We’re Better Than You

Veterans, Extremism and Politics

As my Twitter followers may know, I am a retired Canadian Army senior officer with some 25 years of service, including several operational deployments and extensive experience in Canada. I had a very full (and, I say this in all humility, successful) career that was cut short due to a significant number of physical injuries. I was an armour officer and had the privilege of commanding soldiers both at home and on deployment. The Army was my life, and I thoroughly enjoyed most aspects of serving. I mention this because it's important to the discussion that follows. In this piece, I’ll be discussing veterans, their role in politics, and why some are drawn to extremism.

According to Veterans Affairs, there are around 800,000 people with military service in Canada (although that figure is inflated by the "new" definition of what constitutes a "veteran"—any person with military service, provided they passed basic training). This is a figure of no small importance. The public tends to view this community through one lens: old, male, and from the Second World War. As a result, veterans are seen as "dying off," and few realize that there are thousands of younger veterans who don't fit this stereotype.

This misconception has served to isolate large swaths of the veteran community. Few Canadians have served in the military, and most get their information from American television, complete with all its stereotypes. They rarely interact with soldiers and have a distorted view of what military service entails. Unless they make a particular effort, soldiers at the junior levels live and breathe the military, with little regard for the wider outside world. Grievances, some legitimate, fester, and frustration with the government's seeming inability to take defence and soldiers seriously simmers beneath the surface. This isn’t the case for most soldiers, who are average citizens living in the community. However, for a tiny minority, resentment builds and carries over once they leave uniform. This is exacerbated by encounters with the Byzantine Veterans Affairs bureaucracy and the perceived lack of community support. Few "modern-day" veterans are members of the largest veterans' organization, the Royal Canadian Legion, which is widely seen as having become a civilian group. Moreover, the Armed Forces themselves make little effort to remain connected with former members, in their haste to hand them over to the dubious care of Veterans Affairs.

The result is a small, embittered group ripe for radicalization. Facebook and other platforms allow them to come together to air any complaint, real or imagined, and to recreate the same echo chambers they found in uniform. Now, there is little restraint and no censorship. Far-right anti-government ideas are imported from the U.S. and adapted to a Canadian setting, reflecting a very real sense that the government and public don’t care or appreciate their sacrifices. This creates a false sense of elitism, where these veterans believe they are better than the general population and that their opinion matters more because of their service, despite a lack of education or exposure to the wider world.

The situation has become so poisonous that these “freedom” groups openly espouse revolution, violence, and sedition. Veterans opposed to their agenda are attacked as examples of “stolen valor” and as traitors. Borrowing an idea from the U.S., the false sense of elitism extends within the veterans' community, where those identifying as "combat veterans" are considered superior to everyone else. To anyone rational with a modicum of service, this idea is laughable.

The radicalization of a small minority of veterans became obvious with the advent of the so-called “freedom convoy” in 2022. A very small number of former service members, flaunting their service, hitched themselves to the February 2022 protests in Ottawa. The result was predictable: the press hyperventilated about potential anti-government support in the serving military and began seeing special forces operators behind every bouncy castle. The reality was much different. The Ottawa protesters were a motley group of a couple dozen people wearing their medals and berets in an obvious attempt to gain legitimacy. Some supported the Canada Unity attempt to oust the government.

Out of the protest emerged an “organized” group, Veterans for Freedom (V4F), which soon claimed some 5,000 members. They immediately ran into trouble and were quickly opposed by other veterans on social media. V4F soon retracted claims that they spoke for all veterans and were forced to distance themselves from Jeremy MacKenzie and other members of a far-right radical group called Diagolon, which was under police scrutiny for terrorist activity. Not too far, though, as V4F soon raised money for MacKenzie’s court costs and for the legal defence of far-right radicals arrested with an extensive weapons collection at the Alberta border.

V4F continues to be active, run by a former Navy junior officer and supported by a motley group of former senior NCOs. Their rhetoric is predictable and reflects both a U.S. anti-government view and grievances that can be overheard in any bar hosting old veterans: “wokism,” hatred of Prime Minister Trudeau and most politicians, longing for the "better" days when they were serving, and a litany of complaints borrowed from the Trumpist playbook.

This would be tiresome if not for the fact that Canadians, with their very limited understanding of defence affairs, might assume that such views represent the majority of veterans. V4F and other radical groups leverage their service for legitimacy, and people fall for it. The truth is, the vast majority of veterans served with pride and, when they left uniform, became productive members of the wider civilian community. Their service wasn’t their entire identity, and they left the echo chambers behind. What remains are the diehards, convinced they are better than everyone because of their “sacrifice,” wallowing in a variety of perceived and real grievances, and stubbornly living in a mythical past.

Canadians shouldn’t fall for it. As stated earlier, there are around 800,000 veterans of all descriptions in Canada, found in all walks of life. That some 5,000 (and we should take this number with a large grain of salt) have decided that radical politics are for them shouldn’t reflect on the wider community. Rather than radical politics, perhaps they should seek a more constructive approach to civilian life. Alas, this seems to be a bridge too far for some.