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The Department of Canadian Heritage, headed by Minister Pascale St-Onge, proposed a $7.1 million-a year program called the Digital Citizen Initiative, to keep up surveillance on internet users who promote ‘fake news.’
(LifeSiteNews) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Heritage Department has requested increased funding to monitor internet “disinformation” and those who promote it.
The Department of Canadian Heritage, headed by Minister Pascale St-Onge, proposed a $7.1 million-a year program called the Digital Citizen Initiative, to keep up surveillance on internet users who promote “fake news,” according to a October 16 report by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“The Initiative addresses real and continuing needs of Canadians with respect to online disinformation and related harms,” said the report Evaluation of The Digital Citizen Initiative. “The demand for funding appears to outweigh available resources. The scope and scale of the issue are rapidly expanding along with the potential for harm.”
“Disinformation impacts Canadians’ health and safety, civic discourse and engagement, political beliefs, perceptions of democratic institutions, confidence in political systems and trust in media,” it continued. “It may also amplify mistrust amongst communities, discrimination, stigma and marginalization and social divisions.”
The report failed to provide any examples of so-called disinformation but claimed, “the initiative filled a need by funding research to help understand disinformation.”
The request for increased funding comes at a time Canadians’ trust in federal institutions and mainstream media is at an all-time low.