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RCMP investigating rape threat against Pierre Poilievre's wife
Far-right activist Jeremy MacKenzie made the comments in an online stream
Warning: This story contains sexually graphic details that may be disturbing to readers
The RCMP confirmed Monday that it is looking into a threat of sexual violence directed at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's wife, Anaida Poilievre.
Poilievre denounced the threat from far-right political commentator Jeremy MacKenzie and said his office contacted law enforcement about the matter.
An RCMP spokesperson told CBC News Monday that it's looking into the report.
"We can confirm that the matter has been referred to the RCMP and we are reviewing the information provided," they said in an email.
"Only in the event that criminal charges are laid would the RCMP be in a position to confirm the nature of the complaint or any individuals allegedly involved."
Jeremy MacKenzie, the leader of the Canadian far-right group Diagolon, made the threats over the weekend in a stream on the social media app Telegram while speaking with a guest, Alex Vriend.
"Let's rape her," MacKenzie said. "It's not really a sex thing. It's like we just want to show people that we can do things to you if we want to. It's a power move."
MacKenzie made several racist and derogatory remarks about Anaida Poilievre's Venezuelan background in the stream.
Anaida Poilievre was born in Venezuela and grew up in Montreal. Pierre and Anaida married in 2017 and have two children. Pierre Poilievre was elected Conservative leader earlier this month and Anaida Poilievre works as a political staffer on Parliament Hill.
In a statement posted to Twitter Monday, Poilievre said his office has contacted the RCMP about the comments.
"My office has referred these comments to the RCMP to assess whether criminal charges should be laid," he said in the statement.
Jenni Byrne, the head of Poilievre's transition team, told CBC News she called the RCMP on Saturday after she was made aware of the threat. Byrne said she would be meeting with the Mounties to discuss the situation.
"These men are dirtbags," Poilievre said in the statement. "Frankly, like most Canadians, until about a month ago I had never heard of Diagolon and these losers. They are all odious.
"This kind of garbage has no place in Canada. No one should face this abuse.
"People can attack my politics, they can call me names, they can protest my ideas and what I stand for. But threatening my wife and family is appalling and I will not tolerate it. Leave my family alone."
In an interview with The Canadian Press, MacKenzie said he was drinking when he made the comments and meant no harm by them.
Politicians, journalists and other public figures — especially women and people of colour — have been facing an increase in acts of harassment and threats in recent months.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced threats and hatred in response to a reporter's question Monday. He didn't mention Poilievre specifically.
"No one should ever be subject to threats of violence or the kind of hatred that we've seen increasingly in the public discourse, in the public sphere," Trudeau told a news conference.
"It's important that we all stand up and condemn that, and we all look for ways to ensure that everyone feels safe in this country."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also denounced the threat.
"No one should be threatened with sexual violence. Not journalists, not politicians, not anyone's family, not anyone," Singh said in a tweet Monday.
He called on political leaders to work at stopping violent extremism.
"The rise of violent extremism in Canada should be a concern for all leaders. If there's political will, we can do something to stop it," he said.
Mark Gerretsen, a Liberal member of Parliament representing Kingston and the Islands, tweeted Monday that he also received a sexual assault threat directed at his wife. He posted the message in his tweet and said both Kingston Police and the Parliamentary Protective Service have opened files on it.
"I 100% agree with Pierre Poilievre on this," Gerrettsen said in the tweet. "Attack me all you want. Leave our families out of this."
Who is Jeremy MacKenzie?
MacKenzie, who is 36, has attracted attention for his support of the anti-vaccine mandate convoy protest which occupied Ottawa earlier this year, and for his leadership of far-right group Diagolon.
A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence told CBC in an email that MacKenzie served in the Canadian Armed Forces. They said MacKenzie enrolled in 2003 and released in 2017, adding he was an infantryman with the Royal Canadian Regiment and that he had one deployment to Afghanistan.
An Instagram account bearing MacKenzie's name describes him as a "Sub-Standard podcaster, Sit-down comedian Super Villain, Sardonic Emperor of Diagolon, Very Scary."
The Saskatchewan RCMP charged MacKenzie in July with assault, pointing a firearm, using a restricted weapon in a careless manner and mischief. Nova Scotia RCMP charged MacKenzie with 13 gun-related charges in June.
Barbara Perry, director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University, said that Diagolon aims to establish a "white ethnonationalist state" which would run diagonally from the Pacific Northwest through Canada to Florida.
Perry said her group started to look into Diagolon after police in Coutts, Alta., found the group's patch on body armour while executing a search warrant. Two men arrested in relation to border blockades in Coutts in February have ties to MacKenzie and Diagolon.
Barbara
Perry, director of the Centre for Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario
Tech University, said Diagolon aims to establish a "white
ethnonationalist state" stretching from the Pacific Northwest to
Florida. (CBC)
"So the idea is ... to accelerate some form of civil war," Perry said. "[MacKenzie] feels, and some of his followers believe, that we are already in the midst of a racial war in which white men, in particular, are losing, so it's time for them to stand up and fight back.
"So they would like to 'accelerate' that civil war, if you will, and replace the current order with this white ethnonationalist state."
Perry said that while Diagolon lacks concrete plans, the group's narrative is violent and aggressive — and may inspire violence.
"The narratives themselves are dangerous because of the potential consequences," she said.
Perry said that MacKenzie may have seen Anaida Poilievre's ethnicity and gender, as well the fact that she has children with Pierre, as an opportunity to highlight his racist, misogynist narrative.
Poilievre shook hands with MacKenzie at an event in August. In a statement issued to Global News, he denied knowing MacKenzie.
"My campaign events are public. There is no registration and anyone can walk in ... It is impossible to do a background check on every single person who attends my events," Poilievre said in the statement. "As I always have, I denounce racism and anyone who spreads it."
