Former AFN Chief Takes on Ottawa Over Decades of Indigenous Surveillance
Canada is bracing for a legal fight after former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Ovide Mercredi announced his intention to sue the federal government over a secret RCMP program that spied on Indigenous leaders for decades.
The move comes in the wake of a bombshell CBC News investigation that exposed the RCMP's so-called "Native extremism program" — a covert surveillance operation that ran through the 1970s and monitored Indigenous leaders, activists, and communities across the country. Mercredi, who served as AFN National Chief from 1991 to 1997, says he was among those targeted — and what he's now learning is that the spying extended well beyond that era.
What the RCMP's Surveillance Program Involved
The "Native extremism program" was a classified RCMP initiative that tracked Indigenous political leaders and organizers under the guise of national security. Critics have long argued the program was used not to address genuine threats, but to suppress Indigenous rights movements and monitor those advocating for treaty rights, land claims, and self-determination.
Mercredi says the revelation is personal. As one of the most prominent Indigenous political figures in Canadian history — a man who negotiated directly with prime ministers and helped shape the path toward reconciliation — the idea that the state was secretly watching him strikes at the heart of the trust relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Crown.
"This wasn't about safety," Mercredi told CBC News. "This was about control."
A Pattern Bigger Than the 1970s
What makes Mercredi's planned lawsuit particularly significant is that the surveillance, according to the CBC investigation, didn't stop with the '70s program. Documents suggest the monitoring of Indigenous leaders continued in various forms long after the original program was officially wound down — raising serious questions about how far Canada's surveillance apparatus extended into Indigenous political life.
The lawsuit, if it proceeds, could force the federal government to publicly reckon with a chapter of its history that has largely stayed in the shadows. It may also open the door for other Indigenous leaders and community members who were surveilled to seek their own legal remedies.
Reconciliation Under the Microscope
For many Indigenous Canadians, the revelations are painful but not surprising. Canada has a well-documented history of state interference in Indigenous communities — from residential schools to the Sixties Scoop — and the RCMP surveillance program fits a familiar pattern of treating Indigenous self-advocacy as a threat rather than a right.
The timing matters too. Canada is still in the middle of a national reconciliation process, with calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission still largely unimplemented. A lawsuit of this magnitude, led by one of the most recognizable figures in Indigenous politics, has the potential to reignite public debate about how far the country still has to go.
Mercredi's legal action is still in its early stages, but the message is clear: the past has a long reach, and some wrongs demand accountability — no matter how many decades have passed.
Source: CBC News Top Stories. Read the original investigation
