ingealieme lh she nals lmala smal se in hm a Ls tamin stn tania TL Li Joa LILLE TLL | By TOM MORRIS Each evening’s broadcast and each morning's newspaper brings fresh charges of illegal RCMP ac- tivities to add to the already mile-high heap. The further this scandal goes, the deeper becomes the involvement of police and government in spying, harass- ment, provocation, theft, arson and blackmail. Not only is illegal police activ- ity involved here. Heavy pressure is being placed on the government to reveal the extent of its role in such anti-democratic and illegal operations. The question of who runs the police is being asked. Some key issues have come to light since the admissions that the Redcoats broke into APQL of- jices in Montreal, stole dynamite and burned down a barn to pre- vent a meeting from taking place. What began as an inquiry into these specific actions (admitted to by the police), has now grown into a country-wide scandal. A TANGLED WEB Evidence shows a tangled web of RCMP spying on legal and democratic organizations. The Force’s eyes, ears: and dirty hands have been on political par- ties, unions, Native people’s or- ganizations, the CBC, members of Parliament, other police forces, student groups, news agencies and immigrants. Its methods have included pro- voking dissent within groups, opening private mail, bugging telephones, stealing lists of names, breaking into homes and offices, trailing people, photo- graphing strikes, meetings and demonstrations, _ infiltrating groups, sending anonymous let- ters and making anonymous phone calls, stealing explosives, burning buildings, using personal medical files and income tax re- turns for blackmail purposes. Put poli The following letter, re- printed from the Sept. 12 Tribune, raises key mat- ters concerning the role of the RCMP. It was sent to the Prime Minister and calls for effective supervi- sion and control over the mounties and the military security services. TORONTO — In a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Aug. 29, the leader of the Communist Party of Canada, William Kash- tan urged that the terms of refer- ence of the commission inves- tigating the illegal activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police © be broadened. “Public concern about the il- legitimate activities of the RCMP has compelled your government to establish a commission to look into the actions of the RCMP in connection with the illegal break- in in Montreal as well as in Toron- to,"’ Kashtan reminded the PM. He said his party believed the commission should be authorized to examine ‘‘the disturbing facts Fox connie RCMP entries | Secret RCMP paper shows break-in role CH hoe a ing top sec! was alse bed “pri minutes By DON DUTTON Star statt wetter The RCMP uses Helgara:- names such as ‘‘Operation Odd Job’, ‘‘Bricolage’’, ‘‘Operation 300°’, *‘ Vampire’’, ‘““Dragon”’ and ‘*Puma’’. Its ‘‘G-4’’ section or dirty tricks unit is designed to use “disruptive tactics’’, exploit ‘‘character weaknesses’’ and compile extensive personal data on people for possible use later. GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI In short, the RCMP has be- come a force unto itself complete with the needed ingredients — government collusion and a de- veloped network. It has become a Geheime Staatspolizei, simply the *‘Secret State Police’’ — Ges- tapo for short. Indeed, several * about RCMP. activities against members of parliament, against other Canadians; and not least, against legal political parties.”’ Major excerpts from the letter ~ follow: “In the last few weeks the Globe and Mail ran a series of articles about the activities of the RCMP against what it called ‘subversive elements’. These so-called subversive elements have included members of the New Democratic Party, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the National Far- mers Union, the Indian move- ment and presumably others in the trade union and democratic movements throughout Canada. “In the latest article on the sub- ject dated Aug. 25, spokesmen of the RCMP have publicly declared that a prime target of RCMP scrutiny has been the NDP, the excuse or reason being that Communists were trying to in- filtrate the NDP. This of couse is so much nonsense. A Legal Party ‘The Communist Party of Canada is a legal political party with its own Program and policies for which it strives to win support among wide ‘Sections of the PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 25, 1977—Page 6 ice under sul Aneumentation —__p Tdon’t wa prominent Canadians have ex- pressed fears that permitting the RCMP such unchecked latitude can lead to a police state with its attending horrors. The RCMP’s present prob- lems, that is, having its dirty op- erations exposed to daylight, have produced several reactions. Democratic-minded Canadians are condemning such acts and methods and demanding that Par- liament put the force under con- trol. Many are angered and shocked to discover they, too, have been singled out for police attention. Trudeau’s government, with typical arrogance, first denies people and does not have to in- fitrate other political parties. It makes no secret of the fact that its’ aim