Military leaders saw pandemic as unique opportunity to test propaganda techniques on Canadians, Forces report says
David Pugliese | Ottawa Citizen | September 27, 2021

The main report discussed was from an investigation conducted by retired Maj.-Gen. Daniel Gosselin. The newspaper obtained a copy of the December 2, 2020 report, and related documents using Access to Information.

. . . The plan devised by the Canadian Joint Operations Command [CJOC] … relied on propaganda techniques similar to those employed during the Afghanistan war. The campaign called for “shaping” and “exploiting” information. CJOC claimed the information operations scheme was needed to head off civil disobedience by Canadians during the coronavirus pandemic and to bolster government messages about the pandemic.

… chief of the defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance shut down the … initiative after a number of his advisers questioned the legality and ethics …

… September 2020 incident when military information operations staff forged a letter from the Nova Scotia government warning about wolves on the loose …

… the [Canadian Forces public affairs] branch launched a controversial plan that would have allowed military public affairs officers to use propaganda to change attitudes and behaviours of Canadians as well as to collect and analyze information from public social media accounts.

… more aggressive strategy of using information warfare and influence tactics on Canadians. …

… The Canadian Forces also spent more than $1 million to train public affairs officers on behaviour modification techniques …

… Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and DND deputy minister Jody Thomas acknowledged in an internal document that the various propaganda initiatives had gotten out of control. … June 9, 2021, message signed by Eyre and Thomas. “This included the conduct of IO (Information Operations) on a domestic operation without explicit CDS/DM direction or authority to do so, as well as the unsanctioned production of reports that appeared to be aimed at monitoring the activities of Canadians.”

One conclusion I can very reasonably take from this article is that much of the military is following policies from another level outside of what is typically understood as the government.

This article by the World Socialist Web Site (ignoring the opinions expressed, I agree with some) has a useful outline of incidents related to this story.

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