canadian community. “We have citizens everywhere, from Vancouver to Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa, who have been physically threatened and whose businesses and homes have been damaged,” he said Thursday.
Acts of intimidation are often carried out by Russian diplomats, he observes. “They have become somewhat of apologists for hate speech emanating from the Russian ambassador and his team. We think that [les expulser] would be a good first step. »
A public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions is underway in Ottawa. The Hogue Commission is examining interference activities that China, Russia and other foreign actors may have engaged in and, if so, how they may have affected the 2019 and 2021 federal elections .