White nationalism is alive and well, including in the Canadian military
Donald Trump’s presidency has given oxygen to far-right extremist groups in Canada
As the United States picks up the pieces — both literally and figuratively — from last week’s siege of the Capitol Building, a growing number of politicians are starting to ask what role members of the American military played in the attack.
And they are clear and unambiguous about what they want to happen to anyone from the U.S. armed forces who was part of the insurrection: they want them rooted out, and punished.
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a boon for far-right extremists and not just in the United States. It has given oxygen to similar groups in Canada.
Exhibit A would be the Proud Boys, who were inside the Capitol Building last week. The Proud Boys was founded by a Canadian, who now says he has left the group, but it continues to be an active presence in the U.S. and this country. Last week, Bill Blair — the federal minister for public safety — said the government is considering declaring the Proud Boys a terrorist organization.
The Proud Boys are just that — openly and defiantly proud of their white supremacist ethos. Worrisome, yes, but perhaps not as worrisome as extremists who operate in the shadows. That’s an issue that the Canadian Armed Forces is struggling with.
This country’s armed forces have been trying to come to grips with white supremacists in its ranks before the rise of Trumpism. An internal study obtained by Global News showed that between 2013 and 2018, 53 members of the armed forces had been involved or
associated with hate groups. Paradoxically, the same report said that is such a small number that they pose no threat to the armed forces.
In an open letter to Defence Minister Harjit Sajan, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said it feels the report understates and dismisses the problem of white supremacists in the military, and in particular the reserves.
“Like you, we know how potentially dangerous a single person or small group of trained individuals can be when radicalized to violence,” it says in the letter. “In fact it only takes one person with the hateful will and intent to cause havoc.”
That one person might well have been Patrik Matthews. A former reservist from Manitoba who had been trained in explosives, Matthews is facing weapons charges in Maryland and Delaware. He could be facing a jail sentence of up to 90 years. Matthews has links to The Base, a neo-Nazi group, and other reserve members have been linked to far-right groups such as the Soldiers of Odin.
Yet until last July, the Canadian military didn’t even have a definition of what it would consider to be hateful conduct. Instead it had dealt with white supremacy and extremism the same as it would with other behaviour that doesn’t meet armed forces expectations.
Coming up with a definition of what constitutes hateful conduct is a step in the right direction. But it is also only that — a step. Organizations that track hate groups in Canada still worry that the armed forces want to hide cases of white nationalism, and don’t take the rise of right wing extremism as seriously as they should. To underline their concern, they point to armed forces members with links to rightwing extremist groups who have been allowed to stay in the military.
What they think is needed is specific and clear direction on how to deal with armed forces members who are found to be part of hate groups. The kind of explicit direction that Lt.- Gen. Wayne Eyre, who heads the army branch of the armed forces, wants the 450 leaders who report to him to implement. He made his position on how the army will deal with white nationalists clear to CBC News last fall: “If you have those types of beliefs — get out. We don’t want you.”
It’s clear, it’s unambiguous, and — after the shocking attack on American democracy last week — it can come none too soon for Canada’s military.