Kenney criticized for Muslims tweet, release of special forces photos

Defence Minister Jason Kenney is under fire for allowing the release of photos potentially identifying Canadian special forces in Iraq and for tweeting of a picture he suggested was of Muslim women in chains.

Pallbearers from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) carry the casket of their fallen comrade, Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron, during the ramp ceremony at the Erbil International Airport, Iraq, on March 8, 2015. Canadian Armed Forces

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Defence Minister Jason Kenney has come under fire for his decision to allow the release of photos potentially identifying Canadian special forces in Iraq and his tweeting of a picture he suggested was of Muslim women put in chains by Islamist extremists, but was actually from a religious ceremony.

The photo of the Muslim women in black burkas and chained together was from a ceremony that re-enacts the persecution of the prophet Muhammad’s family, the Citizen reported earlier this week.

Lauren Armstrong, Kenney’s press secretary, did not provide answers on why the minister suggested the photo was of the Muslim women enslaved by ISIL. Instead she forwarded government talking points about ISIL as well as links to newspaper articles and reports about atrocities that group has committed. She did not answer why Kenney approved the release of the special forces photos or address the concerns from opposition critics that it put troops in danger.

Liberal defence critic Joyce Murray said she wasn’t surprised by Kenney’s actions, considering in 2011 his office was implicated in faking a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony for television. The incident involved passing off federal bureaucrats as new Canadians for a segment on the now defunct Sun television network.


Kenney, then Immigration Minister, refused to apologize at the time, blaming public servants in his department for the incident.

“This guy will do whatever it takes to advance his own party’s political agenda,” Murray said.

She said Kenney’s tweeting of the photo showing Muslim women and claiming the link to brutalities committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was the minister “cynically exploiting a cultural group in our country for political benefit.”

Murray said the minister’s decision to release the special forces photos put troops at risk and is hypocritical because Kenney’s office has prevented journalists from taking photos of other military personnel at other events for security reasons.

The photos of the special forces personnel were taken at a ramp ceremony in Iraq as they carried the coffin of a fellow soldier killed in a friendly fire incident.

The photos were tweeted by Kenney and provided to news outlets by the Canadian Forces and used extensively, including in the Citizen.

It has been the military’s policy not to allow the faces of special forces personnel to be photographed by the media.

DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said the Canadian Forces is continually adapting its security and force protection measures to meet the changing situation. The safety of military personnel is the primary concern, he added.

Le Bouthillier noted it is up to individual commanders to determine and adopt appropriate force protection measures for specific circumstances.

“Given the threat-level assessment, gravitas of the incident and the importance of adequately honouring our fallen, it was deemed appropriate to release the photos,” Le Bouthillier said of the special forces ramp ceremony in Iraq.

But he noted there still remains a threat against Canadian military personnel. Because of the killings last year of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent in Quebec by Canadians supporting extremist Islamist groups, military personnel must reduce the vulnerability of their families and friends, he added.

But the Canadian Forces couldn’t explain why it has adopted security measures to cover some personnel and not others.

The media was allowed to photograph soldiers involved in the Afghan war for more than a decade. Journalists, however, weren’t allowed to photograph or interview soldiers recently heading to Poland for a training exercise because of security reasons. The mission was part of the NATO response to Russian military activities in Ukraine and Crimea.

Yet last year, the Canadian Forces photographed and named soldiers on the same type of training exercise. In addition, the navy allowed interviews and photographs of the crew of HMCS Toronto which was operating in the Black Sea six months ago in response to the Russia threats against Ukraine.

No one from the Iraq war air mission, located in Kuwait, is allowed to be identified or photographed because of what the military says is the threat from Islamist extremists. Yet recently a television news crew was invited to interview Canadian troops in south Sudan who are protecting civilians caught in the middle of a war between the government and rebels.

And journalists were recently allowed to interview, photograph and name submariners on HMCS Victoria. The sub is considered by the navy the equivalent of its special forces and in any conflict situation would be on the frontlines.


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