Carleton researchers Jeffrey Monaghan and Andrew Crosby say they found Project SITKA almost by accident as part of a wider search for government documents that illustrate surveillance techniques. After filing one of their many routine access to information requests, they found a 2015 RCMP report listing 89 indigenous rights activists who were closely profiled and monitored by the police.<\/p>\n
Created by the RCMP\u2019s National Intelligence Coordination Centre in 2014, the database originally contained 313 individuals. Those were grassroots indigenous activists. Many were deemed \u201cpassive,\u201d and were dropped from active consideration, the report says.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the 89 who showed potential for \u201ccriminality\u201d were further scrutinized and added to a database to be shared with front line officers and industry partners.<\/p>\n
Monaghan, a criminology professor at Carleton, said that this report is part of a long history of indigenous people in Canada being placed under far more scrutiny than other people.<\/p>\n
\u201cSITKA is notable because its scope is not just the really prominent actors,\u201d said Monaghan. \u201cIt shows us how much information\u2019s being accumulated, and stored.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n