McGill Takes Down Redmen

[Nascar_James]

Cancelling McGill football for the entire season is a bit much. Why not simply suspend the guilty players?

Read on ...

http://www.canada.com/montreal/mont...d=437a67ad-6b5b-49ba-bbfc-acd678dd98c3&page=1

Penalized for Hazing: Varsity football season cancelled; offenders to be disciplined

WILLIAM MARSDEN
The Gazette

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

CREDIT: DAVE SIDAWAY, THE GAZETTE

Quebec University Football League action between McGill Redmen and Universite de Montreal Carabins in September.

McGill University announced yesterday it has suspended its football program for the rest of the season following a six-week investigation into a hazing incident Aug. 27 that included "threats and intimidation" as well as the sexual probing of a rookie with a broomstick by veterans of the team.

In a statement of shared responsibility, the university says that its investigation found the rookie hazing involved "nudity, degrading positions and behaviours, gagging, touching in inappropriate manners with a broomstick, as well as verbal and physical intimidation of rookies by a large portion of the team."

The university also said it intends to take disciplinary action against some veteran players who took part in the hazing incident, but it refused to elaborate: "In order to respect due process and the rights and privacy of the individuals, the university will not comment on these actions."

The university last month suspended five players for one game - including co-captains Matt Connell and Kerwin Clarke - and one player for the season following the incident.

The statement says the players acted "in clear violation of McGill's existing policies and the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures."

"Despite these policies, despite the fact that all athletes signed commitments that they would not engage in hazing, and despite warnings from the coach that inappropriate behaviour would not be tolerated, activities were planned and carried out in clear violation of the rules," the university said.

Interim provost Anthony Masi said the university will work with the coaches and players to rebuild the team and create more positive team-building events in the future that will include community service projects.

In its statement, McGill made the admission that it failed to protect the welfare of its students.

"As a university, we have the duty to provide our students with the best academic education in an environment that is safe and comfortable and that promotes the highest standards and values of human behaviour. Today, we have evidence that we have not lived up to the very highest standards that we at McGill set for ourselves."

It stopped short, however, of apologizing to the rookies who were hazed and particularly to the rookie whose complaint in August sparked the investigation.

That rookie, who has asked that his name not be made public, has left the university. He has been offered a place at the University of Toronto but has not decided if he will attend in January.

The student told The Gazette last month that he was astonished and infuriated at the abusive treatment meted out by veterans of the team for which he had hoped to play football for the next four years.

He said rookies were humiliated throughout training camp and that during a rookie night held in the university's darkened squash courts, he was forced to kneel and have his rectum probed with a broomstick as cheering veterans pointed flashlights and looked on.

He initially said that as far as he was concerned, this was sodomy. But in its statement yesterday, the university claimed that "there is no evidence that anyone was sodomized."

The rookie refused comment yesterday. His father stated that the "university has made such a strong statement that we don't feel it's necessary to make a statement at this time."

His father told The Gazette last month that McGill did not act on his son's complaint until the father took it to university chancellor Richard Pound.

Neither Redmen coach Chuck McMann nor any of the players contacted by The Gazette would comment on the suspension of the season. McGill has had a miserable record, losing five of its six games. Two more games were left on its schedule. The Redmen were supposed to play Laval Rouge et Or, ranked No. 1 in the nation, Saturday, and Concordia on Oct. 29. They had already been eliminated from the playoffs.

The hazing and subsequent suspension stand as a huge humiliation to one of the oldest college football programs in North America, dating back to 1872, and to one of Canada's oldest and most distinguished universities.

The university statement says the behaviour of the football team has "stained the reputation of the McGill Redmen, McGill athletics and the university. Positive actions will be taken to repair that damage. The football team, including staff, will be asked to perform community service for at least two years."

Masi told The Gazette the investigation lasted six weeks and involved extensive interviews with members of the team and administrators of the athletic department.

He said that the team was told about the suspension Monday.

"It's very difficult to expect the coach and the athletic director to support (the suspension)," Masi said. "They understand it, and they are working with us to implement it."

He said there is no question of firing head coach McMann.

