Wikileaks released 1800 cables about Canada yesterday, mostly sent from US consulates back to Washington. They give some idea of what the US is keeping tabs on. Here's a quick overview of some things you'll find.

As far as social justice organizing in Canada:

• The US has monitored the work of the Halifax Peace Coalition.
• 18 "situation reports" on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics were sent, covering a number of actions, from the Heart Attack march, a Critical Mass bike ride, the Mother's Day march, and more.
• The US worried about public outrage around the closing of a Wal-Mart in Jonquière, Quebec, after workers tried to unionize it.
• Cables repeatedly mention the 2009 demonstrations of Tamils in Canada, as well as the human rights situation they're protesting in Sri Lanka, where the Sri Lankan government was, for example, cluster-bombing a hospital that was in an area designated as a non-conflict zone. The cables give the impression that it's assumed most Canadian Tamils are terrorists, and one cable mentions consultation with Canada about an IMF loan to Sri Lanka at the exact time of the atrocities, that seems to have been approved.
• The US is tracking critical discussion of its human rights record in Canadian universities.
• There was interest in uranium mining in eastern Canada, but fear that popular protest may make it infeasible.
• There's a report on a Winnipeg "Stop Sex with Kids" event, that also dealt with the epidemic of missing & murdered aboriginal women. The US seemed concerned that "[s]ome claimed that the problems of trafficking and prostitution are a result of the colonial legacy - one presenter referred to herself as an aboriginal woman living on occupied territory - as well as capitalism, poverty, and cultural oppression by mainstream society," and also that none of the blame was placed on "aboriginal leaders" or "aboriginal gangs," but still, they thought the event was "a good first start at getting the issue out."
• The US is closely monitoring legal issues in CSIS's warrantless wiretapping, as well as preventive detention, and security certificates.
• Following disputes in Akwesasne, the US is taking careful note of legalities around aboriginal title, self-government, and sovereignty.
• They're also tracking the bio of at least one of the more progressive Members of Parliament, Megan Leslie, in Halifax.

In international treaties,

• The US was scared that Canada might stop supporting its efforts to wipe the term "harm reduction" off of any UN General Assembly action plan or political statement in 2009. They complained the EU was on a "crusade" for harm reduction, but were confident in Colombia, Russia, and Japan's backing. The cable flatly states that "[t]he USG cannot accept including the specific term 'harm reduction' in any part of the action plan" and suggests actions to be taken to make that a reality.
• The US said in 2007 that Canada shared its view that the OAS Indigenous Rights Declaration was "ill-conceived and is headed for a 'train-wreck.'" The implication being that Canada and the US would not accept any compromise and the declaration would fail.

On the world stage,

• In 2008 Petro-Canada signed a 30 year oil deal with Libya. The "new deal elevates Libya to a priority area of operations for the company." The following year Qaddafi turned out to not be a dependable client, causing Petro-Canada serious alarm.
• a 2006 cable details a strike at a Canadian gold mine in Suriname. The mine was owned by a subsidiary of Montreal-based Cambior Incorporated, who later that year merged with Toronto-based Iamgold Corporation.
• "Alberta energy sector leaders support US goals in Iraq."
• "Canada shares the U.S. belief that the [2009] Goldstone Report is deeply flawed" and the US hoped Canada would parrot "U.S. talking points" at the UN.
• In 2009, "a new Canadian democracy promotion agency focused on political party strengthening" was being considered.

Many cables deal with Haiti, where Canada participated in a 2004 coup against a popular Haitian government.

• In 2004 at the Montreal Conference with the Haiti Diaspora Canada was "upset with a band of persistent pro-Aristide supporters protesting outside the conference venue."
• Who was represented at a 2005 Montreal conference on Haiti? The coup government, including the Haitian National Police, MINUSTAH, as well as "[t]he OAS, World Bank, IMF, [and] IDB." Generally it was felt that police forces needed to grow, and there was "a call for a better public information campaign... to bolster support for MINUSTAH." "[T]he police largely crumbled in February 2004, with many fleeing the force and taking their weapons with them. The current HNP has basically started from scratch to rebuild the force." As for Pierre Pettigrew, "a demonstrator attacked him with a red dye before he was pulled out by police.... The Pettigrew attacker was not a Haitian exile, but rather a failed student with a record of participation in violent demonstrations."
• Quebec was still anxious to gain access to the spoils in 2005, beyond the policing and Hydro contracts it had already secured. Elections and other sectors were unavailable, since the Canadian federal government had won those. The US nixed Premier Charest's interest in visiting Haiti with Florida governor Jeb Bush.
• In 2006, Canada imposed economic sanctions to restore democracy, "[f]rom a flawed election to the continued imprisonment of democratic supporters"... in Belarus. The approach in Haiti at the same time to the same conditions was quite a different story.
• In 2007, Canada donated $20 million to to allow for an insurance policy "similar to business interruption insurance to provide immediate cash payments after a major earthquake or hurricane."
• Canada was grateful to be allowed to attend the Haiti Key Players Meeting in New York, they sent Lawrence Cannon and Peter Kent.
• It's noted that prior to the devastating 2010 earthquake that "some of the larger Canadian businesses operating there had been Gildan Activewear (textiles), Scotiabank and Desjardins Group (financial services), and Somine (mining)."
• Earlier it was revealed that Canada's biggest fear at the time of the earthquake was popular democratic uprising, which may explain why their response was to send in the military.
• Following the earthquake, "Canada's Joint Task Force Haiti was fully deployed with 2,046 soldiers, sailors, and air force personnel."
• "As of February 11, [2010,] there were 1,979 [Canadian Forces] on the ground in Haiti."