Perry said MacKenzie also may have threatened Poilievre because of Poilievre's new status as leader of the opposition.
"So now, to the extent that Poilievre is the leader of a primary political party in Canada, he is now part of the machinery. He is, because of that leadership role, part of the state to which [Diagolon is] so opposed," Perry said.
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With files from CBC's Hannah Thibedeau and David Fraser of The Canadian Press
Jeremy Mackenzie, ‘Diagolon’ founder and far-right figurehead, arrested
Jeremy Mackenzie, a far-right livestreamer and founder of the de-facto group “Diagolon,” has been arrested on a Canada-wide warrant, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia RCMP have confirmed to Global News.
Mackenzie made headlines this week after he allegedly made a joke about sexually assaulting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s wife, Anaida Poilievre, and his livestreams have faced close scrutiny by extremism researchers — some of whom have raised the alarm about the content.
However, his arrest is unrelated to either of those issues. Mackenzie was arrested on Wednesday after a Saskatchewan warrant was made Canada-wide, the province’s RCMP told Global News.
The warrant was related to charges laid against Mackenzie on July 18 for assault, pointing a firearm, using a restricted weapon in a careless manner and mischief.
The Nova Scotia RCMP said Mackenzie was arrested in the early afternoon on Wednesday in Cole Harbour, N.S., in relation to this Canada-wide warrant.
“The arrest warrant is related to charges laid by the Saskatchewan RCMP. MacKenzie will be remanded into custody as part of the court process related to his arrest warrant,” Nova Scotia RCMP told Global News in a a statement.
“Court details will be provided by the Saskatchewan RCMP once they are available.”
The latest arrest is not Mackenzie’s first brush with the law.
The Nova Scotia resident was charged with intimidation of a health professional, criminal harassment, mischief and with making harassing phone calls following an anti-mask protest outside of the home of the province’s chief medical officer this past March. He is also facing 13 firearms-related charges in an unrelated incident in the province.
Poilievre marches at head of convoy protesters alongside man who appeared on far-right podcast
Mackenzie has a sizeable following on social media and regularly livestreams under the moniker “Raging Dissident” for hours at a time across multiple platforms.His Telegram channel has more than 14,000 members, and he had at least 10,000 subscribers on YouTube before his channel was removed in early September. Mackenzie has since made a new YouTube channel, which has already amassed at least 1,000 subscribers.
In these streams, Mackenzie often expresses his deep distrust in political institutions and hints at a societal collapse he believes the political elite have Canada careening towards.
But after a patch bearing what is believed to be Diagolon’s insignia was found alongside weapons seized by the RCMP near the border in Coutts, Alta., in February, some extremism experts say they are concerned about what Mackenzie and his friends’ multi-hour livestreams could inspire their viewers to do.
“I don’t get the sense that they know what they want to do next … There’s this kind of constant reveling in the grievance itself. But there’s no real ask,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, an assistant professor at Queen’s University and expert on extremism, in an interview with Global News in July.
“That’s not to say particular individuals and this movement won’t take it upon themselves to do it — as we (allegedly) saw in Coutts.”
Mackenzie denies that the patches are affiliated with his group. A post on a website dedicated to Diagolon suggests the patches are fake and being “used to frame community members.”
He has also pushed back on concerns that his livestreams could incite followers to acts of aggression.
The goal of his podcast, Mackenzie told Global News in an email in late July, is to “make people laugh and alleviate their stress, build a sense of community to combat the social and spiritual isolation prevalent through society, make it abundantly clear that these incredibly wealthy and powerful folks pushing the buttons in our home are not to be blindly trusted without a thought.”
However, Mackenzie recently found himself in some hot water over comments he appears to have made during a livestream with friends.
Earlier this week, a clip emerged of a livestream Mackenzie is believed to have participated in alongside Alex Vriend, another Diagolon livestreamer who uses the pseudonym The Ferryman’s Toll.
In the video, a social media account of “Jeremy Mackenzie” can be seen lighting up as the speaker before a man can be heard talking about Anaida Poilievre as he and co-hosts debate her ethnic background, before he goes on to say: “let’s rape her.”
“It’s not really a sex thing, we just want to show people we can do things to you if we want to,” he adds.
Global News attempted to contact Mackenzie on Monday about the threats allegedly made against Anaida Poilievre. No response has been received.
However, the comment prompted Poilievre to released a statement about Mackenzie, saying he had been made aware of “disgusting comments made by Jeremy McKenzie and another man, where they discuss sexually assaulting my wife.”
He called the men “odious” and “losers,” and added he has reported the comments to police.
The Canadian Press reported Monday afternoon that in an interview with Mackenzie, he said he was drinking when he made the comments and nobody meant any harm by it.
His arrest on Wednesday was unrelated to this incident, RCMP confirmed.
Supporters of Diagolon — and Mackenzie himself — have also participated in an ongoing torrent of abuse against female Canadian journalists who cover the far-right.
“You deserve worse and with the trajectory you’re on, you’ll get it,” Mackenzie tweeted on Aug. 12 about the onslaught of threats against female journalists covering the far-right.
He also urged his thousands of followers: “Hate them as hard as you can.”
His account was suspended shortly after and remains shut down.
A report from Press Progress published a document it obtained through access-to-information from the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, a federal organization that assesses threats of terrorism to Canada.
The document, dated Feb. 17, 2022, classifies Mackenzie as one of the “key anti-government IMVE (ideologically motivated violent extremism) adherents” that attended the so-called “freedom convoy” protests in Ottawa earlier this year.
The Canadian government has not expressed formal concern about Diagolon nor does it list the group as a terrorist entity.
— with files from Global News’ Amanda Connolly