The RCMP makes some national security arrests
Any Mr. Bigs?
The RCMP have made some intriguing national security arrests recently. One involved terrorism offences. A second was based on charges laid under the Security of Information Act dealing with foreign interference. Both cases have unique features and are the product of long -run and, presumably, complex investigations. To see them as trial balloons, expedient efforts, or simple exercises in deterrence would be mistaken.
As with all national security offences, the details will unspool slowly as the cases proceed to court. To begin, we have barebones RCMP statements, alongside whatever investigative media elaboration is possible. The significance of both cases is, at this point, mostly pure speculation (but what commentator has that ever stopped?).
In the terrorism case, the RCMP issued a statement on July 5 indicating that it had arrested two individuals, one of whom remained unnamed. The named suspect, a 26 year old from Ottawa, Patrick Gordon Macdonald, was initially charged with three offences: two for participation in a terrorist group and for facilitation of terrorist activities; and one for hate crimes in association with terrorism.
The terrorist group to which Mr. Macdonald is alleged to belong and to have assisted is a far-right, neo-Nazi group based in the US called the “Atomwaffen Division” (or just so there is no mistaking its nature, the “National Socialist Order”). Atomwaffen translates literally as “nuclear weapons.” It is important to note that in Canadian law, membership in a listed terrorist entity is not in itself a criminal offence. To rise to criminality such membership needs to include terrorist activity or facilitation.
Atomwaffen was one of the very first far-right extremist groups listed as a terrorist entity in accordance with anti-terrorism legislation originally passed after the 9/11 attacks. The terrorist entity list was long focused on Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaida and the Islamic state (ISIS). Starting in 2021, in a notable change, some far-right organizations were added. Atomwaffen, along with the Proud Boys, both US movements, were among the first to be recognised, being placed on the terrorist entities list in a process that requires the approval of the Minister of Public Safety, and the Governor in Council (that is the Cabinet) in February 2021.
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/bt-lstng-prcss-en.aspx
Why Atomwaffen? The test that has to be met in Canadian legislation is reasonable grounds to believe that an entity has “knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity, or the entity has knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of, or in association with an entity involved in a terrorist activity.” There is no territorial limit. Such an entity need not have conducted its activities on Canadian soil to be listed.
The anti-terrorism act provisions require the Government to provide a basic summary of its knowledge of the terrorist activities of a listed entity.
In the case of Atomwaffen, Public Safety specifies that it was founded in the US in 2013, and has since expanded its membership abroad, including to Canada. It is what is known as an “accelerationist” movement, rooted in a belief that acts of violence will hasten the collapse of society. The Department indicates in the listing that Atomwaffen has organised training camps and participated in violent acts including during the Charlottesville, Virginia rally in August 2017. Remember Charlottesville and its ugly political aftermath? (Hint, the Donald Trump statement blaming both sides). A violent confrontation ensued between white supremacists operating under the banner of “Unite the Right”, whose gathering was deemed unlawful, and counter-protesters, during which a car was forcibly driven into the counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#160
Macdonald’s alleged connection to Atomwaffen involves his work for the group in producing propaganda material, including three videos. Macdonald has been a person of interest to various security agencies for a number of years and in July 2021 he was outed in a media expose by VICE News. VICE traced Macdonald’s propaganda art back to the summer of 2017 when he adopted the alias “Dark Foreigner” and began supplying graphic images to a neo-Nazi publication called Siege and to a digital forum called “Iron March.” The VICE News article credits Macdonald as being “immensely influential” in establishing an aesthetic for neo-Nazi groups. The budding graphic artist was nothing if not ambitious, and did not hide his views on social media. That landed him in trouble as early as February 2019 when he was detained by UK authorities during a trip in which he allegedly met with members of a now-banned British neo-Nazi organization called the “Sonnenkrieg Division.”
Whether UK intelligence on MacDonald made its way back to Canadian authorities is unknown, but a RCMP INSET (Integrated National Security Enforcement Team) received information as early as 2020 about individuals associated with Atomwaffen, which presumably included MacDonald.
His residence was raided by the RCMP in March 2022 (he was living with his parents in an Ottawa suburb) and, according to VICE News, several computers were seized. Now he has been arrested in the first case in Canada involving an individual allegedly involved in far-right terrorist activity and facilitation.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3m383/dark-foreigner-arrested-canada-terrorism
Has a three-year long RCMP investigation netted a big fish? That depends on two things. One is whether he was as influential as VICE News claimed in creating imagery adopted by far-right groups. More importantly it depends on how you rate the impact of art versus guns and bombs in the terrorist milieu. Art doesn’t kill people, but if it influences thinking, widens membership appeal, inspires action it can be just as dangerous. That principle will be on trial whenever Macdonald’s case begins. The RCMP and the Public Prosecution Service have already manoeuvred to stymie a freedom of expression defence by also charging Macdonald with hate speech.
This will be a fascinating trial. It will raise questions about the significance of MacDonald’s connection with and contribution to Atomwaffen. It may involve evidence from international security partners such as MI5 and the FBI. The identity and involvement of the unnamed suspect in the case will be exposed. Evidence of the extent of Atomwaffen’s expansion into Canada will be revealed. Something of the sources and methods used by the RCMP in investigating Atomwaffen will also become part of the trial material, though some of the evidence is bound to have been developed by open-source intelligence collection and analysis.
