The RCMP’s commissioner says he expresses sincere regret for an extensive spying program that targeted hundreds of Indigenous people.

It’s the first time Mike Duheme acknowledged reporting by CBC Indigenous concerning RCMP surveillance activities dating back to the late 1960s against Indigenous leaders and organizations.

“We recognize the serious concerns that this history continues to raise for Indigenous Peoples, families and communities across Canada,” Duheme wrote in a statement published Wednesday.

“I express sincere regret, and while we cannot change the past, we can and must acknowledge that these actions and their impact continue to be felt today.”

Duheme said he and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree intend to host a meeting with Indigenous leadership and elders to discuss healing and how to build a stronger relationship. 

“The RCMP today is not the same organization it was decades ago, but I acknowledge that more must be done,” Duheme said.

“We have reflected on those past actions and continue to learn from them. Systemic racism has no place in the RCMP.”

Duheme’s statement comes after calls from Indigenous leaders and Anandasangaree for the Mounties to take accountability and make amends following a years-long CBC Indigenous investigation revealed the RCMP Security Service ran covert surveillance, had informants and engaged in countersubversion against the First Nations, Inuit and Métis rights movements.

The RCMP Security Service was Canada’s domestic intelligence agency until 1984, and has since been replaced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Anandasangaree said he reached out to the RCMP commissioner on Wednesday morning to start a conversation about what a proper response from the Mounties would look like.

“This has to be done, as part of a collaborative process, where those who are impacted feel that they’re heard and they have the type of resolution that is important to them,” Anandasangaree said before Duheme’s statement was released.

The minister said he’s “deeply disturbed” by the revelations and is promising to work with Indigenous leaders to ensure redress for those spied on by the RCMP — an operation that had the knowledge and support of the federal government.

“I’m very confident that we will address not just the root cause of this,” Anandasangaree said. “Make sure this never happens again, but also ensure that those who are impacted have the closure they’re looking for.”

The RCMP called its operation the “Native extremism program.” 

Its stated purpose was broad penetration of extremist groups, but legitimate political Indigenous organizations engaged in legal and democratic advocacy were swept up by its vast surveillance net.

CBC Indigenous obtained nearly 6,000 newly declassified documents that show the Mounties infiltrated Indigenous organizations and sought to disrupt their activities. 

AFN chief calls for apology, investigation

The records also confirm the federal government supported the RCMP program and even approved wiretaps for the Mounties to monitor the telephones of the National Indian Brotherhood, known today as the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), in Ottawa. 

“It’s really shocking and it’s unacceptable that Canada would target, harass and spy on our people,” said AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.

“This is not only about the past. It’s an important warning for the future as Canada embarks on the push for major projects. Canada must not slide back into a space where First Nations are subject to infiltration and spying, where any kind of opposition to development is framed as criminal, terrorists or the product of foreign interference.”

Woodhouse Nepinak is calling for an investigation into the RCMP program as part of a public inquiry into systemic racism in policing, along with a public apology from the public safety minister and prime minister. 

“This is a part of an ongoing attitude from the government of Canada and also from other institutions, like the RCMP, that First Nations, Inuit and Métis in this country are in many ways a threat to Canada,” said Natan Obed, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president.

Obed said he plans to speak with Duheme and Prime Minister Mark Carney about the espionage operation.

“Even if the prime minister and the commissioner were not in positions of power when these things happened, this still impacts the trust that Inuit have in these institutions,” Obed said.

“I think [this] warrants a reflection and public statements from these leaders on what has happened and also the reassurance that this type of thing is not happening in 2026,” Obed said. 

The Indigenous surveillance program was scaled back in 1978 to focus on foreign involvement in the Indigenous rights movement, according to documents. CSIS restarted the program in 1988. 

A CSIS representative said the service doesn’t investigate lawful protest, advocacy or dissent, but also acknowledged there is a trust gap with many Indigenous people. 

“That’s why we here at CSIS are prioritizing trying to earn that trust and to repair relations,” said Nicole Giles, CSIS’s deputy director.

“We only undertake investigations when there’s reasonable grounds to suspect that there will be the threat of serious violence.”

Recent spying case of First Nations advocate

In 2013, the privacy commissioner chastised the federal government for spying on First Nations children’s advocate Cindy Blackstock, who filed a human rights complaint against Ottawa and took the government to court for underfunding the First Nations child and family services program.

“I still remember to this day just being absolutely shocked at the level of surveillance,” said Blackstock, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada executive director.

“They were following me around, a social worker. I didn’t even have a parking ticket, let alone a criminal record.”

Blackstock said the incident was particularly unsettling because her nephew was living with her at the time. 

“It has a real risk of creating a chill effect where you feel like you can’t speak up anymore,” Blackstock said. 

“I want to see the government really rein in this type of activity and make sure that it is not happening to Indigenous Peoples anymore, but more broadly to anyone who is peacefully speaking up about human rights issues in Canada.”

NDP public safety critic Jenny Kwan is pushing for public hearings into the RCMP program and the release of all remaining files related to spying on Indigenous people. 

“I was absolutely floored to learn about this operation,” Kwan said. 

“The overreach of government knows no bounds and there’s a real question whether or not the current day government, the current day Liberal government, has learned its lesson.”

Library and Archives Canada estimates there are 300 to 400 files that may relate to the program, containing potentially up to 100,000 pages.