Blacklock’s Reporter says despite the controversy, Government House Leader Karina Gould, who launched the “Digital Citizen Initiative” in 2019, offered no comment.
One taxpayer-funded project alleged, “Efforts to reclaim Canadian history as a white, middle-class colonial space with firm cultural connections to Britain have jumped from fringe accounts into the mainstream and have been in evidence in the campaign rhetoric of the Canadian People’s Party and Conservative Party.”
Researchers also suggested the “normalization of fringe views” was amplified by right-wing media.
Carleton University received $99,115 for its project titled Triangular Hate: Digital Memory, Disinformation And Transnational Traffic Between Germany, The U.S. And Canada. The research aimed to document supposed links between opposition parties and “National Socialist ideology.”
“Our research has clearly shown us there is a strong interest among far-right and populist groups in Canada to weaponize Canadiana and Canadian history in the service of acquiring adherents and mainstreaming extremist ideas and hate,” researchers wrote.
Examples cited included “hate-promoting symbols such as the Canadian Red Ensign,” the national flag before 1965.
Carleton used its funding to host workshops for teachers, including members of the Ottawa District and Catholic school boards, to guide students in identifying alleged risks posed by protest movements like the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
“It is essential that high school students acquire media literacy and history training to recognize the manipulation of the past,” said a project summary.
The study claimed the Red Ensign was co-opted as an emblem of extremism during the convoy. “During the Trucker Occupation this was fully in evidence,” wrote researchers, asserting that the convoy mirrored patterns seen in extremist movements abroad.
Simon Fraser University received $95,500 for a related project, Understanding Hate Groups’ Narratives And Conspiracy Theories In Traditional And Alternative Social Media. This research also focused on the Freedom Convoy, labeling it as a hate movement despite no charges of hate crimes being brought against any participants.
“The power of right-wing extremists, conspiracy theories, moral panics, and populism to evoke social movements has become glaringly obvious in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest that occupied the nation’s capital and various border crossings,” the researchers wrote.
Gould, who launched the Digital Citizen Initiative with $19.4 million in funding over four years, had previously said the program was designed “to help Canadians understand online disinformation and its impact on Canadian society.”
However, no parliamentary committee reviewed the projects or spending under the initiative.