The RCMP can apply the lessons it learned at an Israeli military seminar last year to “Canadian law enforcement contexts,” according to a briefing document written by Canada’s defence attaché in Israel.
The international seminar focused on the “lessons learned” from Israel’s war on Gaza, which is almost universally recognized as a genocidal campaign among leading human rights organizations and by a United Nations independent commission.
The document, obtained by The Maple via an access to information request, states that four RCMP officers who attended the seminar in Tel Aviv last November learned “lessons on intelligence fusion, rapid response, and civilian protection [that] can be adapted to Canadian law enforcement contexts.”
The federal police force’s participation in such events also allows it to build “networks with foreign security forces, enhancing Canada’s ability to collaborate on transnational crime and terrorism investigations,” according to the document.
Records show that an assistant professor at the Canadian Forces College, Rebecca Jensen, also attended the Israeli seminar.
The briefing document states that the Canadian Forces College will “integrate operational lessons into professional military education.” However, DND told The Maple this was written in error as the academic attended on behalf of the Canadian Army Command and Staff College — not the Canadian Forces College.
The department said that contrary to the briefing document’s suggestion, there are no plans to overhaul either institution’s curricula based on the seminar.
Earlier this year, The Maple reported that other attendees at the Israeli seminar included Canadian troops deployed as part of Operation Proteus, through which Canada trains the Palestinian Authority Security Forces in close co-ordination with the Israeli authorities. Representatives from 17 other countries also attended.
Alex Cosh
At the time, DND described Canada’s participation in the seminar as being primarily geared towards Canada’s role in the “peace process,” and made no mention of applying the “lessons learned” to Canadian policing or military education.
Spokesperson Daniel Blouin said in an email to The Maple at that time: “Attendance at this conference is not an endorsement of the operations of foreign militaries.”
But the briefing document states that the conference offered Canada “valuable military, diplomatic, and strategic advantages, strengthening both operational knowledge and international cooperation.”
The document also states that “Canada’s presence demonstrated solidarity with democratic nations facing security challenges,” and suggests that Israel provided lessons in how to “strengthen legitimacy in military operations globally.”
A separate “after action report” suggests that the Israeli seminar emphasized the “primacy of civilian protection.” Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, including children.
In the months since, Israel has also waged wars of aggression against Iran and Lebanon, killing thousands of civilians and displacing approximately one million people in the predominantly Shia areas of southern Lebanon.
A comment from the office of the Canadian defence attaché in Israel in the after action report states that the program “offered structured insights into urban warfare, campaign planning, and Division/Corps-level operations.”
“Multinational exchanges facilitated professional networking and knowledge transfer, particularly in areas related to cyber defense [sic], and operational security.”
The attaché office recommended: “Future participation in similar multinational lesson-learned forums should be considered.”
Seminar participants each received a “hospitality kit,” which included a backpack, notebook and baseball cap, according to emails seen by The Maple. The seminar lasted from November 16-20.
In an emailed statement regarding the briefing documents, DND spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin told The Maple: “The focus of the conference was military operations, including in the areas of counter-terrorism, responding to asymmetric threats, and the integration of intelligence into operational planning.”
“The CAF regularly receives information from foreign militaries on a broad range of operational contexts, and the CAF attendance at this conference alongside allies and partners reinforced Canada’s role as a committed partner to the peace process.”
The Maple also contacted the RCMP’s national media line for comment on its participation in the seminar and whether it plans to adopt any of the Israeli military’s tactics in Canadian law enforcement.
In response, a spokesperson said: “Where relevant and appropriate, information and processes gained from these discussions may help inform the RCMP's ongoing work.” They declined to provide any specific examples.
The spokesperson added: “The RCMP remains focused on its domestic mandate and ensures that any international engagement is responsible, legally compliant, and aligned with Canadian values.”
Last year, the RCMP said it had launched a “structural investigation into the Israel-Hamas conflict” in early 2024. However, it said it had not initiated any criminal investigations at that time.
Canadian police forces have a long history of working closely with their Israeli counterparts.
The Orchard recently revealed that Edmonton Police Chief Warren Driechel visited illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank during an Israel trip in February and met with an undercover police unit that had recently executed two unarmed Palestinian men after they surrendered.
As reported by The Maple last year, several Canadian police leaders sat on the board of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI), a pro-Israel lobby group.
AGPI facilitates trips for police, including visits to Israel where participants tour sites and meet with officials.
Around July 2023, then-Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth, then-Halifax police chief Dan Kinsella and Aviva Rotenberg with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police attended one of these trips, according to Smyth’s articles about the experience.
While Canada maintains a defence attaché office in Israel, the Israeli embassy recently said it will withdraw its own attaché from Canada at the end of this month, in what is claimed to be a sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries.