is to win the majority of Canadians for the achievement of a socialist Canada. Why does the RCMP hierarchy call this subver- sive? Why has it decided to en- gage in red baiting against a legitimate political trend and a legal political party? ‘“‘It now turns out that in the name of combatting ‘subversion’, the RCMP paid particular atten- tion to those members of the NDP who called themselves Wafflers, a name given them by the editors of the Globe and Mail. ‘*How is one to explain this bias against the democratic, trade union and farm movements by the RCMP? ‘*The author of the Globe and - Mail series on the RCMP and the security lists, a Mr. Lawrence Martin, is quoted as saying that in the early 1970s ‘there was an anx- - iety bordering on paranoia in the RCMP hierarchy with regard to the activity of radical groups. Prevalent in the force was a right-wing attitude nurturing un- realistic fears about certain people in the NDP, they say’. ‘Anxiety bordering on _ into private premises. knowledge. Then, faced with proof, squirms, stonewalls and evades. The government launches its counterattack — ask- ing for tougher laws to permit the police wider scope; defends pry- ing into people’s mail and breaking Cry; babies’’, Trudeau calls MPs who ask him to come clean. NATIONAL SECURITY Solicitor-General Fox, Justice Minister Basford and other cronies in the Liberal cabinet close ranks. They decry public in- terference into the RCMP and drag out the -‘‘cherished and time-honored name’’ of The Force. They throw about such paranoia’! Wasn’t Hitler afflicted with that disease? “Right wing at- titudes’. Is this not a revealing statement? Mr. Martin suggests this paranoia and right-wing attitude is of recent vintage and did not exist in the past. As any serious student of the question will tell you, this is simply not true. The RCMP hierarchy have always directed their energies against radical, left-wing, trade union, progres- sive and democratic movements, that is, against all those advocat- ing democratic reforms and social ‘changes. This also explains why the RCMP hierarchy have consis- tently closed their eyes to the real subversives in our midst, the ra- cists, the neo-fascists, the advo- cates of genocide, not to speak of ‘those who have systematically sold out Canada, piece by piece, to U.S. imperialism. Against Social Change. “Clearly the RCMP hierarchy considers their function to be: to uphold the status quo against so- cial change. “‘This paranoia and right-wing attitude should be cause for con- cern by all democratic Canadians. Should this not be a cause for concern by parliament and by your government also? We think ~ on picketlines, others depo ‘ phrases as ‘“‘national security “terrorist’’, “‘subversive”’, “e pionage’’, commu “‘senaratists’’. } This: strategy is not news! years past thousands were rested by the RCMP for dems : ing jobs and organizing uniol People were killed and wount and jailed. The RCMP, magnificent Force, has a long tory of brutality against our tive people, trade unions # progressive organizations. _ Many Canadians, have wort alifetime to build this country #” have been denied citizenship cause of RCMP files and repol? Others have spent years being! timidated for their beliefs and4 tivities because they struggled! social change and a better lifes : their children. 7 Then, too, the governme ‘shouted ‘‘communist!’’?, “SY versive’’ and “‘terrorist’’. BIGGER ISSUES The attitude of this governm® is chilling. Caught as it is in aS? did mess, its response is to fig back with smears and ratioml for indefensible actions by F police and military. Trudea government has clearly sho vo has, does, and plans to contif to use the state apparatus to 5¥_ all dissent under police sur Lg lance. j More than this — the gov | ment wants. more police pow’ more control over all dissé more shackling of the labor! democratic movement and i viduals who may not agree ¥ government policy. It hopes turn the debacle into an aey tage by raising the cry of tional security’’. It hopes t0 = the situation to bring in new ™ ressive laws. Clearly the deer. issues at stake in this pre scandal have yet to be settled: so. The matter ought not to! passed over lightly. “‘Ttis a matter of public con when the RCMP take upon the! j selves the right to decide whe™ % a political party is legitimate © what opinions Canadians ™ hold and espouse. To. folld through the implications of f RCMP surveillance of the flers, the RCMP apparently sider it to be their task, to political parties free of left Wit democratic and socialist 44 fluences. Before long, the LIM i) Party, as all other parties, W' have to insert in their statements or advertiseme™ ‘approved by the RCMP’. Path of Authoritarianis™ ¢ ‘The illegal and highly Uly ” mocratic actions of the RC lt show how far Canada has /4 down the path of “ge te ( 3 in the name of an alleged thre; © its security, and how neces is to reverse this process belo x is too late.” ite th It was at this point in the let if th that Kashtan called for the |, tj pointed commission to study R RCMP’s surveillance of politi? m parties. The letter continued: i. ‘Last May, your govern fh ac stated it ‘does not want the