Why an ex-national chief wants to sue Canada over its secret Indigenous spying program – CBC

Jun 25, 2026

Former Assembly of First Nations leader is named in RCMP files in the ’70s and CSIS in the ’90s

Ovide Mercredi is many things, but a terrorist isn’t one of them.

A lawyer, poet and member of the Order of Canada, he’s an accomplished Cree leader who spent two terms leading the Assembly of First Nations in the 1990s. And yet, sitting inside his Winnipeg living room flipping through a hefty stack of formerly secret intelligence files, Mercredi is compelled to set the record straight.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ovide-mercredi-native-extremism-program-9.7247278