Not just a few bad apples: The Canadian Armed Forces has a nagging far-right problem

Canada Standard

5 days ago

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is making headlines. But not, as they probably hoped, for the renewed recruiting efforts they're about to launch. Instead, they are once again confounded by a far-right scandal.
The latest episode is the arrest of four CAF members and ex-members. Three of them have been charged with taking concrete steps to facilitate terrorist activity and possessing prohibited firearms. A fourth man was charged with possession and storage of prohibited firearms and devices.
The crew had allegedly been under surveillance by the federal government's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team since 2021, most likely when equipment, weapons and ammunition began to go missing from military installations. The weapons were finally seized in January 2024, some in the personal vehicle of one of the suspects, but the group remained free for another 18 months.
Read more: Charges against Canadian Army members in anti-government terror plot raise alarms about right-wing extremism
As is usual with these types of efforts, a certain degree of amateurism was present at multiple stages of the alleged scheme, which may have developed on the fly. The idea that a micro-militia might successfully seize and hold territory in Canada is far-fetched at best.
Recruitment efforts for the suspected mission, complete with propaganda and self-aggrandizing pictures of military training, took place on, you guessed it: Instagram. (We won't publish the name of the account.)
It might be pointed out that any large organization like the CAF inevitably represents a microcosm of society, meaning that it can't be expected to be free of various forms of undesirable behaviour, including political extremism. But this "rotten apple" theory of far-right extremism in the CAF falls somewhat short of explaining the situation.
First, the rotten apples seem too numerous. Just days before the recent arrests, the CAF announced on July 3 it was investigating the participation of other soldiers in a private Facebook page named the "Blue Hackle Mafia." The page disseminated openly racist, homophobic, misogynist and antisemitic content.
These events point to a phenomenon difficult to measure within western countries, even though it's very real. The penetration of ideas associated with the far right within the military and law enforcement agencies is currently happening. Whether more or less structured, the emergence of underground small groups are more or less ready to "take action."
Second, previous reports have identified a general laissez-faire approach within the CAF regarding far-right activities. In a 2022 independent report commissioned by the CAF, the presence of white supremacist and other far-right ideologies was identified not only as a growing problem for the Army, but also one that was not being addressed.
Similar conclusions were reached in the 1997 report on the behaviour of Canadian soldiers in Somalia, which had explicitly recommended that "the Canadian Forces establish regular liaison with anti-racist groups to obtain assistance in the conduct of appropriate cultural sensitivity training and to assist supervisors and commanders in identifying signs of racism and involvement with hate groups." In other words, neither the concern nor the awareness is news.
At the root of the problem is a peculiar affinity between most forms of far-right ideologies and military or paramilitary/policing organizations.
It's absurd to simply paint such organizations as inherently far right in their nature, of course. But strict authority structures and notions of defence, fellowship, honour - as well as the projection of power through physical strength and training and the accompanying symbolism of weapons, fatigues, uniforms and campaign-like deployments - are all very appealing to far-right extremists.
This nexus has been amply documented and leads to multiple practical implications: extremist groups trying to recruit active or retired soldiers; soldiers joining existing groups or setting up their own; veterans joining existing groups or creating their own, like the founders of Quebec's La Meute; professionally trained lone wolves, like Correy Hurren, who attempted to "arrest" Prime minister Justin Trudeau at Rideau Hall in 2020)
Members of extremist groups also routinely try to join the military to benefit from training, which elevates their standing within the group.
Military, former and active, and law enforcement members are to be found in multiple "militia" groups like the Three Percenters, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, Diagolon and the Boogaloo movement, for instance. Some are overtly anti-government and/or anti-system, like the Veterans 4 Freedom or The Base.
It may sound strange to think of military personnel or veterans getting involved or creating an anti-government movement when they've served under the flag sometimes for decades. The apparent paradox quickly disappears once we understand the manifold individual motivations that underpin their actions.
They range from the feeling of having served a timourous government that failed to make proper use of the Armed Forces at its disposal. The absence of deployments to theatres of conflict also generates frustration among some in search of military adventure.
A lot of young men are quickly bored with exercises that never satisfy their expeditionary spirit. The role of camaraderie, of group dynamics based on mutual aid, honour and the presence of danger, as well as mental health issues, must not be overlooked. Not to mention the idea, strong in some units, of defending a singular idea of a "fatherland" endangered by government contempt and inaction.
What is striking in the light of the recent charges in Quebec is not so much the racist and anti-semitic ideological ideas allegedly held by the accused group members. It's the primacy given to a patriarchal ideology that explicitly targets women and gender. Fascination with Russia and the war in Ukraine waged by Vladimir Putin is also palpable.
In short, the CAF is still wrestling with far-right demons, though in a new context of social media acceleration and global loss of confidence in democratic institutions. The situation has a high potential to undermine confidence in Canada's Armed Forces at a time when geopolitical tensions are calling for a strengthening of its military arsenal, and first and foremost, our military human capital.