Armed forces needs to strengthen screening to weed out extremists: expert

Expert: Canadian Armed Forces Should Strengthen Screening to Identify and Weed Out Extremists

The Canadian Press reports — Following the issuance of terrorism charges against several members of the Canadian Armed Forces for their involvement in a plot to form an anti-government militia, an expert on extremism said the Canadian military should improve its screening and vetting process during the recruitment process.

The fact that two of the four men charged are active-duty members of the armed forces shows that the military has not been doing a good job of identifying and preventing individuals with destructive and extremist motives from entering, Andy Knight, a political science professor at the University of Alberta, said Wednesday.

“We need to do something about recruitment because if people with such extremist ideologies are being accepted into the military, then the screening process is not being done properly,” he said.

“Extremism within the military needs to be taken seriously and identified and eradicated as soon as possible to prevent its spread,” he added.

The case, which the RCMP has described as an ideologically motivated violent extremism, involves four men attempting to forcibly seize land in the Quebec City area. They are accused of recruiting for the group on Instagram.

The details of the case have shocked many, but to Knight, they are not unexpected. His previous research for the Canadian Ministry of Defence has uncovered racist and extremist beliefs among some members of the military.

“We should not allow these individuals to enter the military, receive military training and weapons, and then use those skills against the government or against citizens. This needs to be addressed immediately,” he warned.

Jessica Davis, a national security expert and president of Insight Threat Intelligence, said the dozens of weapons seized in the case — including explosives, assault rifles and a large amount of ammunition — were the largest cache of weapons ever recovered in a Canadian terrorism case.

General Vanessa Henrahan, the chief of the Canadian Armed Forces Military Police, identified the two active-duty members charged:
Corporal Marc-Erle Chaboux and Corporal Matthew Forbes, both from CFB Valcartier.

The other two accused are Simon Anger-Odette and Raphael Lagasse. Henrahan said one was a former member of the military and the other was a former civilian instructor in the Royal Canadian Air Force (Air Cadets), but did not specify which one.

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