The filmmaker and activist Amy Miller discusses her new film, screening at DOXA, the Documentary Film Festival, Manufacturing the Threat, with Joseph Planta.

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Manufacturing the Threat is the feature-length documentary that looks at the role of agent provocateurs and entrapment in the history of Canada’s national security apparatus, especially in the case of the couple, Omar Nuttall and Ana Korody. They were arrested on Canada Day 2013, caught planting bombs at the Parliament buildings in Victoria, British Columbia. Their arrest was celebrated as a triumph for Canada’s national security agencies, just as there was a reported increase in the threat of Islamic terrorism, which precipitated the Harper government passing Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act. However, the case against the Nuttalls collapses. Despite an elaborate operation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which involved over 240 security service operatives, culminated in coercing the Nuttalls into planting fake bombs. The charges were thrown out, and their imprisonment was referred to as a “travesty of justice” by the judge in the case. Both Nuttall and Korody appear in the film, and speak at length about their three years in prison, and the individuals who exploited them. As well, there are interviews with academics, and Indigenous and environmental activists, who speak to police infiltration and incitement. The film has its world premiere at DOXA, the Documentary Film Festival this Friday, 06 May 2023 at the Vancity Theatre at 7.45pm. Visit www.doxafestival.ca for tickets and information. Joining me now is Amy Miller, the award-winning media maker and social justice organiser, who is the director of Manufacturing the Threat. Her films have been screened in over 100 festivals around the world, and broadcast in over a dozen countries. She joined me from Montreal, when we taped this interview a couple of weeks ago. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Amy Miller; Ms. Miller, good morning.

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