'They follow us everywhere': Canadian citizens accuse Algeria of spying, intimidation at home

Kamal Sehaki thought he could finally live freely when he moved to Canada in 2018.  

The Gatineau, Que., resident never guessed that his Kabyle origins would catch up to him, making him a target of the Algerian authorities on Canadian soil.

The Kabyles are part of the larger Amazigh or Berber family of Indigenous North Africans. They have their own language and culture, and some advocate for the creation of an independent state in a mountainous coastal region of northern Algeria.

Sehaki, a 36-year-old artist, learned the hard way that anyone associated with this independence movement risks reprisal from the Algerian government.

It all started with an unusual offer.

"I received a call recently from a member of the Algerian consulate in Montreal," he said.

Sehaki, winner of international awards for his short films, said the man suggested the Algerian government could help boost Sehaki's career and offered him an appointment at the consulate.

Suspicious, the artist agreed to meet, but only in a public place. 

They met last month in a Montreal restaurant, where two of Sehaki's friends sat discreetly a few tables away and took a photo.

Radio-Canada was unable to confirm that the man in the photo works for the Algerian consulate in Montreal, but other members of the Kabyle community in Canada told Radio-Canada about being summoned to the Algerian Consulate and Embassy in Ottawa.

The Algerian Embassy did not respond to our requests for an interview, and did not provide a written response to the allegations raised by members of the Kabyle community.

According to Sehaki, his art was not the focus of the meeting in Montreal. 

Instead, the conversation revolved around his links to the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK). The MAK's Canadian chapter has organized demonstrations in Montreal and Ottawa to demand the release of political prisoners in Algeria.

"He pulls out the exact dates. He says, 'You filmed the MAK demonstrations on such and such dates, such and such places.' I say, 'Yes, but I'm an artist, I'm a cameraman. If someone calls me, it's my job,'" he recounted.