The officer in charge of a Canadian Army brigade has stepped down in the aftermath of a controversy over a now-defunct Facebook group where members of an Ottawa-based reserve unit allegedly posted hateful and inappropriate content.
CBC News has learned Col. James McKay, the commander of the 33 Canadian Brigade Group, told staff late last week that he has relinquished command following embarrassing revelations this month involving the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Duke of Edinburgh’s Own).
Members of the unit are accused of posting antisemitic, misogynistic, homophobic and racist comments on the social media page along with explicit photos. The “Blue Hackle Mafia” group has now been taken down.
The commander of the Cameron Highlanders, Lt.-Col. Ryan Hendy has been temporarily removed from his post and given other duties while both military police and the army conduct separate investigations.
McKay was Hendy’s immediate superior and was apparently involved in early discussions when concern about the Facebook group first surfaced last December.
The Canadian Army has temporarily suspended Lt.-Col. Ryan Hendy following the discovery of a Facebook group with ‘abhorrent’ content. CAF has been investigating the group, which is said to promote ‘racist, misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic comments and images.’
“My actions in dealing with the ‘Blue Hackle Mafia’ Facebook group did not meet [Canadian Armed Forces] and my personal expectations,” wrote McKay in an email obtained by CBC News.
“Over the past 15 months I have balanced multiple obligations and took on more than I should have. This balancing act impeded my ability to make the right decisions at the right time. Therefore, I am exiting command sooner than anticipated for both the brigade’s sake and to establish a sustainable balance.”
The Department of National Defence confirmed McKay’s resignation as brigade commander, which was submitted and accepted on July 21.
“Being accountable for both our action and inaction, and the respective consequences of those decisions, is foundational to the profession of arms and achieving a ready, resilient and relevant Canadian Armed Forces,” Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright said in a statement released late Monday to CBC News.
“The circumstances surrounding the social media group remain extremely disturbing and disappointing, but actions taken to date are important in underlining the Canadian Army’s commitment to ensuring our culture meets the expectations of Canadians.”
It’s unclear whether McKay will stay in the military, or who will replace him on an interim basis.
McKay’s note went on to suggest the controversy over the unit’s behaviour has become a distraction from the brigade’s core responsibility “to focus on what is truly important — training soldiers and teams.”
Concerns raised last year
Concern about the contents of the Facebook group, which allegedly included hateful comments directed toward women, derogatory sexual comments about former prime minister Justin Trudeau, as well as discussions about raping grandmothers, were brought to light internally last year.
Hendy and McKay discussed the matter and notified military police last December. But after three months of investigation, the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal deemed no service offence had been committed. Hendy ordered an officer within the Cameron Highlanders to conduct an internal investigation.
In late June, the Ottawa Citizen obtained screenshots of the Blue Hackle Mafia group and asked the Defence Department for comment.
In his initial response, Wright said he was blindsided by the controversy. In an internal message obtained by CBC News in early July, Wright described the group’s content “abhorrent,” and warned of consequences.
“I have ordered that any serving Canadian Army members currently on this social media group immediately cease their participation,” Wright wrote in the internal note.
He ordered an immediate summary investigation to examine the alleged unethical conduct of the serving members who were part of that online community.
The provost marshal, in a statement also shared with CBC News in early July, acknowledged the initial investigation.
“The transfer to the unit for a disciplinary investigation was considered the best use of options available in the military justice system, in this case,” said the statement.
The military police have since opened a fresh investigation. The file was initiated on June 27 after the Ottawa Citizen made its first inquiries.
Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, a defence researcher specializing in social issues in the military, said the conduct and decisions of military police in this instance need to be thoroughly examined.
“If we look at other controversies that happened around sexual misconduct, the military police has been a challenge,” said Duval-Lantoine, who noted that issues such as racism and homophobia in the ranks have not been given as much attention as sexual misconduct and mechanisms for dealing with them may be inadequate.
In the fall of 2020, the former commander of the army, the now retired general Wayne Eyre, ordered a crackdown on hateful conduct online after a series of incidents.
One of them was a case brought to light by CBC News involving a now-former Canadian Ranger who associated online with two well-known hate groups, and who referred to Trudeau as a “treasonous bastard.”
Additionally, an ex-reservist, Patrik Mathews, was sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison for his role in what investigators called a violent plot to trigger a “race war” in the United States through the right-wing extremist group The Base.
Eyre’s response at the time was to issue a 25-page directive that requires soldiers to report to their superiors when they witness or become aware of racism and hateful conduct. If they fail to do so, Eyre warned at the time there could be serious consequences.
“Is it enough?” Duval-Lantoine says of those measures. “Is it adapted for the kind of action that would lead to discipline for racist, or what the military calls hateful, conduct?”
