FIRST READING: Ottawa hired U.K. contractor to monitor pro-Israel social media posts
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On Oct. 7 of last year, one of Canada's most active anti-Israel groups, Palestinian Youth Movement, held a celebratory rally to 'honour the martyrs of the past year.'
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Nevertheless, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue deems it extremist to say the demonstrations are 'protesting for the death of Jews and the Jewish state.'
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The aftermath of the October 7 massacres has also cast scrutiny on the aid agency UNRWA. Despite receiving ample funding from the Government of Canada, the group has been repeatedly linked to Palestinian extremism, including an instance in August where the agency dismissed nine staffers for their alleged participation in the October 7 attacks.
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In September, UNRWA would confirm that a top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon was one of its employees.
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Nevertheless, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue concluded that any online post linking Canada's UNRWA funding with the October 7 attacks was trafficking in right-wing extremism.
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'Among the top performing tweets about the conflict that were shared among right-wing extremists in Canada in the month after October 7 2023 were posts claiming that Justin Trudeau had directly funded the Hamas attacks through contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees,' it says.
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Anti-Israel narratives were mentioned, but only as they pertained to right-wing sources. 'Several Telegram channels associated with extreme right-wing content creators both hosted antisemitic material and amplified posts from influential international right-wing extremists and antisemites,' it wrote.
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The contract with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue was first publicized in a story this week by the new outlet Blacklock's Reporter. The program was funded via the Digital Citizen Contribution Program, a new Liberal fund first pitched as a means towards 'countering online disinformation.'
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In the past few years, the Liberal government has leaned hard into the perceived threat posed by online 'disinformation' or 'misinformation.' This most notably took the form of the Online Harms Act, a tabled piece of legislation that broadened police powers to punish online speech, and even provided for preliminary detention of Canadians based on the suspicion that they may post hateful speech in future.
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Although the Online Harms Act was killed with the January prorogation of Parliament, Prime Minister Mark Carney has indicated a willingness to return to the issue.
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During the campaign, Carney declared that 'large American online platforms have become seas of racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate in all its forms.'
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Just one week after winning election, Prime Minister Mark Carney had his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. Carney's primary electoral pitch was that he would be a tough negotiator with the U.S. He even declared that Canada's 'old relationship' with the U.S. was 'over.' Nevertheless, the meeting featured no shortage of coded abuse from Trump and even strangely obsequious praise from the new Canadian leader. Some highlights ….
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Carney opened a press briefing with Trump by delivering the following: 'I would like to thank you for your hospitality, and above all, for your leadership. You're a transformational president, with a focus on the economy, with a relentless focus on the American worker. Securing the borders. Ending the scourge of fentanyl and other opioids. And, uh, securing the world.'
Carney gesturing to the White House and saying that the official residence is similar to Canada in that it is 'not for sale.' 'Never say never,' responded Trump.
Trump going on his usual rant about how Canada would benefit from U.S. statehood while Carney awkwardly smiled next to him. 'It would be a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens, you get free military, tremendous medical care,' said Trump, adding that a United States encompassing the current territory of Canada is more 'artistically' pleasing.
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