"We will work with the athletic department and the football coach, and we want to make sure we build and rebuild the football program, and coach McMann will be part of that."

While some team members have apologized to the rookie who left the team, they have continued to support hazing, claiming it is a team-building experience that is a tradition at McGill.

Masi, however, completely rejected that idea. He called hazing a "humiliation and degradation" of another human being that has "no place at McGill. It will not be tolerated in any form. No excuses, no exceptions."

"Before we went public with it, I met personally, face to face, with the players and discussed all of these consequences," he said. "The team asked a series of very interesting and important questions about the consequences of this and the implementation of it.

"They accepted the notion of shared responsibility. We want them to be part of what is McGill's commitment to achievement and excellence. Whether it is in sport or in our learning environment, we show respect and tolerance and dignity for everyone."

Masi insisted that the players have finally got the message.

"The education programs we are going to put in place as well as the things we already are working on with them and the message they got tonight, it's very clear they got the message."

He said the university is working on a plan to encourage more positive team-building events.

"We are encouraging the team to do community work as part of the positive team-building activity ... and we have already consulted experts on that."

To this end, the university announced it will appoint an associate athletics director to monitor the activities of student athletes and assure implementation of "more positive team-building measures in all teams and all activities."

The parent of one player who didn't want his name used said McGill's action constitutes a "pretty strong message that hazing is over."

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: McGill Takes Down Red

They raped a man with a broomstick. I realise that's considered normal down there in Jesusland, but up here it's frowned upon.

 

[Nascar_James]

Why not simply suspend the gulity players Rev? Now due to the careless action of a few players, the whole team will suffer. Fellow students will suffer as well since they will not be able to watch their team play.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: McGill Takes Down Red

It was a team hazing...part of the campus sports culture. Just like those Iraqis that your "military" raped and tortured. A strong message has to be sent that this is completely unacceptable.

Your leaders have been too cowardly to do that, McGill's are not.

 

[Nascar_James]

At least they still have Redmen hockey....and ...heh heh heh yeah ...heh heh heh ...flag football ... heh heh heh ...

Flag football. Takes the fun out of football. Rugby ... ahhh, now there's a good sport.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: McGill Takes Down Red

So you're saying that you only like sports where people are raped with broomsticks?

 

[GL Schmitt]

Re: RE: McGill Takes Down Red

So you're saying that you only like sports where people are raped with broomsticks?

But Rev, if older players don't threaten, intimidate, strip and sodomize the freshmen players, how will they ever be able to build rapport so that they can function as a team? :?

 

[Jo Canadian]

 

[bevvyd]

Hazing is a totally stupid thing to do and I really have to wonder about the IQ level of those who participate in it.

As for not wearing the team jackets, heck I wouldn't be proud to wear any university stylized garment.

 

[coldstream]

I don't know how these things got started. Both the Windsor Spitfires and McGill Redmen incidents have this humiliating and homosexual characteristic. Who can blame the Windsor Spitfire player, who was the crosschecked in the mouth, almost surely at the instigation of the coach, for refusing to get into the small bathroom, naked, with other new players . Or any Redmen player who refused to simulate anal sodomy with a broomstick. These are the products of a sick mind, not a venerable tradition.

That said some hazing into teams or units can be done without degrading the initiate. I remember the relatively mild hazing incident that led to disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, really a criminal act by the corrupt Chrietien government, which was only looking for an excuse to furthur dismantle the Canadian military.

But if it involves acts of sexual degradation, it deserves to be fully exposed and excised, as intended to demean the individual rather than bond the unit.

 

[GL Schmitt]

Re: RE: McGill Takes Down Redmen

. . . I remember the relatively mild hazing incident that led to disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, really a criminal act by the corrupt Chrietien government, which was only looking for an excuse to furthur dismantle the Canadian military. . . .

I hope you are not trying to claim that the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded because of the videos that surfaces about their “hazing” practices.


While the CAR distinguished itself initially for rapidly bringing order to their assigned territory, in Somalia, it eventually brought shame to all Canadians, by demonstrating white supremacist sympathies which were allowed to flourish within the body. (Including the adoption of the US confederate flag as a barracks-room decoration.)

