had been meaning to write an article about the Community-Industry Response Group (now Critical Response Unit – BC) for some time. Given the delay, I thought that ChatGPT could help me out…it really didn’t. In fact, it showed me how much misinformation and propaganda there is about the CIRG and how necessary it is that the progressive left talk about CIRG/CRU more and the implications it has for policing in Canada.
First off…What is CIRG/CRU-BC? The CIRG is a unit of the RCMP that was established in 2017 to suppress Indigenous anti-pipeline protests. It was officially renamed the Critical Response Unit of British Columbia (CRU-BC) earlier this year. It may be best known for its militarized response to protests in Wet’suwet’en territory and Fairy Creek where there was a media ban that helped police enforcement carry out violent tactics and aggression with minimal scrutiny and, as a result, minimal public outcry.
That being said, activists at Fairy Creek submitted formal complaints, forcing the CIRG/CRU to be put under investigation. There were about 500 complaints and allegations of police overreach including allegations of racism, excessive force, illegal tactics, and Charter of Rights violations. While this seemed like a ‘win’ and that public pressure was ensuring police accountability, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) seem to have not done anything in their investigation since it began over a year ago.
In that same year, while CIRG/CRU was under investigation for misconduct, BC Minister of Public Safety announced his pride in the RCMP and had given an additional $36 million dollars to fund this unit’s operations (on top of funding required for police salaries). The RCMP have held up CIRG/CRU as a ‘national best practice’ in policing, and the unit has started having municipal partnerships with police forces in Vancouver, Victoria, and Nelson. This is largely because the CIRG/CRU is also expanding their reach and policing pro-Palestine/anti-genocide protests, and with this expansion of scope, we can likely see this unit policing other types of protests as well. If a policing unit under investigation is not suspended but instead given the green light to expand, the public needs to see the writing on the wall and ask what this means for policing.
While I could talk about failures of the CIRG/CRU for quite a while, let’s go back to Chat GPT and what it thinks about the CIRG/CRU. I typed in “Write an article about the Community-Industry Response Group,” and here are just a few of the parts that seemed the most alarming and misinformed. Here are some of my reactions and responses to the AI bot that is helping so many undergrads get through that mandatory English 101 class without reading Dante’s Inferno.
ChatGPT: British Columbia (BC) has experienced a surge in public demonstrations related to environmental, economic, and Indigenous rights issues.
My response: I would like to see evidence that there is a surge in public demonstrations. I think what is actually happening is that there is a surge in proposals for industrial projects that impact peoples’ lands and waters. The BC NDP have been very friendly to industry, greenlighting numerous industrial projects regardless of local opposition, but Premier David Eby would rather have us believe that protests are the problem rather than violations of Indigenous rights and environmental protections.
ChatGPT: These events have necessitated a nuanced approach to managing community-industry relations, particularly when protests target industries such as logging, mining, and pipeline construction. In response, the British Columbia government has established the Community-Industry Response Group (CIRG), a specialized unit designed to handle the complex dynamics between community activists and industrial operations.
My response: Let’s be clear, there has been absolutely no nuance in CIRG/CRU’s approach to policing. They are a highly militarized group that follows the playbook of former top US military strategist, General David Patraeas who led efforts in Afghanistan. Chat GPT needs to be more specific about how the CIRG/CRU “handle complex dynamics between community activists and industrial operations,” because I am not aware of them acting as a friendly mediator. In fact, when it comes to how the CIRG/CRU engage with activists or land defenders they have been documented:
1. Saying explicitly sexist, racist, and ableist insults to Indigenous people that have been documented in court records.
2. Talking about sending in dogs and gassing people out of cabins that have been built on their own territories.
3. Video footage of them violently pinning down a Gitxsan man.
4. Holding Indigenous women at gunpoint after breaking down doors with axes.
And these incidents are only from its operations in northern BC. The examples above do not list police overreach against Tiny House Warriors defending their lands from the TMX pipeline, anti-logging protests in Argenta, or Fairy Creek where there were over 1,200 protesters arrested making it the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.
Is this how the police describe “managing complex dynamics”? From the outside it sounds like state-sanctioned bullying with weapons. Next time I hope ChatGPT catches that.
ChatGPT: The unit was created in response to escalating tensions in areas where significant natural resource development conflicted with environmental and Indigenous groups’ interests.
