Convoy ‘intel reports’ accuse police, politicians of creating ‘space’ for violence

Convoy documents obtained by Global News accuse police 'creating a political space where violence can occur,' while security expert suggests 'intel reports' are 'pure propaganda.'

In the version of events being shared among the Ottawa protest organizers, the convoy is the real victim.

It is police and progressive politicians – not the protesters who have made downtown Ottawa a parking lot for 13 days – who are “creating a political space where violence can occur.”

The reams of reporting detailing harassment, racism and white supremacist involvement are dismissed as a “smear campaign” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Ottawa’s mayor and the police chief. It was anti-fascists, not individuals associated with the protest convoy, responsible for harassing a downtown homeless shelter.

This version of events is not supported by facts, or by the hundreds of videos and first-person accounts documenting the protest. But it is detailed at length in “intelligence briefs” prepared for convoy supporters and obtained by Global News.

The documents were included in an unsecured Google Drive that made the rounds with reporters and Canadian national security observers Thursday. The purported author of the daily “intel reports” – Tom Quiggin, an independent researcher who formerly worked with the Canadian government – did not respond to multiple emails from Global News.

“This is pure propaganda,” said Stephanie Carvin, a Carleton University professor and former analyst with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

“It’s a way for the movement to reinforce its own narrative … (that) anything that happens that’s violent isn’t the convoy or the protesters, it’s (anti-fascists).”

Quiggin, who styles himself as an “intelligence analyst and court expert” but is widely dismissed by Canadian national security experts, recently described his role as providing “protective intelligence” for the convoy crew.