Members tortured and killed a prisoner, and on home videotape another “rogue commando” was heard claiming that “we ain't killed enough niggers yet.”

While Operation Restore Hope in Somalia was a clusterfuck of international scope, involving irregularities in many armies, it cannot be claimed that the Canadian Military was unaware of the problem that eventually led to their portion of the scandal.

The commanding officer of the CAR (LCol Paul Morneault) tried to leave elements of the CAR which he described as “rogue commando who were unfit for service abroad,” behind in Canada, he was relieved of his command and replaced by an officer renowned for toughness ( LCol Carol Mathieu).

The disbanding of CAR, and subsequent reassignment of soldiers (not discharged or court martialed) to other positions sent the clearest message possible, both to the Canadian military, as well as our allies abroad, that the Canadian public considered this behaviour totally unacceptable.



Unfortunately, no equally-draconic investigation ever probed the actions of the CAR’s political bosses or the senior bureaucrats who sent them into a “war” (as defined by the UN Charter) without any debate, while allowing the public to believe Somalia was still a “peacekeeping” mission.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: McGill Takes Down Red

They like to forget about that part, GL. It ruins myth's about the Canadian military being the victims of a Liberal plot.

 

[Nascar_James]

Re: RE: McGill Takes Down Red

They like to forget about that part, GL. It ruins myth's about the Canadian military being the victims of a Liberal plot.

You mean what little you have of military...if you can call it that...

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: McGill Takes Down Red

At least we don't condone torture, abuse, and rape as methods of interrogation.

 

[coldstream]

Members tortured and killed a prisoner, and on home videotape another “rogue commando” was heard claiming that “we ain't killed enough niggers yet.”

The Airborne Regiment was an honourable and competent unit before political interferance led to its complete corruption by Liberal meddling. That started by removing its 'elitist' status by platooning people through the unit so they could have it on their resume. Without that weeding out process, and earning entry through both behavioural and physical vetting, you ended up with the very worst of skin head elements taking over the commando units. It's really tragic that this regiment, that had its origins in the Parachute Regiment of WW2, and was before its dilution, a very respected outfit by allies, met its demise because of the manifest corruption and incompetence of the Chretien government.

 

[GL Schmitt]

. . . before its dilution, a very respected outfit by allies, met its demise because of the manifest corruption and incompetence of the Chretien government.

I am undergoing a prodigious amount of envy at your political acumen when assigning blame.

Mulroney selected the CAR for the Somalia mission, and it was sent in late 1992.

Chretien did not take over as Prime Minister until late 1993.

Campbell initiated the Somalia Inquiry in 1994

And finally, amid a great public outcry against the excesses and disgrace of that mission in 1992, Chretien ordered that CAR be disbanded in 1995.

Naturally, it is Chretien’s fault that the CAR was permitted to become a home for racist thugs and miscreants, so that it had to be disbanded.

Is that it?

Or do you mean to imply that a regiment with a worldwide reputation as racists, killers and thugs could ever be assigned to another political hotspot for peacekeeping operations?

Should Canadians be seen around the world, standing behind the skinheads and racist criminals that had corrupted that regiment?

I think not.

 

[coldstream]

The Airborne Regiment which was incorporated into the army under that name in 1968 was the best unit in the Canadian military before its started to take on civilian principles of ridding itself of 'elitism'. That is an anathema to Airborne unit, which is by definition, the best of the best. The Airborne regiment took part in war games with other elite conventional forces through out their history before this reorganization and proved themselves the equal and the better of the best operational military detachments in the world, including the U.S. Army Rangers and Marine Reconn, the British Royal Marines.. as well as Special Forces units such as the SAS, Deltas and Seals. It was part of a proud tradition that foundered on political expediency the led to the poorly equipped, insufficiently manned and low morale force Canada has now. I have listened to men who served in this unit, as officers and enlisted men. They are not racists, they are not skinheads, they got ambushed by political and media agendas. If you saw them you would immediately pick them out as honourable and capable soldiers, men you'd want in a trench with you. They had these elements infiltrated into their ranks. That process was well under way under Mulroney, but it reached its full realization in the disbanding under Chretien.

