Had contract with military
Proud of his experience as a bushman since his childhood, Hurren said he helped teach wilderness survival to other members of the military and the RCMP.
COVID changed the nature of his work with the military. As part of Operation Laser, the Canadian military’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurren was put on call, meaning he switched to full-time service.
Under a military Class C contract, he did full-time work with the same pay and benefits as Regular Force members.
“He was considered ‘on duty’ at the time of the incident on 2 July as he was supporting Operation Laser,” the military said in a statement.
Hurren, who had the rank of master corporal, travelled to Ottawa of his own accord without the knowledge of his chain of command, the statement said. There is no indication any of the guns Hurren may have had with him when arrested in Ottawa were Canadian Forces weapons.
The rifle he was issued is still in the possession of the Canadian Rangers, the military said.
Hurren spent 20 years working in the meat industry, including at the Maple Leaf bacon plant in North Battleford, Sask., he said.
He moved back to northern Manitoba in 2001 when his father became sick, he told a reporter with the Star and Times in Swan River, Man., in 2018. Hurren turned his passion for cooking meat into a fledgling business in 2014, starting Grindhouse Fine Foods.
Hurren was distributing his products through grocery stores, with his business hurt by pandemic restrictions. Along the way, social media posts on several platforms linked to Hurren expressed concern about the pandemic and its possible origins.
The accounts openly shared an interest in Qanon, a far-right conspiracy theory linking current events into a pattern of malevolent deception by global elites.
Using the Grindhouse account, he posted a Qanon meme in March, and asked in his own caption, “Has anyone else been following ‘Q’ and the ‘White Rabbit’ down the rabbit hole and how this all relates to the Corona virus/covid-19 situation?
“Lots of coincidences in all these ‘Q’ posts if this turns out to be a “Nothingburger,” the post said. He then used a litany of hashtags popular with Qanon followers, including #Redpill #Pizzagate and #Followthewhiterabbit.
If the social media footprint linked to Hurren is an accurate indication, the pandemic seems to be having a darker impact on some Canadians than others.
Paranoia over the pandemic was also a feature of Gabriel Wortman’s behaviour, shortly before he started his murderous rampage of 22 people across northern Nova Scotia in April, according to RCMP documents in the investigation of Canada’s worst mass murder.