I'm sure more detailed analyses will follow. I completely skipped a great number of cables on Afghanistan, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and many, many others. Michael Geist is already doing a tremendous job unpacking Canada's attempts to push through laws against internet freedom, especially around copyright and intellectual property.

Over the past few weeks the media have been closely following the ups and (mostly) downs of Wyclef Jean's bid for candidacy as the next president of Haiti. Maybe they think fluffy stories about the hip-hop singer help make the Haitian election more interesting to the Canadian public, who'd otherwise see it as largely irrelevant.

In fact, all the media have shown is that even with ample opportunity, they've still managed to erase that this election is quite relevant to Canadians; Fanmi Lavalas, by far the most popular political party in Haiti, have once again been banned from participating, as they have in every other election since Canada helped carry out the 2004 coup d'état against then-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

They've also chosen to largely ignore the question of what exactly, if anything, Canadian aid is doing in Haiti.

Instead they've chosen to give space to other pop culture icons to spread ignorance and perpetuate myths about the country. Arcade Fire were on the CBC last week criticizing Wyclef for not speaking French. In fact, only the most wealthy Haitians tend to speak French. Haitian Kreyol is the language spoken by almost all Haitians.

The man pictured in this post is Yvon Neptune, who was Haitian Prime Minister at the time of the 2004 coup. The photograph is taken post-coup, when he became a political prisoner. He's been approved as a presidential candidate with the "Haitians for Haiti" party and will be interesting to watch. Haitians are not easily fooled. If they choose to elect him, hopefully he's less of a disappointment than the current Prime Minister Réné Préval, who Haitians initially had been excited about.

The one spot in the media the debate around Lavalas has turned up is right here in the Winnipeg Free Press. The article, simply titled Keep Aristide's party out, is an exercise in wilful amnesia and ideological contortions. That they even let the topic surface shows they're feeling confident enough to try to see if it'll fly. Luckily, the commenters have no illusions about what's going on, tearing the pundit apart, so it's likely they'll crawl under a rock again for some time, hoping to quietly maneuver an election victory for any of a number of business-friendly candidates.

The Manitoba government has apologized for relocating a Dene community in northern Manitoba to Churchill in the late 1950s, offering them 20 square miles of land in compensation. They were told they were being moved because the caribou in their region were dissapearing, which the government later admitted it had been wrong about. Their new home was a shanty town on the outskirts of Churchill, living off of rations from Indian Agents. One third of their community died within a single generation.

This is another example, along with Stephen Harper's 2008 "Official Apologiy" to residential school survivors, accompanied by the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), of how public confession and penance is becoming a common response by elected officials to past crimes.

For people to live peacefully together after crimes of colonialism and occupation have been committed, truth and reconciliation are key. When France was liberated at the end of the second World War, for example, focus on a public process to find out exactly what happened under the occupation and to decide how the country should move forward, instead of carrying out violent reprisals against suspected Nazi collaborators, would likely have spared a good deal of collective retraumatization.

The TRC processes in the 1990s in South Africa after the apartheid era, and in Guatemala and El Salvador after years of right-wing US-backed government terror all seem to have been positive first steps toward healing longstanding wounds.

In the 2000s, the game seems to have changed in an unsettling way. TRCs and public apologies are now being used not after periods of conflict or oppression, but while the oppression is still happening.

The most dramatic example right now is probably in Honduras. Last year, after then-president Manuel Zelaya had raised the minimum wage and begun a long overdue process to review the constitution to better reflect the interests of ordinary people, he was ousted by a military coup. Since that time killings of journalists, activists, and others have been common. The coup government held elections to legitimize itself in November, and the new "president", Porfirio Lobo, has initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at what happened. What's notable here is that the killings are ongoing, that the coup government has refused to investigate them, and that the TRC is a requirement for Honduras to be readmitted into the Organization of American States, from which it was suspended when the coup took place. It's not hard figure out who their Commission is serving.

Canada's TRC and apologies have been extremely meaningful to many survivors of residential schooling, relocation, and other polices designed to "kill the Indian, save the man." Many, if not most, have never been granted the slightest acknowledgement for the crimes and trauma they still endure. At the same time, the role of Canada's TRC is reminiscent of the one in Honduras, designed to maintain the status quo rather than to transform society.

"Our" TRC wasn't, in fact, initiated by a government who had decided it was time to make amends for past crimes, but through a court settlement the government accepted to avoid a class action lawsuit by residential school survivors. Even the seemingly heartfelt apology from the Prime Minister was just part of the terms of the settlement, which helps to explain how he was able to tell the world that Canada has "no history of colonialism" a little more than a year later.

More importantly, you can't have peace and reconciliation while the crimes are ongoing. Canada still exists on stolen native land. Manitoba, though apologizing at the moment, is still shutting out native elders who want answers about the province's devastating dam projects in the 1970s. From what I hear there are more indigenous children in care of Child & Family Services today than were in Residential Schools at any point. First Nations across the country are still battling resource extraction mega projects poisoning their communities, and still own next to none of "Canada" under its legal system.

At this point, the main thing the apologies and commissions are accomplishing is to allow people to ask "What more do those natives want? We've already apologized and offered a settlement."

Since TRCs can't yet help us under these circumstances, it might be more useful, as Ward Churchill has suggested, to take a closer look at Article 2 of the UN's Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, with special attention to (e):

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• (a) Killing members of the group;
• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.