As the United States continues to reel from an onslaught of revelations about Russian manipulation of its elections and members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Canadians should be alert to the fact our media and political system are vulnerable to similar attacks by the Kremlin regime.

Despite the worrying ongoing emergence of Kremlin proxies and targeted disinformation, Canada has done little to detect or respond to these attempts to undermine our democracy. While many Canadians were shocked by U.S. revelations of Russian election manipulation, we cannot dismiss the possibility that the Kremlin attempted to do the same in Canada during the last election.

As the 2015 federal campaign entered its final stretch, a political bomb dropped half the world away, freezing campaigns and permanently altering the trajectory of the polls.

On a remote beach in Turkey, the three year old son of a Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi, was photographed face down in the sand. His family’s boat had capsized after joining tens of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria for Europe.

Canadian media reported that Vancouver-area NDP MP Fin Donnelly had personally requested the help of then-immigration minister Chris Alexander with the Kurdis’ refugee application. The story was further sensationalized with the fabrication that Alexander had denied the non-existent request. It was later revealed that Donnelly had, in fact, failed to give the family correct advice, and a proper refugee application was never delivered to Canadian authorities.

What we now recognize was false news had a hand in altering the outcome of the 2015 federal election. Polls taken after the Kurdi incident show a dramatic downturn in Conservative support, which ultimately continued through election night.

It is widely accepted that Vladimir Putin seized the opportunity to weaponize the Syrian refugee crisis in order to destabilize Europe and erode confidence in western liberal democracies. Its effects are being seen in polls around Europe and the U.S., where governments friendly to Russia’s illiberal authoritarian regime threaten to be, or have already been, elected.

While the refugee crisis is an example of indirect Kremlin manipulation, Canadians have been exposed to a direct stream of constant Russian disinformation, fake news and influence in the media since 2008 or earlier.

Canadian TV content providers give the Kremlin’s notorious, state-run cable news channel, RT, a direct line into the living rooms of Canadians to confuse, deceive and misinform them. Unlike BBC, Deutche Welle and CNN, which require Canadian consumers to pay a premium fee for these news services, RT is available on basic Rogers and Bell TV services, spewing a constant stream of conspiracy theories and manufactured anti-Western propaganda in order to erode confidence in our own government and democratic institutions.

Canadian “experts” appear on RT’s programs to lament any Canadian policy that doesn’t align with the Kremlin. They also appear — less frequently — on our own media channels, as academics or former diplomats, rarely revealing their interests in Russia and connections with the Kremlin.

Carleton University professor, Piotr Dutkiewicz often appears on RT and is quoted by other news outlets, yet is rarely identified as a board member of Vladimir Putin’s Valdai Discussion Club or the Canada Russia Eurasia Business Association (CERBA) — both of which are Kremlin-sponsored groups. Dutkewicz recently joined the chorus of Russian state media to complain that the appointment of Chrystia Freeland as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs “will further diminish our capacity in the forum of international relations.”

Also on the CERBA board and CEO of a Russian mining company, Silver Bear, is former Canadian Ambassador to Russia, Chris Westdal. The former diplomat publicly rejects the need for Canada to place sanctions on corrupt Russian officials and human rights abusers in the form of Magnitsky legislation. “Magnitsky-style sanctions make no sense for Canada,” he wrote in a recent opinion piece.

These former diplomats and academics are not alone; they are joined by “grassroots” organizations that have been manufactured with the aid of Kremlin dollars and resources. NOD, a rabidly pro-Putin and neo-fascist group that calls for the reinstatement of the Soviet constitution and borders — even by force — has set up in Canada and even has two Facebook pages dedicated to its cause.

To respond to these growing threats and to protect Canada’s democracy from the sort of assault that is occurring in the United States, Canada must consider developing and funding a strategic communications office to monitor and alert Canadians to manipulation, disinformation and fake news threats.

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Such a department, created within or jointly between Global Affairs, National Defence and Public Safety, must promote long term media literacy and awareness. Without a co-ordinated response, authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, will take advantage of our democracy and freedoms to spread confusion and disinformation to undermine those same principles.

Marcus Kolga is a documentary filmmaker, writer, strategic communications expert and human rights advocate and Canadian adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Group on Russian Human Rights and Justice for Sergei Magnitsky. He is the publisher of UpNorth.eu.

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