 

[peapod]

And they deserved to be disbanded, just a bunch of dumb ass drunks, on the taxpayers dollar.


Airborne's Hazing Exposed




They thought they had turned the corner. In early January, the soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment believed they were on the way to living down the brutal images of torture in Somalia that had haunted them - and the Canadian public - for almost two years. They had a new commander, a no-nonsense lieutenant-colonel named Peter Kenward who was determined to restore their once-proud reputation as Canada’s toughest fighting men. And they were eagerly preparing for peacekeeping duty in Croatia starting in early April - a chance to win back the trust that some members of the regiment had so badly abused. "The guys are sick of all the bad coverage," one Airborne officer told Maclean’s. "Things have been cleaned up."

Then, suddenly, all that hope disappeared. Newly released images of Airborne soldiers mugging for a video camera in early 1993 brought back the old stereotypes of the unit - and added a deeply disturbing new dimension. One videotape, broadcast by the CBC on Jan. 15, showed several members of the Airborne making racial slurs. Chief among them was Master Cpl. Matt McKay - a former member of the white supremacist Aryan Nation group - who complained that he "ain’t killed enough niggers yet." Four days later, CTV News broadcast a second amateur video shot following training exercises at the regiment’s base in Petawawa, Ont., during the summer of 1992, before the Airborne was sent to Somalia. It depicted a brutal hazing ritual: drunken men forced by comrades to eat feces, vomit and urine-soaked bread; simulated sex acts; a black soldier on a leash being led around on all fours with the words "I love the KKK" scrawled on his back; soldiers having dirt kicked in their faces while doing pushups.

The videotapes, particularly the second one showing degrading behavior, sparked public outrage and raised serious doubts about the very survival of the 650-member regiment. Defence Minister David Collenette, expressing shock and disgust, ordered Gen. John de Chastelain, the chief of defence staff, to investigate the hazing ritual and produce a report for him this week. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, on a trade mission to Trinidad, went further. Describing the actions of the Airborne soldiers as "horrible and unacceptable," Chrétien told reporters: "If we have to dismantle it, we’ll dismantle it. I have no problem with that at all."

The Prime Minister’s remarks were the strongest sign that the Airborne, an all-volunteer force that draws its recruits from Canada’s top infantry regiments - and that tends to attract gung-ho soldiers to Canada’s equivalent of the American Green Berets or the British sas forces - may be disbanded. At the very least, its scheduled mission to Croatia was immediately put in doubt. Maclean’s has learned that a reconnaissance team of about 10 members of the regiment had been set to go there this week, but senior officers were ordered to stay in Petawawa until the controversy over the tapes has been dealt with.

The videotapes were just the latest black mark on the Canadian Airborne. Since the regiment’s return from Somalia in July, 1993, 13 of its members have been tried by military courts for various offences - nine of them related to the beating death of a Somali teenager, Shidane Arone, in March, 1993. The prime suspect, Master Cpl. Clayton Matchee, was found unfit to stand trial due to brain damage sustained during a suicide attempt shortly after Arone’s death. Pte. Elvin Kyle Brown was convicted of torture and manslaughter and is now serving five years for his role in the beating. Critics contend that Brown, who is appealing his conviction to the Supreme Court, is a scapegoat. They argue that his superiors have not been adequately punished, pointing to the acquittal of the Airborne’s commander in Somalia, Lt.-Col. Carol Mathieu, and the relatively light "severe reprimand" handed to Maj. Anthony Seward, who ordered troops to "abuse" prisoners. And they say that the hazing incident points to a serious failure in the unit’s command structure. Scott Taylor, publisher of the military affairs monthly Esprit de Corps, said he was shocked by the absence of supervision during the hazing ritual, conducted in broad daylight on the Petawawa base. "Where were the officers?" he asked.

