The Truth About Jeremy Mackenzie
The facts are just so much more complicated than they seemed. For his sake and ours, I really think they need correction.
At seventeen years-old and 118 pounds, Jeremy Mackenzie may not have been the Canadian military’s ideal recruit.
That’s why he was there.
Proving himself is one of Mackenzie’s main motivators in life, as revealed in hours of wide-ranging phone conversations with the 36-year-old Nova Scotia resident over the last couple of weeks of October 2022.
Proving himself to whom, I’m not sure. I’m not sure he knows either.
Conditions in the Sask Party government-run prison where Mackenzie has been held since October 3, 2022 in Saskatoon are barbaric.
“We treated (Taliban) POWs (prisoners of war) better than this,” Mackenzie told me from jail, where the constant background roar often made it impossible for him to hear.
I understand and respect many of you feel Mackenzie is getting exactly what he deserves. I’m not here to change your mind. That said, it’s your mind and you can and should be able to change it as you like, without being accused of being a fascist.
Or an anti-fascist.
Whatever.
First let’s establish what this is not about.
For me this is not about a quest to provide vindication, in the court of law and/or public opinion, for any of the allegations facing Jeremy Mackenzie.
This is not about me supporting Mackenzie’s opinions or actions related to COVID-19, vaccines, masks or public health mandates, or the February occupation of Ottawa.
He and I have spoken at length about it, like adults. His position on vaccines is this:
He and I will likely never agree on any of the pandemic stuff, at all, ever.
At this point, that’s fine. It’s got to be.
He and I are still good, in part, because we both know fighting about that stuff now will accomplish nothing. My grandma would still be dead. He would still be in jail. This should all be straightforward, but that’s not an easy place to get to anymore, for many people, including myself.
We also both know Canadians have to at least try to find a way forward.
Together.
This is not about me claiming that Jeremy Mackenzie has not played a predictable, almost embarrassingly outsized role in getting himself into this predicament.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone thoroughly dig his own grave as this guy.
I’ve told him that. Probably too many times.
Dude, seriously. WTF?
Here’s the conclusion I reached for myself, as subjective and imperfect as it is.
You know how we heard Diagolon was a joke, but we were like, “As if, they 100% want to kill us” because the federal government, bush league media outlets and the CAHN tell us that all the time?
When it comes to Jeremy Mackenzie’s personal involvement and network within Diagolong (that’s a typo but it stays and I’m now calling it that whenever I talk to him lol)… I believe it really is satire.
Yes, even the stupid, ill-advised, meat-headed Viscount photo.
I can hear all your protests. I simply can’t get address this web of bizarre, reality-altering theatre in one piece. There will be more.
Again, however, this is just my personal conclusion. You do not have to reach it. We can still be friends if you don’t.
It is also satire that has backfired on Mackenzie spectacularly and he is hella clear on that now. I don’t want to share the tape right now, but Mackenzie has addressed with me his increased use of alcohol over the course of 2022, which is apparent in the pattern of his broadcasts.
I don’t think Mackenzie ever fully grasped that satirizing himself, or at least the ways he was satirizing himself and Diagolong in response to his critics, only provided said critics with an abundance of low-hanging fruit.
Regardless, this is not about me advocating for Mackenzie’s release from prison or his charges or other specific outcome for Mackenzie.
The outcome I care about is rooted in the truth.
If the hard truth is good for Jeremy Mackenzie, I will be happy for him and so should you.
This is about challenging myself to see if I can find and share the absolute truth about Jeremy Mackenzie.
The stone cold truth. Bare-knuckled, unvarnished truth. I don’t really care how you want to preface it, I wanted the facts about Jeremy Mackenzie because the ones I had didn’t make sense.
I definitely knew something was wrong when the Sask Party government got involved.
After Mackenzie was arrested in Nova Scotia on Saskatchewan charges, legal experts I spoke to agreed there was little chance he would be transported here to appear in court. Doing so would require the signature of Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice Bronwyn Eyre, putting her taxpayers on the hook for an expensive in-custody, cross-country prisoner transfer, court hearings and his detention.
I guess Eyre decided it was worth it.
On Sunday October 2, 2022, flanked by three armed guards and shackled by his wrists, waist and ankles, this fifteen year Canadian military veteran was the sole prisoner, despite never having been convicted of a crime, shuffled onto a RCMP airplane in Halifax and flown ten hours to Saskatoon.
