A story published on Russian state media platform Sputnik conflates the economic stresses caused by COVID lockdowns with a non-existent Canadian “mass-immigration” program.
The Sputnik article blatantly fabricates supposed connections between immigration and falling business revenues stating that “[businesses are] obviously struggling to survive and paying taxes, but the Trudeau government still wants to spend tax dollars on mass immigration programmes. Do you think Canadians see a connection there, and, if so, what is their reaction?”
Promoting division and stoking fear based on narratives about “uncontrolled immigration” is a staple of Russian disinformation, intended to polarize targeted societies.
Immigration is frequently presented by Russian state media “as the evil force that will soon destroy ‘weak’ European countries” and Canada. The “Lisa case” , where Russian state media fabricated the story of a German girl being raped by a gang of refugees, was intended to stoke hate towards the growing Syrian refugee population in Europe.
A series of false stories claiming that Justin Trudeau begged various African states for “one million immigrants” were widely spread in 2019 and were exposed by fact checkers.
