What really happened when Canada’s security service went into the racism business? CSIS mole Grant Bristow was instrumental in the founding of white supremacist group the Heritage Front, but did he step over a line when he went from merely informing to actually inciting racists acts and targeting Canadians for terrifying abuse. Revelations about how the CSIS informant built and directed a racist movement, how he created an alarming crisis and a PR triumph for his handlers. Was Bristow out of control or did CSIS know his every move?
A 1994 report by the Security Intelligence Review Committee on the Heritage Front affair concluded that Bristow tested the limits of what was acceptable and the CSIS sometimes failed to properly manage its source, but concluded that Bristow and his CSIS handler “discharged their duties in a competent and responsible manner.”
Many critics of the CSIS operation consider the SIRC report a whitewash, written by a government-appointed watchdog of a government agency. Bristow meanwhile has maintained his innocence regarding his activities during his time as a CSIS mole telling The Walrus in a rare 2004 interview, "I was walking a very thin tightrope. I was trying to find a response that didn't include out-of-control, escalating violence. If I was wrong in the actions that I took, I must take responsibility for that."
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