Rita MacNeil

[madmax]

Sorry, I read this article, and while not really funny, I couldn't help but laugh.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/04/...-womenslib.html

RCMP spies infiltrated Canada's women's movement in the early 1970s, monitoring meetings and rallies to keep an eye on feminists, including the popular Maritime singer-songwriter Rita MacNeil, new research into declassified documents shows.

Rita MacNeil

Threat to Canadian values?

[jdobbin]

Sorry, I read this article, and while not really funny, I couldn't help but laugh.

It kind of raises eyebrows. The fear of communism made the police look into all manner of things. I just wonder who thought any it was a threat to security?

[Wilber]

Veeerrrry Innnterrresting.

When you think about it, it really was a different era.

[madmax]

Veeerrrry Innnterrresting.

When you think about it, it really was a different era.

The thought that "Burning a bra" was reason to spy. I remember as a young lad being all for it, at the time. But then again my motives probably weren't the same as either the Feminist Movement or the RCMP.

Clearly the RCMP were concerned about Bra manufacturers losing valuable business. A communist plot to destroy western manufacturing, no less. Or may when they heard about that New Bra that "lifts and separates" it was about Quebec, and they needed to find out what the position of the Feminists was towards the FLQ?

All very bad jokes aside, I just can't under any circumstances view Rita MacNeil as a threat to National Security.

Very different era indeed.

[eyeball]

A different era? Go tell it to Jerry. McCarthyism was 50 years ago.

[Wild Bill]

Once again we see that hind sight was 20/20.

I remember those days. Younger folks may not be aware that many groups were actually fronts for radical leftwing politics, including women's rights groups.

It wasn't all just about bra burning or womens' rights. Just ask older Quebecois if they remember that poor minister being murdered by those FLQ animals.

Today one of the murderers teaches at a Quebec university.

Anyhow, it was the RCMP's job to gather intelligence against any possible threat. Unless they were psychic, how could they know if any womens' group was on the up-and-up unless they checked them out? Everybody's beaking off about how could they investigate these groups and no one is mentioning if the reports said that this particular one was harmless, this one had a few wackos in it and this other one had a VERY HUNGRY WOMAN who should be avoided at all costs if she had missed a meal!

Sorry. I shouldn't have made that last politically incorrect joke but I just couldn't help it.

Anyhow, we shouldn't judge by today's standards. If the RCMP had spent more time infiltrating some of those groups Pierre LaPorte might be alive today...

[Wilber]

A different era? Go tell it to Jerry. McCarthyism was 50 years ago.

That's a bit over the top. I don't believe Rita and her friends were ever the object of a witch hunt or were persecuted in any way.

[eyeball]

Once again we see that hind sight was 20/20.

The problem is not the hindsight its the inability to learn anything from it. In hindsight however is the ability to trace back a history of near constant state of unfounded right-wing paranoia. The right wing is not a place, its a trajectory and fear is the fuel that propels it. Nowadays rightwingers imagine they're the victims of bullies.

The jokes above only serve to remind that the line between terror and hilarity is a fine one.

[Charles Anthony]

A few posts have been deleted from this thread because they were rude and did not address the discussion topic.

this one had a few wackos in it and this other one had a VERY HUNGRY WOMAN who should be avoided at all costs if she had missed a meal!

Sorry. I shouldn't have made that last politically incorrect joke but I just couldn't help it.

Correct. You should not make such a rude joke -- it just brings down the quality of the discussion.

[Visionseeker]

Once again we see that hind sight was 20/20.

I remember those days. Younger folks may not be aware that many groups were actually fronts for radical leftwing politics, including women's rights groups.

It wasn't all just about bra burning or womens' rights. Just ask older Quebecois if they remember that poor minister being murdered by those FLQ animals.

Today one of the murderers teaches at a Quebec university.

Anyhow, it was the RCMP's job to gather intelligence against any possible threat. Unless they were psychic, how could they know if any womens' group was on the up-and-up unless they checked them out? Everybody's beaking off about how could they investigate these groups and no one is mentioning if the reports said that this particular one was harmless, this one had a few wackos in it and this other one had a VERY HUNGRY WOMAN who should be avoided at all costs if she had missed a meal!

Sorry. I shouldn't have made that last politically incorrect joke but I just couldn't help it.

Anyhow, we shouldn't judge by today's standards. If the RCMP had spent more time infiltrating some of those groups Pierre LaPorte might be alive today...

