Photograph courtesy of Facebook first published by The Ottawa Citizen
By Scott Taylor
On the surface, the recent 'Blue Hackle Mafia' Facebook group scandal is an embarrassment to the individuals involved, their regiment -the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, the Duke of Edinburgh's Own, and by extension the Canadian Army and the Canadian Armed Forces in general.
For those unaware of the recent news reports, it was revealed that approximately 200 members of a Facebook group were using the social media platform to share antisemitic, homophobic and misogynistic messages with each other. Oh, and they also used the site to share a boatload of 'dick-pics' with each other.
The self proclaimed 'Blue Hackle Mafia' posted images of male soldiers in uniform exposing their genitals, others posing naked with Canadian Forces weapons or simulating sexual acts with each other in uniform. Some of the photos were taken at military installations. It was widely reported that the private Facebook page also included hateful comments that were directed towards women, derogatory sexual comments about former prime minister Justin Trudeau, as well as discussions about raping grandmothers.
In other cases, the 'Blue Hackle Mafia' posted disparaging comments aimed at both Jews and Muslims.
This story was first 'broken' by CBC News reporter Catherine Tunney on July 3. Tunney's report was based solely upon statements and messages from Lt-Gen Michael Wright, the Army Commander and Brig-Gen Vanessa Hanrahan, the CAF Provost Marshal that were "shared with CBC News".
It was a classic attempt at senior level damage control. To paraphrase what Lt-Gen Wright and Brig-Gen Hanrahan fed to Tunney was that while the contents of the Facebook page had been flagged by the Chain of Command as early as December 2024, the Army Commander had only learned of the contentious material on 25 June.
The Provost Marshal advised Tunney that the military Police had investigated the initial reports and then turned the investigation back over to the unit involved. However as of June 27, the military police investigation had been re-opened. Brig-Gen Hanrahan therefore advised Tunney that, "This new investigation is ongoing and no further information will be provided at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation." Lt-Gen Wright condemned the contents and in the message he shared with Tunney wrote that he is "disgusted by the content of some of the posts published on this group".
What they did not share with CBC News was the identity of the regiment in question. We know this because in her story, Tunney wrote "Not much else is known about the Blue Hackle Mafia group, including how many CAF members allegedly participated. "Hackle" could be a reference to the plume some infantry regiments wear."
What Tunney did not realize was that the Canadian military brass were not simply coming clean on some very dirty laundry of which they had just been made aware. The truth is that Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese had been following this story for several weeks. A source had tipped him off and Pugliese had subsequently screen saved the explicit images and posts. On June 24, Pugliese had forwarded this collection of screen shots to Canadian Forces Public Affairs and asked for a comment from Lt-Gen Wright to include in his upcoming story.
However, instead of just replying to Pugliese, military public affairs chose to share the responses with CBC News. They knew full well that the reporter did not have the full details, nor the supporting imagery. Hell, Tunney did not even know the name of the regiment involved.
Of course the Ottawa Citizen published the full story the very next day along with two supplementary stories the following week.
As a result of Pugliese's reports we now know that while the Army Commander may only have been made aware of the Facebook group on June 25, others in the chain of command were aware long before that date. The group which included roughly 200 members was first established in 2007.
We also know that the members of the 'Blue Hackle Mafia' knew what they were doing ran counter to the CAF's current policies but were only concerned about getting caught. One post from October 2017 warned the group, “Basically anything bad to happen to any military unit in the last 25 years is because some asshole didn’t put his camera away.”
Another wrote -"It is not what we know, it is what we can prove."
Perhaps the most explicit warning revealed that photos of genitalia had been brought to the attention of the commanding officer of the regiment. “No f–king pictures in the mess,” wrote one soldier. “There should be 0 photographic evidence of anything we get up to in that room. We don’t need anymore pictures of penises going to the CO (commanding officer).”
Unfortunately for Lt-Gen Wright and Army Public Affairs, their attempt to conduct damage control by using the CBC to 'break' this story sends the wrong message to serving members. Protecting the institution's reputation should never take priority over actually handling an issue.
For the record, the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa have a long standing reputation as a first class infantry regiment. In 1882 they were granted the right to adopt the City of Ottawa's motto 'Advance'. The Blue Hackle was authorized to be worn on their headgear by the King of England during World War Two in recognition of the regiment's honour and fighting pride.
Let's hope that their martial legacy trumps this current stain on the regiment's reputation.
