FUN FACT 050626

Alberta Independence in the Crosshairs.

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The report on Alberta separatism was backed by five think tanks, but news coverage only names two explicitly: DisinfoWatch and the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience. The others aren’t listed publicly yet.
From the report itself, it was produced with CIPHER AI, CASi Labs, and in partnership with the Canadian Digital Media Research Network for the survey work. That’s where the “multiple think tanks” reference comes from — it’s a collaborative effort, not just one group.
Marcus Kolga is the lead author on it.

Marcus Kolga, born 1973 in Toronto to Estonian refugees, studied political science at the University of Illinois from 1991 to 1994. He’s a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and human rights activist who’s tracked Russian disinformation since around 2007. He founded DisinfoWatch in September 2020 through the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. That platform’s development was funded by the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center and the US Embassy in Ottawa starting in 2020. He’s a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, sanctioned by both Russia and China.
Jennie Phillips holds a PhD from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She specializes in online human behavior during crises, digital threats, and disinformation. Her background includes work with the Citizen Lab, Dahdaleh Institute, and Media Ecosystem Observatory. She’s an adjunct professor at Dalhousie and runs a consulting firm on digital resilience.
Both co-direct the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience, which they launched recently — their major report on foreign interference in the Alberta separatist debate just dropped this week, backed by multiple think tanks including DisinfoWatch. The Centre itself has no publicly detailed founding month yet, but it’s a very new initiative tied to their ongoing collaboration. 2/

Jennie Phillips clients span private, public, academic and non-profit sectors to include the Privy Council Office/Prime Minister’s Office of Canada, Global Affairs Canada, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Dalhousie University.

The Canadian Digital Media Research Network, or CDMRN, is a government-funded research network focused on studying Canada’s information ecosystem, disinformation, and building public resilience.
It was created with a $5.5 million grant from the Canadian government, announced on June 7, 2023. The money came from Heritage Canada’s Digital Citizen Initiative — $1.5 million in 2022-23 and $2 million each for the next two years.
It’s coordinated by the Media Ecosystem Observatory, a collaboration between McGill University and the University of Toronto. Jennie Phillips actually works with them as Incident Commander for some of their reports.