I find it funny how you would use as an example the biggest glaring failure of the RCMP as an intelligence unit to defend the same RCMP for its more over the top intelligence exercises.

With all we are learning about operations in the 60s and 70s, how is it that we’ve heard nothing about attempts to infiltrate the FLQ? Well, that would’ve involved relying of French speakers, and the RCMP leadership we had at the time were, to be charitable, anglophiles.

In 1974, Maurice Nadon became the first (and only) francophone Commissioner of the RCMP. Before rising to top mountie, Nadon was responsible for “D” branch of “C” Division (Montréal) in the late 60s and early 70s and oversaw the work of Inspector Raymond Parent, the RCMP handler of senior Péquiste strategist Claude Morin – a close confident and advisor for René Lévesque.

Nadon implored the RCMP leadership to take radical separatism seriously in the early 60s. His concerns were simply dismissed and he was told to focus on the “real” threat: Vincent Catroni and the mob. It took a personal letter to Trudeau that arrived the day before the Cross kidnapping (“I fear that I’m screaming at walls!”) before he was taken seriously.

Nadon was called to Ottawa that October to advise the PM. His subsequent meteoric rise was resented by many in the force and dismissed both within and without as an example of franco-preference. Yet in the end, he was the one who had his shit together.

[Wild Bill]

A few posts have been deleted from this thread because they were rude and did not address the discussion topic.

Correct. You should not make such a rude joke -- it just brings down the quality of the discussion.

Noted.

[Wild Bill]

I find it funny how you would use as an example the biggest glaring failure of the RCMP as an intelligence unit to defend the same RCMP for its more over the top intelligence exercises.

With all we are learning about operations in the 60s and 70s, how is it that we’ve heard nothing about attempts to infiltrate the FLQ? Well, that would’ve involved relying of French speakers, and the RCMP leadership we had at the time were, to be charitable, anglophiles.

In 1974, Maurice Nadon became the first (and only) francophone Commissioner of the RCMP. Before rising to top mountie, Nadon was responsible for “D” branch of “C” Division (Montréal) in the late 60s and early 70s and oversaw the work of Inspector Raymond Parent, the RCMP handler of senior Péquiste strategist Claude Morin – a close confident and advisor for René Lévesque.

Nadon implored the RCMP leadership to take radical separatism seriously in the early 60s. His concerns were simply dismissed and he was told to focus on the “real” threat: Vincent Catroni and the mob. It took a personal letter to Trudeau that arrived the day before the Cross kidnapping (“I fear that I’m screaming at walls!”) before he was taken seriously.

Nadon was called to Ottawa that October to advise the PM. His subsequent meteoric rise was resented by many in the force and dismissed both within and without as an example of franco-preference. Yet in the end, he was the one who had his shit together.

Well, I would say that you prove my point! The issue isn't failure or successes. The issue was that they were gathering intel on women's rights groups. My point was that it was a necessary part of their function. How do you know which groups are dangerous until you check them out? Use Dora the Telephone Psychic?

[White Doors]

Sorry, I read this article, and while not really funny, I couldn't help but laugh.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/04/...-womenslib.html

Rita MacNeil

Threat to Canadian values?

She wasn't, they were monitoring to see if the communists infiltated the group that Rita was in.

That is what a prudent defender of national security shoudl ahve done at the time.

[White Doors]

The problem is not the hindsight its the inability to learn anything from it. In hindsight however is the ability to trace back a history of near constant state of unfounded right-wing paranoia. The right wing is not a place, its a trajectory and fear is the fuel that propels it. Nowadays rightwingers imagine they're the victims of bullies.

The jokes above only serve to remind that the line between terror and hilarity is a fine one.

Right wing paranoia?

Who was the leader of Canada at this time?

You are projecting again. It's a defence mechanism.

[madmax]

She wasn't, they were monitoring to see if the communists infiltated the group that Rita was in.

That is what a prudent defender of national security shoudl ahve done at the time.

Yup burning brahswas a communist plot by Judy Rebick and her Trotskie associates. Imagine, them gathering, and then Rita comes out and Sings a Song.

The Horror the Horror.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

"It was a time of awareness and women fighting for specific causes that meant a lot to us," such as daycare and equal pay for the same job, said MacNeil. "As far as my part, I wrote a lot of songs."

Edited August 6, 2008 by madmax