CIA activities in Canada
It has been traditionally believed that any U.S. Central Intelligence Agency activity in Canada would be undertaken with the "general consent" of the Canadian government, and through the 1950s information was freely given to the CIA in return for information from the United States.[1][2] However, traditionally Canada has refused to voice any anger even when it was clear that the CIA was operating without any authorisation.[3]
Apologists have noted that Canada was vital to CIA operations as it "physically occupied the territory between the United States and the Soviet Union.[4] However, on May 28, 1975 Solicitor General Warren Allmand directed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to begin investigating the levels of CIA involvement in Canadian affairs.[5]
Today, the country continues to cooperate with the CIA, enabling their black sites, allowing ghost planes to land and refuel in Canada, en route to delivering prisoners to unknown locations.[6] The Canadian counterpart of the CIA is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and its agency heavily cooperates with the CIA.
Project MKULTRA
The CIA convinced the
The experiments were exported to Canada when the CIA recruited Scottish psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, creator of the "psychic driving" concept, which the CIA found particularly interesting. Cameron had been hoping to correct schizophrenia by erasing existing memories and reprogramming the psyche. He commuted from Albany, New York to Montreal every week and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 to carry out MKULTRA experiments there. In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy at thirty to forty times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced coma for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum depression, many of whom suffered permanently from his actions.[8] His treatments resulted in victims' incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents, and thinking their interrogators were their parents.[9][10]
When lawsuits commenced in 1986, the Canadian government denied having any knowledge that Cameron was being sponsored by the CIA.[11]
Possible manipulation of political affairs
When the
In 1961, the CIA wrote an intelligence estimate titled "Trends in Canadian Foreign Policy" which suggested that the
In 1982, Canadian
Later development
By 1964, the CIA also closely monitored the Canadian wheat industry, as the United States hoped to sell wheat to the
An indication of the United States' close operational cooperation with Canada is the creation of a new message distribution label within the main US military communications network. Previously, the marking of NOFORN (i.e., no foreign nationals) required the originator to specify which, if any, non-US countries could receive the information. A new handling caveat, USA/AUS/CAN/GBR/NZL eyes only, used primarily on intelligence messages, gives an easier way to indicate that the material can be shared with the Five Eyes members.[19]
Aware that the Canadian
As of 2006, Canada had allowed 76 CIA flights to use the country's airbases, primarily in
References
- ^ Vienneau, David. Toronto Star, "No secrets hidden from CIA in 1950s, former official says", April 14, 1986
- Canadian Institute of International Affairs, "International Journal, 1972"
- ^ Sawatsky, John. "Men in the Shadows: The RCMP Security Service", 1980. p. 5
- ^ a b Mount, Graeme Stewart. Canada's Enemies", p. 117
- ^ Buncher, Judith F. "The CIA and the Security Debate", 1976
- ^ a b USA Today, Declassified memos show 74 CIA air landings in Canada, February 23, 2006
- ^ Cawley, Janet. Chicago Tribune, Brainwash tests in '57 haunt CIA[permanent dead link], June 1, 1986
- ^ Marks 1979: pp 140–150.
- ^ Turbide, Diane (1997-04-21). "Dr. Cameron's Casualties". Retrieved 2007-09-09.
- ISBN 1-55013-932-0.
- ^ Vienneau, David. Toronto Star, Ottawa unaware CIA funded tests, new report says Archived 2012-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, May 8, 1986
- ^ Nickerson, Colin. The Boston Globe, How Canadian fighter plane fell to earth Archived 2012-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, January 12, 1997
- ^ Thompson, John Herd. "Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies", p. 217
- ^ The New York Times, Canada to check hint of meddling by CIA in 62-63, March 2, 1967
- ^ Ward, Peter. The Boston Globe, "Canada: CIA Probed", May 23, 1982
- ^ The Christian Science Monitor, Canada says study of CIA shows no vote rigging
- ^ Trumbull, Robert. The New York Times, Mounties of Canada are linked with CIA, November 25, 1977
- ^ Valpy, Michael. The Globe and Mail, Canada's man in Tehran was a CIA spy, January 23, 2010
- ^ US Defense Information Services Agency (19 March 1999). "DMS [Defense Messaging Service] GENSER [General Service] Message Security Classifications, Categories, and Marking Phrase Requirements Version 1.2" (PDF).
- ^ CBC, CIA paid me to spy, Abdurahman Khadr, March 5, 2004
- Shepherd, Michelle, Toronto Star, Abdullah Khadr must be extradited to U.S., government lawyers argue, April 9, 2010