Environment and Climate Change Canada is responding to online reports it says are falsely accusing the ministry of recruiting agents to monitor climate change.
“We are aware of some misleading reports on social media suggesting that we are creating a new app feature,” the ministry wrote in a series of tweets on Thursday.
“This is false and the record needs to be set straight.”
The tweets also addressed claims about a replacement facility for environmental officers in Winnipeg.
According to an article published more than a week ago by The Counter Signal, a far-right publication, the “new” office will feature an “armory” of firearms, interrogation rooms, “biological laboratories” and of “controlled tranquility”.
The article included plans showing areas labeled “firearms storage,” “intelligence,” and “controlled tranquility.”
“The plans…open a window [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau’s future plans for climate enforcement,” the article states.
1/9 We are aware of some misleading reports on social media suggesting that we are building a new app feature. This is false and the record should be fixed. pic.twitter.com/cniVCHsyC5
—@environmentca
The ministry said in tweets that the plans shared on social media are real and that the office is in the process of moving to a new location in Winnipeg.
“But the way the facility is described is completely false,” the ministry said. “Our enforcement officers are professional, dedicated and highly trained, and we are proud of the work they do every day to protect Canada’s environment, wildlife and habitats.”
Plans for the plant were shared publicly in July 2021 as part of a procurement process seeking renovation services, the ministry said in an emailed statement to CBC News.
The enforcement branch dates back to 2008
The article alleged that the ministry’s job ad on indeed.com seeks to recruit “a battalion of climate ‘pollution’ officers.”
The ministry’s job advertisement is titled “Enforcement Officer – Environmental Compliance (Pollution) – Development Programme”.
The announcement states that the ministry’s enforcement branch ensures compliance with various laws that seek to protect the natural environment and its biodiversity.
“Our enforcement responsibilities cover more than 60 regulations,” the ministry added in its statement.
In 2015, for example, the ministry fined a construction company in Windsor, Ont., $7,500 for destroying swallow nests and eggs following an inspection by an environmental officer.
The enforcement branch dates back to 2008, regularly hires and is in the process of hiring new officers to maintain its existing workforce, the ministry said in tweets.
“Our officers enforce many federal environmental laws that prevent pollution and protect Canada’s wildlife and biodiversity,” the ministry said in one of its tweets.
“They are not climate change enforcement officers. Our environmental officers spend most of their time enforcing legislation and regulations that prevent pollution, such as the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act” .
The UCP candidate jumps on the “Climate Police” report.
According to the announcement, security officers must wear uniforms and officer safety equipment, including body armor, handcuffs, batons and prohibited weapons such as pepper spray.
Four days after the article was published, in a tweet on August 27 linking to the job advert, one of seven people vying to become the new leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) of Alberta accused Trudeau of hiring “climate change enforcement agents.”
“As premier, we will not allow any federal climate police to operate in Alberta under the Alberta Sovereignty Act,” said Danielle Smith.
Smith was referring to her flagship campaign proposal, which she said would give Alberta the power to refuse to enforce federal laws and policies not considered to be in the province’s best interests.
Smith’s tweet included a fake ad for “Justin Trudeau’s Climate Police” with an image of Paul Blart’s title character: Mall Cop and a list of job perks including “wives, batons and guns.”
(Danielle Smith/Twitter)
The tweet said the ideal candidate loves Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, the “WEF” and “Greta”.
“WEF” appears to be a reference to the World Economic Forum, an international non-governmental lobby group that has been the subject of widespread political conspiracy theories. Smith’s campaign team did not clarify whether the reference to “Greta” meant Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
CBC News also asked Smith’s campaign team if it had any reaction to the ministry’s tweets.
“As Danielle has said repeatedly, she will work collaboratively with the caucus to ensure that the Sovereignty Act is drafted in accordance with sound constitutional language and principles,” a campaign spokesman said.
Environment and Climate Change Canada would not confirm to CBC News that its tweets about “misleading reporting” referred to the Counter Signal article and Smith’s tweet.
After the final UCP leadership debate on Tuesday, Smith again suggested the ministry is “hiring enforcement officers with guns to enforce”. [rules against pollution].”
Firearms intended for protection from animals: officer
An Environment and Climate Change official, who was not authorized to speak for the story, said “base stations” like the one in Winnipeg serve as headquarters for both wildlife enforcement officers and environmental
While some wildlife officers may carry licensed shotguns as protection against predatory animals, environmental officers are not armed “under any circumstances,” he said.
Firearms storage areas like the one shown in the plan are needed “if they ever have to detain or confiscate guns if they come across poachers or someone doing illegal activities,” the official said.
Laboratories are needed for dissections of wild birds, he added.
“These are the types of facilities that already exist across the country,” he said. “There are dozens of them. They’ve been around for a long time.”
Department officers working on the files usually take statements from witnesses that require designated interview rooms, the ministry said in its statement.
“There are also areas for the secure storage of samples. Some offices have small enclosed ‘quiet rooms’ which are used for work that requires a high degree of concentration and where officers can work without interruption” .
“How Conspiracy Theories Are Made”
The article went on to link the “climate police armoury” to an incident last month in which the ministry said a landowner told water scientists they were taking samples near a road in Saskatchewan which were in fact on private land.
The Saskatchewan government accused Ottawa of trespassing.
The article also said the federal government intends to “reduce fertilizer use on Canadian farms,” a claim previously made by conservative pundits and politicians.
This is not what the government has said it intends to do. While Ottawa has pledged to cut fertilizer emissions by 30 percent, it has also pledged to meet that goal without resorting to a mandatory reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use.
Ahmed Al-Rawi, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University who studies online extremist movements, said the article got one fact: plans for a newly located enforcement office, and “from there [proceeded] with a lot of … imagination to build an entire narrative around a so-called secret plan to control people or harm people.”
“That’s how conspiracy theories are really manufactured,” he said.