A University of Alberta (U of A) professor was awarded a grant from the Department of National Defence to assess the extent of white supremacy in the Canadian Armed Forces..Andy Knight, a political scientist, will look into how entrenched “radicalization, antisemitism, xenophobia, and anti-black sentiments" are in Canada’s military and, as a result of his findings, devise policy suggestions..He’ll also produce a 25-minute documentary..U of A says Knight became increasingly concerned about the prevalence of white supremacists in the armed forces during the 2022 Freedom Convoy..“I could understand former members joining the protests,” he said..“Perhaps they were disillusioned. But we’re talking about people active in the military working against the Canadian state.”.Knight reiterates that individual cases of racism are “not the main problem,” but rather institutional racism embedded in culture. He says the military provides white supremacists cover to pursue their racism..The professor will therefore investigate what he calls the social construction of “whiteness” in the armed forces..What Knight calls xeno-racism — directed at new immigrants — is also, by his analysis, at work in Canada’s military..“Anybody coming into the system has to change themselves if they want to make it. If you're a black person and you want to get ahead, you have to accept a lot of things that you normally would not accept,” he said..As previously mentioned, Knight will also assess the prevalence of antisemitism in the military..Alberta became the fifth Canadian province to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism in September, several years after the federal government adopted it as a non-legally binding definition..A distinction some will be looking for in Knight’s analysis of antisemitism is how exactly he defines it..READ MORE: Vancouver mayor says he'll adopt controversial definition of antisemitism
