Does the Conservative party celebrate feminist and socialist collectives? Or other institutions that promote values which boost their political opponents? Certainly not. So, why does the NDP celebrate Canada’s military?
Last week the RCMP charged current and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for an extremist plot that allegedly involved creating an anti-government militia. They had a massive trove of weapons and were charged with terrorism-related offences. The charges against these far-right CAF individuals followed a few days after a report came out about an Islamophobic, antisemitic and sexist Facebook group run by members of the CAF’s Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.
Controversy over racist, far-right members of the military appear periodically. In 2020 CAF engineer Patrik Mathews fled southward after he was outed as a recruiter for The Base, a neo-Nazi group that helped him go underground in the US. Matthews was eventually convicted on charges related to plotting to poison water supplies, derail trains and kill people to provoke conflict to create a white “ethno-state.”
Besides access to training and weapons, the far right is attracted to the CAF because of its racist, patriarchal and authoritarian character.
The CAF are the institutional embodiment of ‘toxic masculinity’. In 2015 Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps published a report that found a “culture of misogyny” in the Canadian Forces “hostile to women”.
It is also a hotbed of white supremacy. That should be no surprise given its history. Up to the end of World War II Royal Canadian Navy policy required that “candidates must be of pure European descent.”
More fundamentally, CAF culture and structures are frequently in opposition to pluralistic, democratic, values. So are the demands of warfare. This is the reason why people with extreme right-wing beliefs are often attracted to the military as it conforms to their views of how society should function.
Loyalty, conformity and obeying orders are considered essential by the CAF. There’s little room to challenge authority or injustices and voting is nearly nonexistent. Political meetings are not allowed on base and it is prohibited to establish a feminist, environmental or socialist club. Military command structures reinforce the most patriarchal, undemocratic and authoritarian impulses of Canadian society, all of which the NDP supposedly opposes.
Still, NDP leaders celebrate the military. Likely leadership candidate Heather McPherson has repeatedly expressed support for giving the CAF more arms. Eight months ago she posted, “Today, we honour the courage and sacrifice of those who have served & continue to serve in Canada’s Armed Forces.” Six weeks ago McPherson also noted, “Today, on Canadian Armed Forces Day, we acknowledge all the brave men and women who chose to serve. Thank you for protecting our sovereignty. Thank you for your service.”
In trying to appear “mainstream” and “electable” (according to a media in large part owned by billionaires) McPherson and other NDP stalwarts come across as hypocrites at best and more lying politicians at worst.
Why is it so hard to tell the truth? Canada’s military has mostly been used to serve the interests of empire, first British and now US. An institution riddled with authoritarianism, racism and misogyny is a threat to democracy not something to be glorified. Plus, the truth is a necessary stop to fix any problem. And it is more respectful to the rank and file inside the institution who must regularly confront these identified problems.
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