By: Janet E Silver
“One in two Canadians are using online platforms as their number one source of information.” That's according to Trevor Potts, Director of Research and Policy at Evidence for Democracy, a grassroots group advocating for the use of scientific data in policy decisions.
Recent studies show more Canadians are turning to social media for their news and information, where they can encounter mis-and disinformation, that may include the use of artificial intelligence.
The Canadian government defines disinformation as “false information deliberately intended to mislead…sometimes called 'fake news.'”
Potts says the mis-and disinformation found online is disproportionately harming marginalized communities and racialized people across the country. Diaspora communities in Canada are also subject to threats and disinformation from foreign governments.
Gloria Fung, past-president of the Canada-Hong Kong Link, came to Canada a few months after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. While she lived in Hong Kong, Fung worked for the pro-democracy movement and continues to do so to this day.
“I have constantly been receiving calls threatening my safety if I continue to…meddle in the Hong Kong and China affairs,” Fung told CPAC. She is not alone. Moninder Singh, National Spokesperson for the Sikh Federation of Canada, has been threatened many times over the last four years, including threats to assassinate his wife and two children. Iranian, Eastern European and Russian immigrants, pro-democracy advocates are also targeted, as are community leaders and politicians.
Conservative MP Michael Chong was targeted by the Chinese government during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. He wants the federal government to release more information about disinformation operations by foreign actors so the public is informed and can make decisions based on this information.
“Our first instinct should be to build resilience in our society and equip citizens with the tools they need to consume information. We have to balance the right to free expression with the need to counter disinformation operations,” Chong said.
Aengus Bridgman, Assistant Professor, Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University in Montreal, says each country has its own playbook for spreading disinformation in Canada. The Russian model targets Western countries and the general population using fake websites and social media to push and encourage specific stories. The Chinese model targets the diaspora community in their native language on social media and in person. Iranian and Indian state actors do not have a specific playbook and use slightly different models, which Bridgman says may include in-person attacks.
In September 2023, the federal government established the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference led by Commissioner Justice Marie-Josée Hogue. The inquiry studied interference by China, Russia and other foreign states in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Hogue found that the act of transnational repression has become a “genuine scourge” to the democratic process in Canada and that “information manipulation (whether foreign or not) poses the biggest risk to our democracy.”
Hogue recommended in her final report in January 2025 a number of actions the government should take to counter transnational repression. In response, the government put forth the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act and Regulations, which came into force on August 4, naming Anton Boegman as the Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.
“We are empowering Canadians with greater insight into how influence is exercised, on whose behalf, and how public decision-making may be shaped, while strengthening confidence in our democratic institutions,” Boegman said in a statement following his official appointment.
While the diaspora community welcomes this step by the federal government, they also want the government to provide media literacy training to help communities detect disinformation campaigns. They also want the government to make social media companies more accountable and to make it easier to identify when AI is being used online.
Hogue's report echoes this.
“The government should consider requiring news and social media outlets to label altered content. The government should explore existing technologies and consider assisting civil society organizations (such as media observatories and universities) to develop a publicly available tool to help citizens verify whether digital content is fabricated or altered,” Justice Hogue recommended.
“We live in a very complicated world now, from foreign interference challenges to our media ecosystem, to changing how we design these technologies, how we consume information. It’s the public trust in our institutions, and democracy is under threat,” Potts said.
CPAC will air an eight-part series on Our Information Ecosystem over the coming months. Part one, Disinformation and Canada's Diaspora Communities, airs on September 27 at 5:30 p.m. ET. See it on CPAC.
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
