Canadian Armed Forces members planned to ‘forcibly take’ land in Quebec, RCMP say

Four Quebec men with ties to the Canadian military have been arrested after they were allegedly involved in activities of “ideologically motivated violent extremism” and intended to “forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City area,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) say.

The RCMP arrested the men on Tuesday and charged three of them with facilitating terrorist activity.

The three men are Marc-Aurèle Chabot, 24, of Quebec City, Simon Angers-Audet, 24, of Neuville and Raphaël Lagacé, 25, of Quebec City.

“The three accused were planning to create [an] anti-government militia,” the force notes.

“To achieve this, they took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises,” the RCMP continues. “They also conducted a scouting operation. A variety of firearms, some prohibited, as well as high-capacity magazines and tactical equipment, were allegedly used in these activities.”

A fourth individual, Matthew Forbes, 33, of Pont-Rouge, Que., was also arrested and is facing charges.

The arrests follow an investigation led by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) that started in March 2023.

• READ MORE: RCMP warns of dangers of online radicalization amid Quebec anti-government militia arrests

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) initially said two of the four men were active members of the military — Chabot and Forbes, who are based out of CFB Valcartier.

Later on Tuesday evening, the CAF clarified that the remaining two accused also have military ties — Lagacé and Angers-Audet.

One of them is a former CAF member and a former civilian instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, according to a statement from Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan.

She did not specify who held which role.

In a statement to CTV News, the CAF said that “violent extremism remains a serious concern within Canadian and international society.”

“CAF members are prohibited from participating in an activity, or being a member of a group or organization, that relates to hate related criminal activities, and/or promotes hatred, violence, discrimination, or harassment,” Hanrahan added.

The Mounties allege the men created an Instagram account with the aim of recruiting other people who had knowledge about guns to join their cause.

“They took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises,” the RCMP said. “They also conducted a scouting operation. A variety of firearms, some prohibited, as well as high-capacity magazines and tactical equipment, were allegedly used in these activities.”

Smoke grenades, night vision goggles, laser sighting systems

Court records show that Chabot, Angers-Audet, and Lagacé are each charged with one count of knowingly facilitating terrorist activity between 2021 and 2024 in Montreal, Quebec City, Petawawa, Ont., Rolphton, Ont. and elsewhere in Canada.

Chabot is also charged with multiple weapons offences, including possessing five prohibited firearms, nine military smoke grenades, and a laser sighting system “with an erased serial number.”

Lagacé faces charges including careless storage of 50 firearms, possessing 47 magazines with prohibited capacity, as well as laser sighting systems and night vision goggles without registering them, which is a violation of the Defence Production Act.

Forbes is charged with various weapons offences as well as possession of a military smoke grenade, night vision goggles and a tactical illuminating laser aimer system.

This comes after searches conducted in January 2024 in the Quebec City area led to the seizure of 16 explosive devices, 83 firearms and accessories, approximately 11,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibres, nearly 130 magazines, four pairs of night vision goggles and military equipment.

RCMP Cpl. Erique Gasse told The Canadian Press that the accused wanted to start an anti-government “community” north of Quebec City and created an Instagram account with photos aimed at recruiting new members to their “anti-government militia.”

“We know there were followers on that site,” he said. “They were trying to recruit people who had knowledge about guns, and they were telling people where they were training in Quebec or in Ontario.”

The RCMP describes the charges as “serious” and adds that the accused were close enough to advancing their plot for the police to make a move.

“The fact that we could charge [them] with facilitating a terrorist activity, it means that people were actually preparing, were taking actions that led us to believe they wanted to actually achieve something and wanted to commit this violent terrorist act,” Staff Sgt. Camille Habel of the RCMP national security team in Quebec told CTV News. “Of course, it was very serious and dangerous.”

She continues, “We don’t know exactly what could have been done, but when someone is at the point of wanting to seize property, then the plan is really ongoing and we needed to make the arrest and ensure public safety and make sure the plan was stopped and everyone was secure.”

The RCMP investigation was in collaboration with the Canadian Armed Forces, Military police, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and Quebec City police (SPVQ).

The four individuals appeared in court by video in Quebec City Tuesday afternoon before their case was adjourned to July 14.

Arrests signal pervasiveness of ideologically violent extremism: expert

Jessica Davis, president of Insight Threat Intelligence, says the case raises “pretty significant concerns” because of what the officers seized last year.

“The number of weapons and ammunition was the largest single cache of weapons, ammunition, and devices that have been seized in Canadian history in association with any terrorism incident,” she said.

Canada hasn’t seen a completed terrorist attack in two years, and the arrests on Tuesday show that law enforcement and security services are doing their jobs and have the skills needed to disrupt terrorist activity, she said.

According to Davis, a former CSIS intelligence analyst and expert on terrorism financing, approximately 77 per cent of the terrorist attacks in Canada over the last 20 years have been ideologically motivated.

“We’re not talking about al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, we’re talking about anti-government, anti-Muslim, incel types of terrorism that all fall under the category of ideologically-motivated violent extremism,” she said.

While she said the arrests are good news for the RCMP, she noted that 20 per cent of the arrests over the past two decades have been for ideologically violent extremism.

“I think that really points to the pervasiveness of the issue in Canadian society and the difficulty that the RCMP has traditionally faced in getting a handle on it,” Davis said.

Anyone with information on ideologically motivated violent extremism is encouraged to call the RCMP at 514-939-8300 or 1-800-771-5401, or contact the National Security Information Network at 1-800-420-5805 or online.

Alternatively, people are invited to visit their local police station.

With files from The Canadian Press