Many of the soldiers shown in the videos remain in the Airborne, including Pte. David Brocklebank, who was acquitted last November of torture and negligent performance of duty in Arone’s death. In the video made in Somalia just weeks before that fatal beating, Brocklebank is shown waving a loaded heavy machine-gun and talking about getting "niggers." But although the Canadian military adopted a new "zero tolerance" policy on racism last April, Collenette’s spokesman John Williston said he doubts that the soldiers depicted in the videotapes can be disciplined for racist behavior. Said Williston: "You can’t make the new rules on racism retroactive." National defence officials, however, say that other regulations regarding deportment may be used to discipline the soldiers. Rubin Friedman, director of government relations for B’nai Brith Canada, voiced fears that racists are being allowed to remain in the Canadian Forces: "What are the chances," he asked, "that those soldiers have changed?"

The latest controversy sullied not only the reputation of the Airborne, but also that of two of Canada’s proudest army units, which are supposed to send their best members to the Airborne for three-year tours of duty. Until now, attention has focused on 2 Commando - which draws its men from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, an 81-year-old Calgary-based regiment that earned battle honors in the mud of Flanders during the First World War and in Italy during the Second World War. It was members of 2 Commando who arrested and beat Arone to death. But the videotape of the hazing shows French-speaking troops of 1 Commando, made up of soldiers from the Royal 22nd Regiment, the legendary Van Doo.

Military sources told Maclean’s last week that because of these regiments’ numerous peacekeeping duties, many aspiring soldiers no longer view a stint with the Airborne as the best route for advancement. Instead, other regiments may even have dumped soldiers they regarded as "bad apples" on the Airborne. In an interview last November with Maclean’s, Lt.-Col. Kenward - who took over command of the Airborne in September, 1993, with a reputation as a hard-nosed disciplinarian - said that in the past soldiers should have been screened more carefully. "To be frank, at times the Airborne has not received the very, very best," he acknowledged. That would point to a failure on the part of Kenward’s predecessors. Bill Sutherland, a retired colonel with the Patricias, says that a very strong hand is needed when dealing with such aggressive young soldiers. "At times, the Airborne leadership has been weak," said Sutherland. "On that occasion [the hazing], it certainly broke down - from commanding officer down to warrant officers and sergeants."

Nicholas Stethem, a captain with the Airborne in the 1970s and now director of the Toronto-based Strategic Analysis Group, remarked that the hazing ritual aired last week "is closer to a biker initiation than anything to do with being a soldier." His analogy is apt. Some soldiers in the Van Doo have long been associated with motorcycle gangs in Quebec, and in the videotape a man in full biker regalia can be seen in the background. Some members of the Patricias have also been linked to biker gangs, as well as to far-right groups such as the Aryan Nations.

The Airborne will come under more intense scrutiny when a public inquiry, ordered by Collenette last November, convenes following the completion of the last of the military trials arising out of the Somalia incident, probably by late spring. Capt. Michael Sox - charged with unlawfully causing bodily harm and negligent performance of duties - was Kyle Brown’s platoon commander in Somalia and is to go on trial on Feb. 21. The defence minister called the inquiry following allegations by army surgeon Maj. Barry Armstrong that Airborne officers had ordered the destruction of photographic evidence of the murder and abuse of Somalis by Canadian soldiers. Armstrong - who disobeyed the orders and says he will provide evidence to the public inquiry - says the orders were part of the sweeping coverup of an escalating pattern of violence.

Another issue likely to be examined is the poor logistical support of the Somalia operation, which caused bitterness and cynicism among the troops. A report prepared by defence officials for the department of foreign affairs and obtained by Maclean’s cites a series of supply and equipment problems faced by soldiers, including insufficient time to train and integrate leaders, and impractical clothing and backpacks for Somali conditions.

Other areas of concern regarding the Somalia mission were identified by a military board of inquiry in September, 1993. It noted that a rogue element within 2 Commando had posed a direct challenge to authority, yet was not properly disciplined. Some soldiers had even formed what the report described as a "wall of silence" to protect each other from punishment after some had torched a sergeant’s car and set off explosives in a soldier’s club at Petawawa and in nearby Algonquin Park in 1992. The group called themselves the "Rebels," and their use of the Confederate flag was described in the report as "an open symbol of defiance of authority." The report was critical of the fact that the man who had identified the problems - Lt.-Col. Paul Morneault - was removed as the regiment’s commander before the Somalia mission for what has since been described by superiors as training inadequacies.

