Chrystia Freeland Is Not Endangering Canadian Democracy or ‘Engaging in COVID bioterrorism’
Over the past year, malign foreign state media and social media accounts that promote foreign disinformation and conspiracy theories have suggested that Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland are working with foreign governments and elites to use the COVID pandemic to control the world economy.
Some of these conspiracy theories point to Chrystia Freeland’s roles as a trustee and supervisory board member of two non-profit organizations, the Aspen Institute Kyiv and the World Economic Forum, to support their wild claims.
While criticism of policies developed and promoted by the World Economic Forum and the role of elected officials on their Board of Trustees should be freely debated, suggestions that elected officials could be “endangering Canadian democracy” by participating in such organizations – especially when referenced alongside the “Great Reset” conspiracy – may unwittingly and unintentionally help legitimize anti-elite and anti-government conspiracy theories.
A recent article with such a headline was retweeted by a pro-Kremlin account dedicated to attacking critics of the Putin regime.
The Aspen Institute is a non-profit organization set up in 1949 in the United States. According to the the Aspen Institute in Kyiv’s “about us” page, the organization “is a Ukrainian non-partisan public association that supports the formation of value-oriented leadership, promotes a culture of dialogue and creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas.”
The World Economic Forum was established in 1971. Its mission states that it is a “not-for-profit foundation,” and “is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests.” There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that the World Economic Forum is part of an elite conspiracy to control the world.
The World Economic Forum is often cited in conspiracy theories that have been spun out of the organization’s legitimate “great reset” dialogue for aiding COVID-19 recovery. The “Great Reset” conspiracy theory claims that an elite group of world leaders are orchestrating the COVID-19 pandemic in order to control the world economy. Conspiracy theorists claim that the World Economic Forum is a primary platform which is being used to stage this fabricated take-over. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland were shoved into the conspiracy when Trudeau mentioned a “reset” during a UN meeting last summer. The conspiracy has expanded to claim that world governments are using COVID as a cover to secretly advance socialist and environmental policies.
Russian state media and pro-Kremlin conspiracy platforms have actively promoted the “great reset” conspiracy. Global Research, a Canadian conspiracy theory platform that was recently identified by the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) as “deeply enmeshed in Russia’s broader disinformation and propaganda ecosystem,” has promoted the “Great Reset” conspiracy. The article was initially published by Strategic Culture, which the GEC has identified as “an online journal registered in Russia that is directed by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).”
Conspiracy theorists have even claimed that the loveable Muppet from the popular children’s television program Sesame Street, Grover, was being used by the World Economic Forum to “brainwash” children about accepting restrictions on their freedoms.
It should be noted that the World Economic Forum has no authority to tell any government what to do nor is it organizing a cabal of foreign leaders to take over the world.
A Canadian Twitter account that has long been publishing and amplifying these conspiracy theories, PressCore, was recently suspended for violating Twitters terms. The same account has made the following claims and accusations:
- Accused Justin Trudeau of murdering a Toronto couple, Barry and Honey Sherman.
- Accused Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland engaging in “COVID-19 bioterrorism (terrorism).”
- Claimed that the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians was investigating Chrystia Freeland for sharing secrets with “foreign states/actors.”
- Claims Chrystia Freeland is a German mole who is looking for an “excuse to deploy CAF troops for a domestic operation (high treason).”
- Former Justice Minister Peter Mackay, former CSIS Director “Michel Coulombe, RCMP COM Bob Paulson, Governor General David Johnston & #RCMP Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers… All committed treason against Canada.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has in the past undertaken efforts to discredit Chrystia Freeland. In 2018, the Russian Embassy in Canada promoted conspiratorial disinformation narratives that were intended to paint the then Minister of Foreign Affairs as a Nazi apologist – a classic Soviet Cold War era covert active measures tactic that is frequently used by modern Russian propagandists to promote hate towards and discredit critics of the Putin regime.
Chinese Government Vaccine Propaganda Shared on Canadian Chinese Community Forums
Chinese state media and government-associated social media accounts have intensified their campaign to undermine public trust in western vaccines in late January 2021.
The campaign coincides with the arrival of WHO officials who travelled to Wuhan to investigate the early outbreak of COVID-19 and may be intended to deflect attention from it. Recent western media criticism about the efficacy of China’s COVID-19 vaccine is another likely motivating factor for Chinese officials who are irritated by the negative media exposure.
An anchor with Chinese state media television broadcaster CGTN asked Western media why they had not followed up on deaths related to western vaccines – further promoting the false narrative that western vaccines were unreliable. Parenthetically, CGTN’s licence to broadcast in the UK was revoked on Feb 4, 2021.
The Chinese state disinformation narratives have spread to local Canadian online Chinese language media. Posts on the YorkBBS website echo Chinese government disinformation about western vaccines. According to the website, YorkBBS is the most influential Chinese network in Canada and the biggest social media platform in Canada for Chinese Canadians. It currently has 840,000 registered members as stated in their about section.
Norway had indeed reported deaths after vaccination. Yet Norwegian officials have concluded there is no evidence of a direct link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the recent deaths.
Another post suggests that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will vaccinate all Chinese citizens in Canada with its domestically produced vaccine. The post has caused confusion in the Chinese speaking community with users asking if the hypothetical Chinese government sponsored vaccinations will be distributed at the Chinese embassy or elsewhere. The post fails to mention that the Canadian government has not approved any vaccines produced in China. Therefore, anyone seeking a Chinese produced vaccine would have to travel to China.
On January 29, 2021, Chinese government spokesman Zhao Lijian mentioned that some Chinese citizens in the UAE and Serbia are receiving the Chinese vaccine and that China is lobbying to have the vaccine approved in other countries to get their citizens vaccinated. This is part of China’s soft power vaccine diplomacy and propaganda effort designed to shore up support in its global diaspora communities.
Russian State Media Seeks To Polarize Canadians By Conflating COVID Lockdown Stress With Immigration
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.