You sure? Because the CBC revealed, through an access to information request, that Sioux-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) were used to justify creating the CIRG/CRU. “BC RCMP felt it needed the new squad tasked specifically for the Trans Mountain project,” the CBC article reads. Basically, BC wanted a way to easily suppress protests without looking bad, and repression from a militarized police force (who seem separate from local RCMP) combined with media exclusion zones and repression sound like an easy formula to get the job done. CIRG/CRU was not formed as a “response” to tension, it was formed to enable ongoing colonization of Indigenous lands by colonial governments and corporations.
Chat GPT: Its responsibilities include: Monitoring and assessing ongoing and potential demonstrations and conflicts related to industry operations.
My response: You mean…surveillance?
Chat GPT: Engaging with protest groups to understand their concerns and objectives.
My response: If you have examples of snipers sitting down with someone and simply asking “hey, what’s your opinion on injunctions these days?” I want to see it.
Chat GPT: Providing a neutral platform for dialogue and negotiation between conflicting parties.
My response: The CIRG/CRU have never served as mediators, and they could not even if they wanted to because they are so far from ‘neutral.’ In fact, the APTN even called this unit the “pipeline police,” and every time people are able to document their interactions with community members we notice that it is actually the police that are escalating conflicts and causing violence.
This policing unit is funded by a fossil fuel-friendly government. They are established by the RCMP which has a long history of racism towards Indigenous peoples (since its inception over 150 years ago), and it is no secret that they work incredibly close with industry (even Chat GPT mentioned this elsewhere in this article). There is no space for neutrality.
Chat GPT: The CIRG has not been without its critics. Some community groups and activists have accused the unit of being overly sympathetic to industry interests, alleging that it functions more as an industry protector than a neutral mediator. Concerns have also been raised about transparency and accountability, with critics arguing that the CIRG operates with a significant lack of public oversight.
My response: This was the most accurate statement in the article as there is documented evidence of these critiques. Last year, over 70 organizations signed onto an open letter calling on the unit to be suspended until the CRCC review released its findings. There was no response from RCMP or the BC NDP.
Chat GPT: Looking forward…as BC continues to be a focal point for significant industrial development that impacts diverse communities and ecosystems, the role of the CIRG may become increasingly important.
My response: If “the role of the CIRG may become increasingly important,” came from government sources, then it is likely doublespeak for “the RCMP will use the CIRG to increasingly criminalize opposition to our politically-motivated industrial megaprojects.”
It is unfortunate that Chat GPT concluded its article by Looking forward, since this unit should not have a future in my humble opinion. That being said, at the moment this unit does have a future and we should all be looking forward. CIRG has been under investigation by the CRCC for over a year, but it would be naïve to think that the CRCC is either a) taking this investigation seriously, or b) going to have any teeth in suspending a unit that is getting (seemingly) full endorsement from parties in power. Since the CRCC investigation began, the CIRG has been able to increase its budget, expand its scope, and become branded as “national best practice.”
As I write this, members of the Woodland Cree First Nation have established a blockade on their territory against Obsidian Energy, a Calgary-based fossil fuel company. The RCMP threatened, arrested and incarcerated a First Nations chief, and if this gets ugly would we wish we would have done more to stop CIRG expansion earlier?
I’m an abolitionist and I believe that a world without police is both beautiful and possible. But even if you are not an abolitionist, you may probably realize that communities have functioned just fine without the CIRG until 2017 (and with more aggression and violence after 2017). I bet you can also think of some different ways the government could spend upwards of $86 million dollars such as on education, health care, and housing. More funds could be put into renewable energy or public transit to help mitigate climate impacts and reduce the need for fossil fuels. You don’t actually need to be an abolitionist to realize that establishing the CIRG will just fuel police overreach.
There have been petitions released by both LeadNow and Ben & Jerry’s calling on the CIRG to be disbanded. But there are ways to have a far greater impact. Email and call your elected officials, as well as Premier David Eby, Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth, and Attorney General Niki Sharma. At the moment they have had such little pushback on this that they can so easily feign innocence or distance from this unit, when they are anything but.
Contact your city and demand that they make your town CIRG-free and that you think having CIRG in your community would endanger its residents. Allowing snipers into a community is a bad look, and politicians should be ashamed for letting this happen. From where I stand however, I’m seeing some BC MLAs look a little blasé at best, and smug at worst.
Source: ChatGPT’s problem with pro-police bias
