Lesson plan
Project Shock
In the ten days immediately following the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) initiated Project Shock which sought to quickly collect and act on any information or rumors related to possible threats posed by Muslims in Canada. The authorities noted that "many of the tangible and intangible barriers were taken down", allowing the RCMP previously disallowed access to government files, permission to give such information to foreign governments and send copies of hard drives seized in raids to Americans. It was ostensibly the first time the RCMP had been allowed to mix intelligence gathering and law enforcement since the 1981 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, which had revealed a number of scandals surrounding the RCMP Security Service, and led to the dissolution of the unit. Six years later the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, noted that similar tips proved "little more than public hysteria during a time of crisis", and in 2009 explained the database as "information that they thought might have been of strategic importance", but that it had been closed down.
Article summary
In the ten days immediately following the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) initiated Project Shock which sought to quickly collect and act on any information or rumors related to possible threats posed by Muslims in Canada. The authorities noted that "many of the tangible and intangible barriers were taken down", allowing the RCMP previously disallowed access to government files, permission to give such information to foreign governments and send copies of hard drives seized in raids to Americans. It was ostensibly the first time the RCMP had been allowed to mix intelligence gathering and law enforcement since the 1981 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, which had revealed a number of scandals surrounding the RCMP Security Service, and led to the dissolution of the unit. Six years later the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, noted that similar tips proved "little more than public hysteria during a time of crisis", and in 2009 explained the database as "information that they thought might have been of strategic importance", but that it had been closed down.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.