Canadian Armed Forces corporal investigated for posts on neo-Nazi website

William Condie (Credit: Canadian Anti-Hate Network)

Another Canadian soldier is being investigated for past ties to a racist organization.

Research by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network uncovered the man this week and revealed he had signed up as a user and posted on the neo-Nazi website Iron March, while he was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

On another site, in posts dating back to 2017, he longed for a “picture perfect” Canada that is like Nazi Germany before the Second World War, “but with less jews (sic).”

William Condie, an Ontario man who used the screen name KanadianKommando, is a corporal in the CAF reserves serving with an armoured regiment based on Hull, Que.

Condie is the third member of the CAF with a racist past to be unmasked, not by the military itself, but by an outside advocacy group.

“It’s troubling that the military did not uncover this on its own,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, policy director for Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. “It should not be up to non-government organizations with small budgets to be doing this.

“We are very concerned that the military was unaware of this,” she added.

In an email to The CJN, Department of National Defence staff said Condie joined the army in March 2016. He is not currently actively employed and the situation is under active investigation.

“We are grateful to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network for bringing this information to our attention.

“We take these matters seriously, and the Chain of Command is currently looking into the situation.”

In response to the unmasking of hatemongers in its ranks, the DND issued a package of new orders to its ranks last year.

“We have made it clear in our Order on Hateful Conduct that affiliation with hate groups is incompatible with military service and will not be tolerated. We will act appropriately if need be.”

On the broader issue of extremism in the military, the department’s policy remains “Hateful conduct, be it through words or actions, is completely incompatible with CAF values and culture. Any form of hateful conduct erodes cohesion and esprit de corps and diminishes our authority as a force for good in Canadian society. We will not tolerate it in any form.”

Members of the CAF are “not permitted … to participate in any activity, or be a member of any group or organization, that is connected with hate related criminal activities, and/or promotes hatred, violence, discrimination, or harassment on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination as defined in the Canadian Human Rights Act.”

Specific actions taken by the forces include introduction of a tracking system for hateful conduct; the creation of an advisory panel on systemic racism and discrimination and establishment of a professional conduct and culture group.

“Our job is to protect Canadians at home and abroad. Canadians value diversity, inclusion, respect for others, and teamwork. So when one of our members is found to be contravening those values, we act decisively, while still respecting the rule of law, including due process and individual rights.”

A spokesman for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan echoed that position in an email.

“Hateful and discriminatory beliefs including antisemitism have no place in the Canadian Armed Forces,” Daniel Minden wrote. “To anyone who seeks to use their role in the CAF to propagate hateful beliefs, our government’s message is clear: We will find you, and you will be dealt with.”

For anti-hate activists such as Kirzner-Roberts, those steps are a good start, but they need to be backed up by action.

“We don’t need just a policy on the books, the commanding officers have to have the mandate to deal with these cases,” she said. “The military has to separate these people and stick to the words of the policy.”

Kirzner-Roberts added her agency hopes to meet with top defence officials “in the next week or two to hear how this person managed to pass under the radar for so long.”

Condie’s posts were discovered through the research of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

“We are in some deep and dark places,” CAHN chair Bernie Farber said. “We know how to move around in these places.”

Farber said as many as 33 other cases are being probed by the group, a number that should cause concern across the country.

“That doesn’t seem like a large number, but it doesn’t take a lot of these people to create all kinds of havoc,” he said.

Condie’s case comes six months after two other Canadian servicemen were released from the forces for similar involvement.

In February, Sailor First Class Boris Mihajlovic, a Calgary-based reservist, was released after admitting to posts on the Iron March site. In April, Pvt. Eric Myggland was released from the Canadian Rangers for his involvement as a regional leader of the Three Percent movement—a survivalists’ organization with roots in the United States recently added to Canada’s list of terrorist groups—and the white supremacist group Soldiers of Odin.