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OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Canadian Special Forces conducted surveillance flights over the trucker Freedom Convoy in a spy plane capable of eavesdropping on one’s cell phone calls and tracking small movements, contrary to a military directive banning such flights.
As made known by the Ottawa Citizen on Monday, a directive from January 27 stated that Canadian Forces personnel, as well as vehicles, were to avoid the Freedom Convoy protests. Royal Canadian Air Force planes were also banned from flying over the protest.
Canada’s Department of National Defence, however, claims that the Special Forces flights over the Freedom Convoy were allowed, as the airplane they were using was a U.S.-registered bird owned by a private defense contractor.
Said National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier as reported by the Ottawa Citizen, “The amplifications provided by the RCAF through this directive did not apply to these training activities, which were contracted outside of the RCAF.”
RELATED: Trudeau gov’t tracked millions of Canadians’ movements using cell phone data: report
News first broke of the spy plane flights over the Freedom Convoy last month, when it was made known that a U.S.-registered aircraft flew multiple times over the protesters in February.
The King Air aircraft was spotted making what are known as flying loops around Ottawa on February 10. This was at the same time the trucker Freedom Convoy was in Ottawa protesting an end to all COVID mandates.
Canada’s Department of National Defence said at the time it was conducting military training operations in the area with the plane but did not say Canadian special forces were involved.
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied the plane was spying on protesters and said the plane was part of a “training exercise” which was “planned prior to, and was unrelated to the convoy protest.”
Le Bouthillier at the time also claimed the flights were not spying on the Freedom Convoy but were “training exercise that was planned prior to.”
Data gathered by Ottawa researcher Steffan Watkins, who follows the movements of ships and planes, shows the King Air spy plane was spotted on multiple occasions.
The plane was seen flying over the protest on January 28-29 as well as on February 3, 10, and 11.
As the flights did indeed coincide with the Freedom Convoy, this caused some Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MPs to question the Canadian government why this was the case.
CPC Kerry-Lynne Findlay said that the Trudeau Liberals “did not put soldiers on our streets, but they did put them in the air.”
“How can the Prime Minister justify using military assets to surveil,” she added.
Canadian military buys hi-tech spy planes that can track people, intercept phone calls
The Canadian military a short while ago announced it was buying three 350ER King Airs, kitted out with the latest in spy surveillance gear, in a deal brokered by the U.S. government.
The planes are known as “intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance” or ISR machines, which can track any person or object from high altitudes, as well as detect any incoming threats via an advanced warning system.
Of note is that planes use the same MX-15D targeting equipment and camera which the Ukrainian military has been using on drones to attack Russian targets.
The cost of the planes is $188 million, and according to the military, Canada’s special forces will not get its first plane until this summer.
The spy planes are said to be able to not only snoop and track people and vehicles on the ground with high-powered cameras, but are able to intercept people’s cellphone calls and other radio communications.
Watkins said that as the plane in question could have been flying anywhere in the area on those days, its “precise circular tracks over Ottawa suggest a form of electronic surveillance.”
“Not simply digital electro-optical imagery or video,” Watkins said.
Alberta-based civil liberties lawyer James Kitchen told LifeSiteNews two weeks ago that the news of the Canadian military soon having high-tech spy planes at its disposal is “obviously a serious privacy concern.”
“That type of conduct is reflective of an authoritarian regime like those found in Asia and the Middle East, not a supposed free and democratic country like Canada,” Kitchen said.
Kitchen also noted that any type of data collected on peaceful protesters is a “potential violation of section 8 of the Charter, which protects against unreasonable searches.”
“So many people in this nation are terrified to openly express themselves or participate in a peaceful political rally because of the tyrannical response by the federal government,” Kitchen told LifeSiteNews.
“The government should fear the people, not the other way around … One of the reasons Canada is becoming so autocratic is because governments are succeeding in making people afraid of them.”
Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act (EA) to quash the Freedom Convoy has resulted in multiple lawsuits against the government for what civil liberty lawyers and opposition politicians say was an “excessive” abuse of power.
Help Canadian Dad who was fired for refusing vax: LifeFunder