By Scott Taylor
On the morning of June 8, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) took four men into custody. Three of the men arrested were charged with facilitating terrorist activity while the fourth suspect was charged with a variety of weapons offences.
What made this story so alarming is that all four suspects have links to the Canadian Armed Forces. Corporals Matthew Forbes and Marc-Aurěle Chabot are still serving in the regular force at CFB Valcartier while Simon Angers-Audet and Raphael Lagace are respectively, a former CAF regular force member and a former civilian instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
At the time of the arrest the RCMP told the media: "The three accused were planning to create [an] anti-government militia. To achieve this, they took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises,"
The RCMP categorized this as ideologically motivated terrorism with the accused "intending to forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City area."
In the initial CBC online story about the arrests, a sub-head reads 'Guns, explosives seized', which reinforces the drama of an alleged terrorist plot being foiled.
However, the RCMP stated that they had conducted searches in the Quebec City area in January, 2024. At that juncture the RCMP had seized 16 explosive devices, 83 firearms and accessories, approximately 11,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibres, 130 magazines and four sets of night vision goggles.
That was eighteen months before they arrested the four suspects and charged them with facilitating terrorism.
The RCMP also noted that some of the firearms confiscated were prohibited and they had also recovered 'seized military equipment'. The DND has since claimed that the equipment in question was not stolen from military stores.
However, if the police believed that this wanna-be militia was building their arsenal with stolen CAF property, why were these individuals allowed to continue serving at CFB Valcartier?
According to the RCMP the investigation into the accused began in the spring of 2023 and they believe that the anti-government militia plot was hatched in 2021. Over the past four years, the accused conducted training activities which included weapons training along with climbing, survival and orientation exercises. It is believed that in addition to the four accused, there were as many as 15 individuals who had received some sort of numbered badge as proof or their membership. The training activities routinely included 30-40 participants. the group also posted images on an Instagram account that listed nearly 1,000 followers.
However, despite the fact that the RCMP labelled this 'ideologically motivated terrorism' to date this group does not seem to really have a clear-cut ideology. Social media posts from the members illustrate pro-gun, anti-gun restriction sentiments along with right leaning political agendas. Corporal Chabot is alleged by one of his former comrades in the Royal 22nd Regiment to have uttered 'almost treasonous' comments about former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
While a number of terrorism experts have pointed out that this case involves the largest cache of weapons ever seized in an alleged terrorism-linked plot, the fact is that no one is going to start a war with 11,000 rounds and 83 small arms. Short of seizing property in Quebec this gang seems to have no known mid or long term plan.
Back in 2006 the so-called Toronto 18 terrorists were definitely driven by ideology, and while not formally affiliated with al-Qaeda, they were admittedly inspired by them. This gang of 14 adult and four teenage Muslim extremists had a very specific target list aimed at terrorizing the bejeezus out of every Canadian. Their plan included; blowing up the CN Tower, storming Parliament Hill, executing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the coup-de-grace was to be the live beheading of CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge during the evening broadcast. The problem was that the Toronto 18 did not have a clue about firearms and explosives nor did they know how to procure them.
Unwittingly they recruited a chap named Mubin Shaikh who was actually a de-radicalized Muslim acting as a counter terrorism operative. When the Toronto 18 conducted a training camp organized by Shaikh in December 2006, they were watched by some 200 law enforcement officials. The plot was over before it could be hatched.
Following guilty pleas at their June 2010 trial these 18 would be terrorists received 7-20 year prison sentences.
The 'Quebec 4' are in a different league as they do have experience with automatic weapons, explosives and tactics. This fact was not missed by the international media as this story got flagged by CNN, BBC, the New York Times and the Guardian. This is exactly what the hard pressed CAF did not need at this juncture, another bad news story to throw on the pile.
