On Saturday, Rebel News in Canada released screenshot messages between members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Musical Ride team, in which team members appear to wish for the opportunity to harm members of the Freedom Convoy of truckers and other protesters who had been occupying the Canadian capital of Ottawa for several weeks to call for an end to authoritarian vaccine mandates initiated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers of several provinces.
The Musical Ride is an elite equestrian group of the RCMP. The threats of the group are especially troublesome since a Friday incident appears to show mounted Ottawa police trampling at least one woman.
In a Musical Ride chat, member Andrew Nixon posts a photo of a pint of beer with the message: “Don’t kick all of them out until next weeks group gets our turn.” After another member comments favorably about the lodgings that out-of-town police were getting in Ottawa, Nixon comments again, “Time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground.”
When admonished for his remarks, Nixon turned to mocking, writing, “okay we can give out free hugs and unicorn stickers?”
Later in the chat another member commented on the trampling incident. The Musical Ride member known as Marca said, “just watched the horse video – that is awesome.” The same member also noted, “we should practice that manoeuvre [sic].”
The RCMP acknowledged the validity of the chat in a statement that claimed they were investigating the matter.
“The RCMP is aware of the material circulating on social media pertaining to a chat group that includes some of its members, and we can confirm that we are looking into the matter. This material is not representative of those who have committed themselves to serving Canadians with integrity and professionalism.”
Over the weekend, Canadian police have sometimes used brutal tactics in putting an end to the peaceful Freedom Convoy protest. Since Friday, there have been reports of officers using clubs, tear gas, pepper spray, and in a few cases literally breaking windows to remove protesters from their vehicles and make arrests. And, of course, there was also the trampling incident.
Rebel News reported that in one horrific incident one of its reporters, Alexa Lavoie, was struck with a club and then shot in a leg with a tear gas canister from extremely close range. Rebel News is planning to sue the Ottawa Police on Lavoie’s behalf.
The coarse messages could conceivably be connected to the attitude of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, from the beginning of the Freedom Convoy, has sought to dismiss, marginalize, and criminalize the members of the protest. Trudeau has spoken of the thousands of truckers and others protesting his totalitarian pronouncements as “a small, fringe minority,” and as people with “unacceptable opinions.”
On February 14, Trudeau unilaterally imposed Canada’s Emergencies Act in a bid to end the situation in Ottawa, as well ending several attempts to slow down the border between Canada and the United States.
“The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety,” Trudeau told a news conference. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.”
But the Emergencies Act was designed to deal with large scale natural disasters or times of war – did some truckers parked peacefully on the streets of Ottawa really qualify as an emergency?
Trudeau had to act to clean out the protesters over the weekend since his emergency powers as prime minister only lasted seven days. Had he gone to the legislature – those emergency powers could have lasted up to a month. On Friday, MPs expected a debate on the issue but, instead, the parliament building was closed allegedly due to concerns for the safety of the members.
How convenient.
Parliament is expected to debate an extension to Trudeau’s emergency powers today, which the prime minister has already asked for. Should parliament extend the Emergencies Act, Trudeau will maintain his unlimited power to suppress speech and seize bank accounts for at least thirty days.
The vicious words of those members of the RCMP Musical Ride members may have been horrific but the thought behind those words can be laid at the feet of Trudeau himself. In a world where the term “Nazi” is vastly overused, Trudeau is acting like Hitler himself. And this weekend was Trudeau’s own Kristallnacht.
