Mary Whiteduck of Barriere Lake, Que., in this 2008 file photo. The community of about 450 people, north of Ottawa, has never held a one-member, one-vote election.
Canada's spy service is probing the potential for violence stemming from the government's decision to impose elections on a turbulent Quebec native reserve.
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl issued notice in April that the Algonquins of Barriere Lake will have to elect a new chief and council under electoral rules set out in the Indian Act. Barriere Lake, a community of about 450 people 300 kilometres north of Ottawa, has never held a one-member, one-vote election, instead preferring customary elections led by a council of elders.
The right to hold elections according to band custom is well established in Canada, but Barriere Lake has been paralyzed by electoral battles for the last four years. In April, the federal government, for only the third time, invoked Section 74 of the Indian Act, which allows the minister to force an election whenever he deems it "advisable for the good government of a band."
The decision has sparked fears of violence. In 2008, community members blocked a highway to draw attention to their dispute with the government, which has become something of a cause-célèbre among left-wing activists.
The speed with which the federal and Ontario governments moved to negotiate an HST exemption for natives when confronted with the possibility of blockades illustrates how seriously such threats are taken.
Two agents of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service visited Barriere Lake solidarity network organizer Martin Lukacs in Montreal shortly after the government's decision to order a new election.
Mr. Lukacs said the agents, a man and woman dressed in conservative business suits, wanted to assess community reaction to the government's intervention. One handed him a plain business card with her name and phone number.
"I think [CSIS]understands this is a very serious escalation and an attack on the community's rights," Mr. Lukacs said. "CSIS and the federal government tend to portray civil disobedience and non-violent direct action like logging and highway blockades as violence. I think CSIS wanted to get a read on that and that's why they came to me."
Mr. Lukacs said the agents spoke to him for about 10 minutes, encouraged him not to tell anyone about their meeting, and assured him that any information he provided would be confidential. They told him they were concerned about the possibility of violence at Barriere Lake. Several hours later, Mr. Lukacs said, his roommate stumbled upon the male CSIS agent outside their apartment rummaging through a recycling bin, though CSIS denied the allegation when Mr. Lukacs complained.
CSIS would neither confirm nor deny its investigation, but a phone call to the number on the agent's card was returned by the CSIS national media liaison.
Ron Atkey, a former chairman of the Canadian Security Intelligence Review Committee, the body that oversees CSIS, said the spy agency is engaging in legitimate intelligence-gathering that doesn't exceed its mandate. Mr. Lukacs's group is not likely considered a top-level security concern, he said, but it would have been approved for further investigation by a target assessment review committee.
"If the group has been shown to be prone to violence or destruction of property, which includes impeding public highways, they can collect information. They can't threaten, they can't arrest, but they can collect information," Mr. Atkey said.
Rival factions have been locked in a struggle for control of Barriere Lake, with one side led by former chief Jean Maurice Matchewan and the other by Casey Ratt. Mr. Ratt's house burned down in suspicious circumstances in 2008 after he was accused of hijacking an election. Mr. Matchewan's supporters led a series of blockades of Highway 117 north of Ottawa later that year, which led to the arrest of several community members.
The dispute revolves around competing visions for the community's future. The Matchewan group is focused on seeing a 1991 trilateral agreement on resource management honoured by the federal and provincial governments. Mr. Ratt and his supporters disagree with their opponents' confrontational tactics.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Strahl said the government, which has appointed an electoral officer to oversee elections on Aug. 19, believes effective governance is based on a stable selection process.
"A transparent process for selecting leaders is the only viable way to resolve long-standing governance issues affecting the Barriere Lake community," the spokeswoman said.