Disinformation has a long history in Canada

OTTAWA—A recent Ekos survey of Canadians found a disturbing relation between the amount of disinformation an individual agrees with, and the level of support for the "Freedom Convoy." Rest assured this author views even the name of the convoy one of the most insidious and effective uses of propaganda in recent years. On the surface, the Ekos finding doesn’t seem all that shocking, but the strength of disinformation is surprising. One of the measures of disinformation they used was whether or not an individual supported the statement: "the reported number of COVID-19 deaths is being exaggerated." Imagine that… some individuals in this country won’t believe their neighbours' grieving the loss of a family member from COVID-19. What has this country come to? It's not a rhetorical question. The rise of disinformation related to the trustworthiness of society’s bedrocks of democracy—such as governments, institutions, and health experts—are literally under attack. Even the tweet releasing the Ekos survey was attacked online as "government propaganda." Why is it that disinformation nowadays is about challenging perceived authority—as if the strength of one’s emotion is evidence enough. I feel strongly, therefore I must be right. The pandemic of 1918 also was cursed with disinformation, although the speed of its infection was much slower. We learned in 2022 that social media is by far the fastest mode of infection in the world. But disinformation is not new in Canada. One could argue that it has simply had other targets and goals in the past. One of the most durable forms of disinformation in Canada has been the targeting of Indigenous peoples. Disinformation continues to hold back the pace of reconciliation today. The foundational piece of disinformation was that colonization (defined as “my culture is better than your culture”) is a good and necessary thing to do to Indigenous peoples. By extension, that meant residential schools were really to benefit Indigenous kids. It’s a lie, and a very successful one at that—it was all about taking land away from Indigenous communities via taking the children. The thing is, when disinformation targets a specific people, those people lose rights and safety. That, by the way, is blatant racism. When the disinformation becomes widespread enough, it has a tenacity that becomes intergenerational. The disinformation was so successful that we still have Canadians who either don’t know about the evils of residential schools, or refuse to believe the facts. Residential school denialists are out there, and people are listening to them spew hatred. Co-ordinated attacks on the truth are now a thing. And yet so little is done to stop them. Even after the discovery of mass graves at the sites of former residential schools, residential school denialists—who believe the schools were really to the benefit of Indigenous children—still exist, and people are listening to them spew hatred. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia There are likely many lessons in this analogy. First, the use of disinformation has a long and successful history in achieving its goals at the expense of certain peoples. The only questions are who is benefiting from the disinformation, and who does it put at risk? The potential risks of sustained and insidious disinformation are tremendous on a society. Generations of Indigenous children were sacrificed on the feet of the lie of disinformation. The lesson is that we need to stand up and challenge disinformation and lies immediately. Don’t wait too long, or you’ll find that we lose things we take for granted, like fairness, equity, and human rights—and potentially even lives. Sector leaders and political leaders are responsible to combat this current bad batch of disinformation and conspiracy theories with a rigour as if it threatens our very democracy. All I know is that you really don’t want disinformation running for political leadership. Indigenous peoples have been there, and done that, with the colonial rulers of the past. That story goes very badly, because disinformation is one of the essential planks of genocide. It is that insidious. Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth. The Hill Times

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Disinformation has a long history in Canada

The foundational piece of disinformation was that colonization is a good and necessary thing to do to Indigenous peoples.

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