White Supremacists and Other Extremists Infiltrate Canada’s Armed Forces, Report Warns

The Armed Forces Canadians they do not do enough to detect white supremacists and other violent extremists and prevent them from infiltrating their interior, according to a report released Monday by Defense Minister Anita Anand.

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The text was released after a year-long review by a panel of retired members of the military, and follows a series of incidents linking some military personnel to hate groups and violent extremism, including white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

The report says the alleged presence of extremists in the military is a “pressing moral, social and operational problem” as such members pose a threat to unit cohesion and Canadians’ trust in the institution.

Despite adopting a zero-tolerance strategy, efforts to detect extremists have been “isolated and inefficient,” and they have increased their ability to avoid detection.

“The need for education and training for leaders at all levels of the defense team was repeatedly highlighted during the advisory panel’s consultations,” according to the report.

Anand said the government has earmarked more than 200 million Canadian dollars ($157.1 million) to help change military culture, but did not mention any specific new measures.

Defense Chief of Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre said the military needs to strike a balance between privacy concerns and remaining vigilant when it comes to tasks like monitoring members’ social media posts.

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The report also rebuked the military for failing to act on dozens of previous studies and reviews of racism in the ranks over the past two decades.

71% of Canada’s military are white men, but in the civilian workforce they only represent 39%. The report notes that indigenous people and women are highly underrepresented in the armed forces.

An example of right-wing extremism among the Canadian military occurred in 2017 during an incident in Halifax, in which a group of sailors linked to the far-right group Proud Boys disrupted an indigenous ceremony.

Subsequently, a military intelligence report linked dozens of members of the Armed Forces with extremist groups, and warned that these organizations actively recruited or otherwise tried to infiltrate the military ranks to obtain training, experience and equipment.

Source: Elcomercio

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