Our opening case study details the Algonquins of Barriere Lake’s long-term struggle with settler encroachment on their traditional territory and community resistance to resource extraction. Contemporary struggles surround Canadian non-compliance with the signed Trilateral Agreement – a unique arrangement where the community would have a say over and a share in resource development on their land – and a series of governmental techniques and policing measures enacted to suppress community calls for the Agreement to be honoured. We document INAC manoeuvres to eliminate Barriere Lake’s customary governance code and replace it with the Indian Act, as well as impose third party management over the community’s administration. Throughout these interventions the security state monitored and policed Barriere Lake resistance, including the violent suppression of peaceful blockades. Labelled as an “Aboriginal community of concern” by the RCMP, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake are subjected to pervasive and ongoing monitoring and reporting by the security state. The (ongoing) story of resistance, resilience, and determination surrounding the Algonquins of Barriere Lake is a poignant localized example where the vast economic and policing resources of the security state are levied against a small Indigenous community.
Files used in this chapter include:
CSIS 2012-222
Number of Pages: 95
Summary of file: Disclosed documents are comprised of threat assessments and event updates concerning a wide range of terrorism and extremism. All of the disclosed documents were prepared by the Integrated Threat Assessment Center (ITAC). The primary focus of these documents concern domestic threats from single or multi-issue extremism targeting events such as the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the G20/G8 Summit in Toronto and Huntsville. Furthermore, this document contains ITAC Intelligence Assessments concerning threats to the National Capital Region (NCR).
CSIS 2016-47
Number of Pages: 405
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are comprised of slides, threat assessments, intelligence assessments, and reports concerning domestic extremism and Islamic terrorism. Many of these documents were prepared by the Integrated Threat Assessment Center (ITAC). The primary focus in these documents are given to the perceived “threats” of “aboriginal extremism”. One of the primary concerns within this document is a developing assessment of the 2008 Aboriginal National Day of Action (NDA) which is understood by the ITAC as a threat to “internal security” and “national security”. Of note, is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) report titled “Project SITKA: Serious Criminality Associated to Large Public Order Events with National Implications” published by the National Intelligence Coordination Centre concerning the surveillance of Indigenous activists.
INAC 2010-1809
Number of pages: 446
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are comprised of emails, reports, and memos from the department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAC) concerning the election controversy in 2010 of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake when the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs pushed through an election for Chief and Councillors which ignored customary governance. Notably, many of the emails and documents detail communications between INAC and Bob Norton, the government appointed electoral officer. Furthermore, this document contains a report from the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples titled “First Nations Elections: The Choice is Inherently Theirs”.
INAC 2010-2705
Number of Pages: 189
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are comprised of notifications, memos, and briefings from the department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAC) concerning the election controversy in 2010 of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake when the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs pushed through an election for Chief and Councillors which ignored customary governance. Notably, there are notifications monitoring the ongoing protests by Emergency and Issues Management Directorate (EIMD), Memos to both the Minister and Deputy Minister of INAC, and a Ministerial Briefing on “Barriere Lake Governance Implementation”.
INAC 2011-1703
Number of Pages: 90
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are comprised of an audit and memos to the Minister concerning the implementation of “third party management” that are deployed to take over essential services from the band Chiefs and Councils of affected communities.
INAC 2014-1546
Number of Pages: 227
Summary of File: This document begins with a “Priority Ranking Framework” for schools and education on reserves for the allocation of resources. It is followed by “Information for the Minister” documents pertaining to the “First Nations Transparency Act” and refusal to comply by revealing spending, offshore oil and gas management in Canada, and an update on the Energy East Pipeline. The end of the document is comprised of several “Notices of Measures” letters informing Chiefs and Councils of penalties imposed by “Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada”.
INAC 2015-1156
Number of Pages: 556
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are by-and-large comprised of letters, memos, email threads, and reports pertaining to budgetary concerns. Many of the conversations concern the Algonquins of Barriere Lake. The final document is an INAC presentation: “Governance Capacity Planning Tool: A Step-by-step Approach to Planning Capacity Development”.
INAC 2015-1265
Number of Pages: 1237
Summary of File: Disclosed documents are by-and-large comprised of letters, memos, email threads, summaries, and reports pertaining to monitoring Indigenous protests, and government communications concerning the compelled Indian Act election at Barriere Lake in 2010, as well as Section 74-related files on the Dakota Tipi First Nation. Some notable documents are Emergency and Issues Management Directorate summaries and notifications largely concerning Indigenous protests and blockades, email threads concerning “Aboriginal Organization Profile Summary”, federal court proceedings and minutes concerning compelled elections, and a Ministerial Briefing presentation on “Barriere Lake Governance Implementation” from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
INAC 2015-1438
Number of Pages: 100
Summary of File: Disclosed documents consist of email threads and letters between Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the Chief of Algonquins of Barriere Lake concerning the matter of health care services being under the control of Third Party Managers (TPM). The central dispute revolves around the Chief and Council banning TPM representative from the larger community and a response from the INAC threatening to withhold resources until the TPM is granted access again.
INAC 2015-1603
Number of Pages: 25
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain a presentation to Indigenous and Northern Affairs titled “Aboriginal Hot Spots and Public Safety” that discusses strategies for state practices in confronting Indigenous conflicts over land and resource claims.
INAC 2016-448
Number of Pages: 159
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain presentations, reports, memos, and email threads concerning Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) emergency preparedness plans for “civil unrest” in First Nations communities and information sharing through the Government Operations Center (GOC). .
INAC 2016-847
Number of Pages: 297
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain files – including email threads, briefing notes, contract documents, and media lines – related to the appointment of Marc Perron as Ministerial Special Representative with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake.
INAC A0240846_1
Number of Pages: 14
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain a presentation to Indigenous and Northern Affairs titled “Aboriginal Hot Spots and Public Safety” that discusses strategies for state practices in confronting Indigenous conflicts over land and resource claims. It also discusses the importance of efficient and quick information sharing between federal agencies in order to mitigate Indigenous occupations and protests.
INAC A0240846_2
Number of Pages: 22
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain a presentation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) titled “RCMP Operational Response to Aboriginal Occupations and Protests” published in 2007. The presentation outlines practices for surveillance, information sharing, and strategies to manage Indigenous occupations and protests at the national level.
RCMP 2013-5595
Number of Pages: 84
Summary of File: Disclosed document contains a criminal intelligence report put together by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) titled “Aboriginal Communities Issues, Events, and Concerns”. This document was published in 2009/10 in preparation of protest policing for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the G8/G20 Summit in Toronto. The report details concerns over the potential for violence present in protest and lists a series of detailed reports on First Nations communities the RCMP are concerned about.
RCMP 2015-9455
Number of Pages: 29
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain a presentation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) titled “RCMP Response to Aboriginal Occupations and Protests” published in 2007. The presentation outlines practices for operational preparedness in responding to Indigenous occupations and protests.
Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State 