The outgoing Canadian military chief said he first realized the Canadian armed forces had a real problem of hatred and racism three years ago when Navy sailors who identified themselves as “proud boys” faced indigenous protesters in Halifax .
The July 2017 confrontation, captured on video, raised awareness of the right-wing group officials are considering adding to Canada’s list of terrorist organizations.
General Jonathan Vance says it embarrassed the military as well – and served as a wake-up call to the threat that hatred and racism pose to the armed forces.
“Before that, I was pretty confident that our stance on values was strong and well articulated,” Vance told the Canadian press on Wednesday. “I didn’t see this as a dangerous phenomenon, but rather as one to deal with. Proud boys, this got me. “
Vance spoke during one of his most recent media interviews before handing over command of the Canadian armed forces to Vice Admiral Art McDonald on Thursday, more than five years after he first took over as Canada’s Chief Defense Staff.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month that one of McDonald’s top priorities will be to root extremism and systemic racism from the military, which has been undone by revelations of some members’ links to right-wing groups and hatred.
The Proud Boys incident involved men in black and yellow polo shirts from the right-wing group interrupting a Mi’kmaq ceremony in front of a statue of Edward Cornwallis. The ceremony protested the treatment of the indigenous people by the former governor of Nova Scotia.
Subsequent recordings showed that the men wearing the Red Ensign, the flag in front of the Maple Leaf, had a tense debate with the protesters before they left. The Department of Defense later admitted that some of the Proud Boys were members of the Royal Canadian Navy.
“It wasn’t a weird, absurd incident,” Vance said on Wednesday. “It was scary for me.”
That’s because the Halifax confrontation came amid a resurgence in xenophobia and violent extremism in Canada and other parts of the world, which Vance identified as a serious threat due to his ability to undermine trust and openness.
“Xenophobia is dangerous,” he said. “Anything that increases instability … is worrying as instability can lead to open conflict. And xenophobia can be traced back to the start of many conflicts, many wars and many tragedies. “
The incident with the Proud Boys is also worrying, Vance said, as it uncovered, let alone dealt with, serious gaps in the military’s view of right-wing ideology and hatred.
The military established new rules for hateful misconduct over the past year, while commanders in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Navy issued their own orders and instructions to eliminate this behavior.
However, some have indicated that the military has been slow to act and took note of the new rules and regulations only after years of media reports and public incidents associating members with right-wing extremism, white supremacy and neo-Nazism.
These include an Army reservist who was an alleged neo-Nazi recruiter who is currently in custody for firearms in the U.S. and a Canadian ranger who was arrested in July after allegedly driving a truck through the streets with a loaded gun Goals from Rideau Hall.
The 4th Canadian Ranger Group is currently being investigated for alleged links with right-wing groups, while reports from military intelligence have identified dozens of other active duty members as members of hate groups or have made racist or discriminatory statements.
These reports warned that some right-wing groups in particular might attempt to infiltrate the military to advance their own agendas, but they also suggested that such incidents and individuals be isolated – a message that seemed to be echoed by military commanders.
On Wednesday, however, Vance painted the issue as an issue of loyalty – to both Canada and the military.
“The military must – and always down to the individual – be open to the state and open to the values and the work it has to do for the state,” he said.
“And then, by definition, there is no room for infidelity. And there is no place at all for those who have ulterior motives or who would somehow walk through their belief system, damage, morals, and operational performance. And so it’s a constant effort. “
Vance’s comments came the same day when top officers across the U.S. military sent an unprecedented letter to their troops that the January 6th uprising on Capitol Hill was an attack on the American Constitution – reminding them that they were all one Having sworn an oath to protect the constitution. The US military is investigating whether any of its employees were among those who participated in the attack.
Defending the pace of efforts and responses by the Canadian military, Vance said deliberate action must be taken to define the scope of the problem and identify appropriate responses before communicating it to the armed forces as a whole.
And he says all of these initiatives can be traced back to the incident with the Proud Boys.
“That’s when we started to really look at it,” he said. “The efforts to go through the development of this policy and the timely release of this policy were carried out as quickly as possible. And I think well. “
Lee Berthiaume, the Canadian press
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