Questions about his removal, as well as activities within the Airborne, reach into the highest levels of the military. The key men in the decisions to fire Morneault and send the Airborne to Somalia, Maj.-Gen. Lewis Mackenzie, now retired, and Maj.-Gen. Ernest Beno, will likely face some tough questions at the impending inquiry. And some critics even point to Gen. de Chastelain - a former commander of the Patricias and, until now, a strong supporter of the Airborne - who they say was likely informed of the disciplinary problems. Asked if the inquiry should look at problems extending beyond the Airborne, one senior officer replied: "Absolutely."

Last week’s gruesome videotapes lend a new urgency to the inquiry. And with many predicting the Airborne’s demise, a dark cloud looms over the soldiers now training at Petawawa for the scheduled peacekeeping mission in Croatia. Stethem, who believes Canada needs a commando unit, says the regiment has been judged by the actions of a few. "The only way they can reverse that judgment is through their performance in the future." But they may not get the chance. For Canada’s elite paratroopers, last week may well have been the beginning of the end.

Maclean's January 30, 1995

 

[GL Schmitt]

You failed to answer my question.

No matter what the glorious history of the CAR, following the events of Operation Deliverance, how could the Canadian government send the regiment on another sensitive peacekeeping mission with that stain on its escutcheon?

While the actions of some elements of the CAR following Operation Deliverance left much to be desired, do you really believe that they could have taken part in another action, especially any into Africa?

I can see no different fate for the CAR, other than keeping them as a palace guard, never to be tasked outside of Canada. This, obviously, never was in the cards.

After a disgrace such as the Somalia Incident, it was only to be expected that a drastic scrutiny and reorganization of problem areas would follow. Undoubtedly, this scrutiny and reorganization would both damage morale within the military as well as depress recruitment. As bad as that would be, to try to ignore the problem could be potentially worse.

As a result of the dispersal, the good soldiers could be cycled into health regiments, the “bad apples” could be discharged, or move to positions where they would remain under scrutiny. The effect to be sought being that no other such incident should ever occur.

Finally, in disbanding the CAR, the government demonstrated to those present in the military, to nonmilitary Canadians (especially possible recruits) and to the world at large (allies and enemies alike) that no such conduct is tolerated in the Canadian military, nor would it be in the future.

As a result, it is my contention at least, that Canadian troops both at home and abroad are better regarded than if the government had attempted to sweep the incident under the carpet.

Finally, I appreciate that many fine soldiers suffered in the aftermath of the Somalia Incident, and endured more suffering following the disbanding of their regiment.

Hopefully, they will learn the lesson of their failure. They may have done nothing wrong by themselves, but they had tolerated in their ranks, prejudices which they must have known most civilians would not share, which ran counter to the spirit of fifty years of Canada’s military missions, and was in direct violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights.

If they have learned the lesson of that defeat, they will be more scrupulous about ensuring the maintenance of an ethical standard. If not, they will blame their misfortune on the government.

 

[coldstream]

how could the Canadian government send the regiment on another sensitive peacekeeping mission with that stain on its escutcheon

What a load of crap. The government and senior officers were warned of the state of the CAR prior to its deployment to Somalia. That state was a direct result of pc meddling by the government of the day. It chose to ignore those warnings, sack the officer who made them and subsequently scape goated everybody else but themselves (the Mulroney/Chretien continuum) for things they themselves were culpable of when things went wrong. General Lewis McKenzie, one of Canada's best known generals, remembered the calls he received from fellow general officers in the American and Nato forces expressing astonishment that a unit they considered amongst the best in the world was pilloried and eviscerated by such a mediocre sack of pond skum like Chretien and his henchmen.

As for scattering the best of the CAR to other units, well, all that down is draw down an elite unit and dilute their effectiveness into the coed politically correct units, that have reached their top level of potential by directing traffic at street corners in Bosnia. The leader of the CAR, an officer of great honour and potential at the time of its disbandment, LCol Kenward, has had his career sidetracked into menial desk work. He is forbidden from commenting on the regiment. He would simply point out the incompetence and the cowardice of the Liberal government in disbanding a unit that is critical to the overall integrity of the Canadian Armed Forces..