The Proud Boys have shamed Canada’s military.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, rear admiral John Newton apologized for the behaviour of Armed Forces members who disrupted an Indigenous protest on Canada Day.
“I’ll stand here in front of you and apologize to the Aboriginal community, to anybody, the entire public community,” Newton said. “We can do better as a system.”
Four of the men are members of the Royal Canadian Navy. One is a member of the Army. All of the men are now facing administrative and military police disciplinary action because of this past weekend’s incident.
The self-described “Proud Boys” showed up to Cornwallis Park on Canada Day, Red Ensign flag in hand, to disrupt an Indigenous ceremony that was being held to commemorate the genocide of First Nations peoples.
Newton says he was made aware of the incident by those who contacted him directly over social media, as well as from the outcry of his Indigenous friends and fellow Armed Forces members.
The head of the Navy on the east coast says he had a “one-way conversation” with the men, during which he told them the Armed Forces was taking the matter very seriously.
“I looked each and every one of them in the eye…and I told them what would happen to them.”
Although Newton says the men have a right to their beliefs, those ideologies have to get “parked” when you join a bigger organization like the military.
“I just told the young people that they had crossed a line, where their personal beliefs…got into the public domain,” he said. “For that, they will have to face the consequences.”
The Armed Forces members could be looking at a military police investigation to determine if their affiliation with the far-right extremist group poses a security risk to operations.
The Proud Boys were founded by VICE Magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes as a masturbation-abstaining, militant right-wing fraternity that praises “Western chauvanist” values. As Coast columnist Chris Parsons wrote this morning;
“Their attempts at humour and freshmen understanding of intellectual history are childish and boring and they’re more of an annoyance than truly offensive…[but] the danger lies in formations like the Proud Boys using irony to normalize right-wing street politics, using irony to cover truly dangerous political positions and recruiting teenage jokesters into a fascist milieu where more extreme and less cowardly organizations are waiting.”
Whatever the Proud Boys represent, Newton says their values run counter to those of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“We all should not be polarized in our thinking,” the rear admiral said while praising the military’s emphasis on inclusion and diversity.
Tuesday marks the second apology Newton has had to make in recent weeks due to Navy members disrespecting First Nations peoples. In late May, Newton apologized during a graduation ceremony for participants in the Canadian Armed Forces Aboriginal entry program on the HMCS Fredericton for a sailor who two weeks earlier had made a “war cry.”
Newton says he hasn’t spoken directly with local Indigenous leaders about the Proud Boys, and isn’t sure if they’ll be consulted for any disciplinary matters. He remains hopeful the men involved can learn from their mistakes and, given time, sincerely apologize to the public themselves.
National Defence minister Harjit Sajjan has also issued a statement about the Proud Boys on Facebook.
“To members of Halifax’s Mi’kmaq community and to Chief Grizzly Mamma, I am sorry for the pain this incident has caused,” Sajjan writes. “These disrespectful actions do not represent the Canadian Armed Forces members I serve as Minister of National Defence.”
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This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2017.
Anything short of a full dismissal from the forces will be seen as the state support of racism. This means every member of the military is a racist!
Wow! That’s very disappointing to hear being the proud mother of two military sons. I hope they have learned a lesson and in my own personal opinion, I think they have a few years of growing up to do! 🙁
We are paying a killer for?????? Now if there is a altercation, it’s discrimination and reported on by the media with only one side of the story told. Should know that as our news is liberal and gets their story angle from CNN and M S N B C . fake news.
It is the morons supposedly representing the indigenous people at this pathetic “ceremony” that should be ashamed. This is not racism, it pride in our nation and I’m happy someone did something.
A good question is, what did these guys actually do that was so wrong? Also is anyone else getting tired of the perpetual professional victim hood being fostered by the left?
You keep trying to demonize this country (one of, if not the best in the world despite it’s faults), and the descendants of the Europeans who settled it. Keep it up and unfortunately you will see more calling this type of thing out. What’s worse people will get more aggressive about it.
The proud boys clearly went there to disrupt the event. There were like 20 people there tops. Why not just let them have their ceremony in peace? They’d have been there for 2 or 3 hours and then left and most people wouldn’t even know about it.
On the other hand, the fact that the military is apologizing and considering disciplinary action because these guys chose to occupy this public space in protest is alarming. I may not agree with them but I would defend anyone’s right to peacefully assemble. Perhaps their presence there was disrespectful of this group’s intentions but to some, spray painting “Decolonize” on an upside down Canadian Flag on Canada Day is disrespectful.
