The RCMP is warning the federal government about potential civil unrest coming to Canada when Canadians realize just how bleak their future economic situations are.
The warning comes in a report designated as “special operational information,” read only by RCMP officers and for the eyes of political “decision-makers” within the federal government.
A law professor at British Columbia’s Thompson Rivers University, Matt Malone, filed an access to information request and received a heavily redacted version of the report, which he published online.
“The coming period of recession will … accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” reads the report, titled Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada.
“For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live.”
The report was described as a “scanning exercise” based on “open source information” from a four month period in 2022, to highlight trends in Canada and internationally “that could have a significant effect on the Canadian government and the RCMP.”
The introduction of the report paints a dismal picture of Canada’s short-term future.
“The global community has experienced a series of crises, with COVID-19, supply-chain issues, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all sending shockwaves throughout the world,” reads the introduction.
“The situation will probably deteriorate further in the next five years, as the early effects of climate change and a global recession add their weight to the ongoing crises. Recent experience has raised the important question of how adaptable and ready RCMP Federal Policing is to new and unexpected crises.”
A section addressing climate change is left largely unredacted, showing that Canadians can expect “extreme weather events and drought” which will reduce “the global output of a variety of commodities, causing greater scarcity in developed countries.”
The report quotes French President Emmanuel Macron as having said “we are about to see the end of abundance.”
Among the coming climate catastrophes it warns of like flooding and wildfires, the report notes that Canada will also face “increasing pressure to cede Arctic territory.”
“Emergency management planning should be considered by law enforcement decision-makers to ensure continued levels of service delivery. Capacity building through attraction and retention of qualified staff remains a challenge to law enforcement,” it reads.
Aside from the coming “extreme weather crisis that will likely happen in close succession or even concurrently,” the report also warns of “paranoid populism.”
According to the report, “authoritarian movements have been on the rise in many liberal-democratic nations” as populist have been “capitalizing on the rise of political polarization and conspiracy theories” which allow them to “tailor their message to extremist movements.”
The report also warns of people having too much access to data now through social media and the internet, which will allow “private entities to develop the means to exercise undue influence over individuals and populations at an unprecedented level.”
“Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fueled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions,” reads the report.
One subheading paragraph titled “Erosion of Trust” which is located between the subheadings “Popular Resentment” and “Paranoid Populism” has been redacted altogether, with only the opening line remaining: “The past seven years have seen marked social and political polarization in the Western world.”
Additional warnings mention the coming problems of AI, deepfakes, blockchain currency, and quantum computing.
The final paragraph, titled “Next Steps” is redacted entirely.
