Military chief must confront racism

Opinion

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This article was published 03/01/2021 (1453 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Vice-Admiral Art McDonald takes over as Canada’s top military commander on Jan. 11, he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Some huge tasks will be logistical in nature, such as overseeing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout through Operation Vector.

But another responsibility, no less daunting but perhaps harder to solve, will be a priority identified in December by both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan: cracking down on right-wing extremism, hate and white supremacy in Canada’s Armed Forces.

The problem has reared its ugly head in different places across Canada in recent years, and spilled across the border. Researchers at the University of New Brunswick show in a forthcoming study that right-wing extremism has been on the rise in Atlantic Canada over the years 2000-2019. A July 2017 disruption of a Mi’kmaq ceremony in Halifax by members of the Proud Boys included five off-duty members of the Canadian Armed Forces. The five were then suspended while their conduct was investigated. One left the military of his own accord. The other four were later allowed to resume their duties and no charges were laid.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Proud Boys are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric, and one of its members helped organize the so-called “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., later that year, in which multiple white nationalist groups demonstrated.

Closer to home, Manitoba military reservist Master Cpl. Patrik Mathews was revealed by reporting in the Winnipeg Free Press to be a neo-Nazi member and recruiter for The Base, a white-power group centred in the U.S. Mr. Mathews was fired from his military position after his neo-Nazi sympathies were made public, and subsequently fled Canada, joining compatriots in Michigan.

He was later caught, along with other members of the group, by the FBI before a January gun rights rally in Richmond, Va., and faces numerous charges.

The obvious danger in white supremacists and members of hate groups receiving military training — which they could pass on to other extremists in training camps such as those conducted by The Base — is to their targets. If members of such groups serving in any capacity in the Canadian military are not identified and isolated or removed from service, they present a grave domestic terror risk.

They also tarnish the reputation of the Armed Forces as a whole and diminish the trust Canadians rightfully put in members of our military. It’s an insult to veterans who served and fought against the forces of fascism and Nazism to have the current men and women in uniform share ranks with avowed white supremacists.

In July, the Armed Forces issued orders to take a proactive approach on rooting out hateful conduct, including requiring troops to report any such incidents and commanders to take action when those are brought to their attention. A database has been created to track these incidents.

In October, in an interview with the Toronto Star, Mr. Sajjan warned extremists, “One thing I can assure you: we will find you, and you will be dealt with.”

Those are strong words; as for the actions to back them up, that task falls to Vice-Admiral McDonald. As the new year unfolds, rooting out extremists in the military should be considered an urgent matter of public safety.