Military leaders to be held to account if extremism isn’t addressed, Defence Minister Sajjan says

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan worries incidents of extremism and hate in the Canadian Armed Forces are on the rise — and he says military commanders will be held accountable if the problem is not addressed.

Sajjan made the comments to The Canadian Press on Thursday as he launched a special advisory panel composed of former military members tasked with investigating how the Armed Forces can eliminate discrimination and hate from the ranks.

That follows a number of high-profile incidents in recent years that have raised concerns about the extent to which hate groups and right-wing extremists have permeated the ranks of the military, which is also dealing with more systemic discrimination.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a separate an interview this week that tackling hate and extremism will be a top priority for the new commander of the Canadian Armed

Forces, who will replace outgoing chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance.

Sajjan, who has previously spoken about his own experiences with racism as a member in the Canadian Army reserves before entering politics, said he “wholeheartedly agrees” with putting an emphasis on hate when naming the next defence chief.

“Given the fact that we are asking our people to do extraordinary, challenging things and very dangerous things, you want everybody to be working at their best,” he said.

“How can you work at your best if you feel that you’re not being treated fairly in your own institution?”

The federal Liberal government has stayed away from directly involving themselves in the military’s internal affairs in recent years, taking a largely hands-off approach to sexual misconduct and other issues, leaving them to the top brass to handle.

That was before a rash of incidents linking some service members to right-wing extremist groups and other hateful conduct, which coincided with growing concern in Ottawa about a rise in such incidents among the general Canadian public and elsewhere.