Indigenous activists, leaders in Manitoba were monitored as part of historic RCMP 'Native extremism program'

Two future national First Nations leaders, a deputy premier and a city councillor are among the prominent Manitobans who appear in declassified intelligence files from years of RCMP spying on the Indigenous rights movement in the Cold War era. 

Former Assembly of First Nations national chiefs Phil Fontaine and Ovide Mercredi, who are from First Nations within Manitoba, appear in the RCMP Security Service intelligence files. So does Eric Robinson, who went on to become a Manitoba cabinet minister and deputy premier.

The files show the RCMP conducted secret surveillance on hundreds of Indigenous leaders and dozens of organizations through a ‘Native extremism program' between the late 1960s and early 1980s. CBC Indigenous obtained the newly declassified documents through access-to-information requests.

Cree lawyer Kenneth Young's name shows up once in a newspaper clipping among the thousands of pages of documents.

"I think what was going on at that time was an overreaction by Canada, in my opinion," said Young, who's from Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

The documents indicate that, at the time, the RCMP was gripped by fear that Canadian Indigenous leaders, including those in Manitoba, could become subversive or violent and were susceptible to influences of communists, Black activists or Indigenous groups in the United States.

The files reveal an extensive effort to disrupt legitimate Indigenous political organizations, due in part to concerns their activities could turn violent.

"I do know that certain people were being watched by the authorities," Young said.

Officers across the country created intelligence dossiers filled with files and newspaper clippings. They also used wiretaps and paid informants.

The documents reveal Mounties in Manitoba were keeping tabs on the Manitoba Métis  Federation and the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, which is now the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

In 1972, the security service had a file on the late Dave Courchene, a founder and the first president of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood. It said Courchene "could cause embarrassment" but "is not considered violent or dangerous." 

Verna Kirkness, a former education director with the National Indian Brotherhood — which evolved into the Assembly of First Nations — is also named.

The Cree scholar from Fisher River Cree Nation had "no idea at all" why her name would be in the intelligence files.

Rev. Adam Cuthand, the first president of the MMF, also appears in the documents. The organization's current president, David Chartrand, called the spy program "shameful."