Can we please have reasonable discourse and try to have more moderate views and more open minds? Both the extreme left and the extreme right are so unwavering in their radical ideologies. In the states it’s much worse, this crowd would have been 10x the size and possibly violent. I don’t think that’s the direction ANY of us want to see Canada take.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of your country and the things we, as a collective people, have accomplished in 150 years and there’s nothing wrong with recognizing that we still have room to grow and that there is still work to be done bridging some divides in this country.
/rant
I am truly shocked at the comments being made here in support of these racist soldiers, and attacking First Nations people for peacefully assembling to protest their treatment. I am moving back home to Canada after 30 years in the U.S., and I expect to see comments this ignorant down here, but NOT back home in Canada. Clearly the influence of the U.S. has bored into some pea brains like a noxious maggot of hatred. Fortunately, Canada has health care for all, so the racists posting here can get psychiatric care to determine why they have such hatred and contempt for our original Canadians and such support for the racist morons who disrupted their protest. I know Canada isn’t perfect–we had incest, rape, domestic abuse, and murder in my family too–but I expect MUCH more from the greatest nation on earth. If you so desperately want racists to have an equal say against people who have been brutalized for 150 years, I suggest you move to the United States immediately. You will LOVE life in their immigration lock-ups, where you too will be exposed to rape, torture, starvation, and murder in the nation that pretends to be a democracy while exporting weapons and war. This is Canada. Act like a Canadian or get out.
Canada’s Armed … And Dunk’N Forces, (Wet-Brain’d?) !
CFB Esquimalt was full of Drunkards and Racists and Caused Me to discharge Myself from the organisation in 79′. I see Nothing has Changed!
Facts …. They knew the rules prior to the incident.
They Knew the consequences this might bring if they were caught.
They are Adults , Old enough to Kill with Our weapon’s .
They’ve ‘spent’ the Crown’s Honor and have brought irreparable Shame to the Crown .
Confrontation was their main focus to ‘take the Voice’ from the gathering.
The Canadian Military is one of the main FN Genocidal organisation’s of Canada’s,
Past, Present and Future( They train to kill for a living folks ).
Many Many Members go on to Civil-Enforcement after serving in the military, RCMP etc, National Defense Mini ster Harjit Sajjan, What assurances do the People of Canada and the Nations within Her Boarder’s have that the perpetrators won’t go on to positions of any authoritative Nature within all levels of Canadian Society for the rest of their Live’s?
Because THAT would be reasonable and send a good ‘One-Way Message!”
I’d like to place focus on an item that has Pertinence to this conversation please .
http://journal.radicalcriminology.org/index.php/rc/article/view/90/html
The “Proud Weirdo’s” were in fact ‘acting-out’, and testing their training as Jr. Partner’s to The Institution’s Oppression.
Subjectively, this reminds Me of the Student Shootings in Ohio that Neil Young sang about.
I will be the first to call this ‘Not-Pre-authorized action’ what it really is …. a hate crime.
A Perpetuation of Colonialist’s Institutions of Oppression perpetuated By It’s Member’s Who Relish in the Knowledge that the Institutions they represent Have a Glorious past of violence towards this specifically oppressed Group,… Their forefather’s Got to pick on Indigenous ….. They just want the same things they had~!.
Lol, everyone needs to chill the fuck out.
This “ceremony” was held on a landmark birthday, held in a controversial spot and was further pushing the buck with a Canadian flag flown upside down and adorned with disrespectful markings. So we can all agree that this protest ceremony was held in this manner to provoke a response, right? So why are we shocked that some douchebags in matching, popped collar shirts show up and act like douchebags? Do 5 assclowns speak for the entire military? The city? The province? The country? Let’s take a step back, stop the bullying (trying to destroy people’s livelihoods and careers) and take an objective look at what happened…
Two groups of people with differing opinions had a conversation, nobody got hurt. Are they guilty of poor taste? Yup. Are the native people guilty of poor taste for holding their protest where and when they did? I believe, yes. As much as these guys are assholes, I grow increasingly tired of indigenous peoples using this “conversation” surrounding reconciliation as a blank cheque to do and say whatever the fuck they want, and unfortunately I honestly don’t think I have the energy to give a shit what “team” wins this stupid, unwinnable argument. This modern idea that people must pay for their thought crimes with their livelihood and career garners no respect with me.
This jerk is one of them. He may not be a proud boy but he espouses and reflects their beliefs and does not consider it a hate crime. Canadian military is traditionally racist – it is an offshoot, based on, the white supremacist murdering invasive British military “values”.