* * *
The second arrest made by the RCMP in July is also full of intrigue and unanswered questions. On July 21, the RCMP put out the usual brief statement about the arrest of William Majcher, identified only as a “retired RCMP officer,” and indicating his age (60) and current residence (Hong Kong).
https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/news/2023/retired-rcmp-officer-charged-foreign-interference
It specified that the RCMP investigation into Mr. Majcher began in the Fall of 2021 and that charges against him alleged he used his “knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China.” The RCMP statement also alleged that “he contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate an individual…” [unnamed].
Mr. Majcher was charged with two counts under the Security of Information Act, involving preparatory acts and conspiracy (s22 and s23 of the SOIA).
The conspiracy charge is ancillary to the preparatory acts charge; both operate on the minor end of the scale of offences under the Security of Information Act. Each is punishable by a maximum sentence of two years. This suggests that more charges may be forthcoming as it seems unlikely that the RCMP would devote major resources to a case involving only “preparatory” acts. The Security of Information Act describes prohibited preparatory acts broadly, to include:
S22(a) “entering Canada at the direction or for the benefit of a foreign entity…”
S22(b) (preparing to) “obtaining, retaining or gaining access to any information”
S22 (c) “knowingly communication to a foreign entity…the person’s willingness to commit the offence..”
S22(d) “…asking a person to commit the offence…”
S22(ed) “possessing any device” for concealing information or surreptitiously communicationg, obtaining or retaining information.”
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/o-5/
Conspiracy charges are an add-on to allow for criminal sanctions even if an offence has not occurred but was merely prepared to be undertaken.
What we don’t know about these charges is whether their essence is espionage or something else. But on the face of it ‘something else’ seems more likely.
There is much else we don’t know, despite further statements from RCMP officials and some useful media digging by both the CBC and Globe and Mail. But some surprising facts have emerged.
Perhaps the most important are the length of Majcher’s career—he served for 22 years with the Mounties, between 1985 and 2007, and what he did. His career involved money laundering investigations and undercover work against organised crime in Canada and elsewhere. It appears that Majcher moved to Hong Kong in 2006, presumably while still with the Mounties. Majcher left the RCMP at the age of 44 in 2007 to became a risk assessment adviser and in 2016 founded a corporate risk firm in Hong Kong called EMIDR. In public statements, Majcher identified the Chinese government as a client, and told the Australian Broadcasting Company in 2019 that he assisted with something called “Project Dragon,” a Chinese police operation allegedly focused on recovering money illegally taken out of China.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/william-majcher-rcmp-foreign-interference-1.6916512
RCMP statements to the media also indicate the Majcher’s alleged offences occurred between 2014 and 2019 and that the charges did not relate to any election interference.
This timeline accords with the Globe and Mail’s initial probe into Mr. Majcher’s career, in which Majcher was quoted in a public speech as saying he had been approached in 2014 by “someone very close to senior (Chinese) state security” who asked about his help in tracking down money fraudently exported by corrupt officials. Majcher told an audience of journalists in Hong Kong the following year that nothing came of this.
Why the RCMP’s investigative timeline ends in 2019 remains unknown. Why it proceeded to arrest Mr. Majcher on his return to Vancouver, release him and then re-arrest him two days later is also unclear, but peculiar, surely. What brought Majcher, despite his many years in Hong Kong, back to Canada is also unknown at this point in time, but of course raises the possibility that he was somehow lured back to Canada as part of the RCMP investigation.
The Public Prosecution Service has, so far, refrained from throwing the book at Majcher. Preparatory act and conspiracy charges are a far cry from section 20 offences under the Security of Information Act, which are directed at the use of intimidation on another person for the purpose of “increasing the capacity of a foreign entity to harm Canadian interests.” This despite the fact that the RCMP arrest statement alleges that Majcher “contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate an individual…”
Section 20 offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, but the missing element in the case appears to be harm to Canadian interests.
Out of the murk emerges a partial picture of an individual who sold his services to Chinese state entities allegedly to assist them in pursuing fraudulent money transfers out of the country. It is easy to align these activities with the Chinese operation referred to as “Fox Hunt,” about which Public Safety issued a warning in 2021 that so-called anti-corruption efforts could also be used to “silence dissent, pressure political opponents and instill a general fear of state power on Canadian soil.”
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20210625/08-en.aspx
But there is more murk than light. The significance of this RCMP investigation remains in the murk; the charges are minor ones. But there may be much more to come. For now, it is hard to see William Majcher as a big fish. Maybe bait?
One thing I think we can be sure of, despite suggestions in a New York Times report, is that the Majcher case will have little bearing on calls for a public inquiry into Chinese election interference.
If July brought surprising news of RCMP arrests, the bigger surprise was that it brought no concrete news of progress towards agreement between the parties on public hearings into Chinese foreign interference in Canada’s democracy.
Over to whichever Minister proves to be in charge of that hot-potato file following an expected Cabinet shuffle on Wednesday.
Over to no news?
I am sure that some people moving to Canada from China have brought large amounts of money with them, and I am equally sure that at least some of it would be Ill-gotten gains from financial crimes. I think that the Chinese government would be entitled to get this back. The problem would be sorting out the wheat from the chaff.
You know how people say that you should always talk more about the victims of violence instead of the people that create the violence? Yeah, the person that was killed during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville by being run over by a car was Heather Hayer. She was the only one, and it's vitally important we don't forget that.