His in-person appearance the next day lasted about five minutes. He was then put into solitary confinement for five days before being brought back to court for a bail hearing, at which it was obvious quickly that Jeremy Mackenzie was not going anywhere but back to jail.
Watching Mackenzie in the prisoner’s box, I just didn’t see a violent insurrectionist. There was none of the rage, menace and swagger I expected from a man who would supposedly spit in the face of Justin Trudeau or worse and wants to burn Canada and everyone in it to the ground.
What I thought I might be seeing was a Canadian military veteran trying to process being caged by the country he served. Mackenzie’s facial expression shifted constantly from disbelief, frustration or despair to most troublingly, a vacant thousand yard stare.
It all really bothered me.
Just days before his arrest on the Saskatchewan charges, Mackenzie was caught on a livestream in a drunken rant saying vile things about the Conservative party leader’s wife, Ana Poilievre.
Is Mackenzie embarrassed he made those comments? Does he regret them?
Why not let him tell you himself?
I have not seen a media outlet, pundit or loudmouth of any stripe reference Mackenzie’s Substack, which he pointed me to himself.
I don’t agree with all of his opinions, theories, or choices of phrasing and language, but I’m still glad I read it and will continue to do so.
I find the timing of Jeremy’s Nova Scotia arrest in late September, just a few days after the Poilievre incident, on charges laid in Saskatchewan in July… odd.
For a variety of legal, moral and professional reasons I can’t share the vast majority of what I know to be true right now, but will soon. I can say since I’ve started looking into this, I’ve wondered repeatedly if the Sask Party government is so authoritarian and corrupt that it can guarantee, to someone for some reason, the incarceration of Jeremy Mackenzie.
I would never associate, at all, with someone I believed was a white supremacist, a misogynist or violent against women. I’m not going to debate that with you, because if you believe otherwise you don’t know me.
If you don’t know me and believe otherwise it means nothing to me. I’m used to being framed. People who need to destroy other people - not issues, but real human beings - using words as weapons and social media as both an army and battlefield are simultaneously exposing a whole bunch of rot in their own core.
So do your worst, assholes, and find out.
If you are feeling uncomfortable or angry at the idea that your perception of a fellow Canadian could be wrong, you have much bigger problems than whether Jeremy Mackenzie, as many including myself had labelled him, is a ticking domestic time bomb.
I think you can relax. If Jeremy Mackenzie ever gives me reason to believe differently, you can be certain I will be the first to shout it from the rooftops. I’ve told HIM that.
As of publication, however, to me the notion that Jeremy Mackenzie is dangerous, or even wants anyone else to act dangerously or be put in danger, is nonsense. So is the idea that he incites violence.
I’ve had to do some serious soul-searching since deciding to find the facts about this guy, who I had casually labelled a domestic terrorist. At the very least, I associated him with the idea. I felt sick (actually more than felt, I threw up twice lol) about the idea of speaking to him on the phone.
I was terrified, genuinely.
Why wouldn’t I be?
The people and organizations I had counted on to educate myself on The Extreme in Canada, which do not perch like bookends on each end of a political string, but as a black hole underneath it, told me to be terrified.
I called some of them personally.
Since the news of Mackenzie’s charges broke at the end of August (in an odd manner) various individuals I understood to be authorities on the subject have said that in November 2021 the mighty Diagolong network held an armed or weapons “training exercise” in Viscount, Saskatchewan.
They said I was placing myself at grave risk of personal danger if I even sniffed at anything related to Jeremy Mackenzie.
I consulted with individuals who I understood to be experts on domestic threats. I relied on organizations packaged and tabled by the federal government as the definitive authority on real risks facing Canada’s foundation and future.
Let me tell you right now - if I am at risk of blowback from any faction of The Extreme it’s from theirs, not Jeremy Mackenzie’s.
There is thousands of hours of tape and thousands more of frightening, racist Canadian podcasts, books people and websites to comb through. Who has the time?
My understanding was that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) did, which is why they have received the public, overwhelming support and endorsement of the federal government.
My understanding of CAHN was that it was the Liberal Party government’s official authority on matters of real risk to Canadians.
I thought the word “hate” was being used in reference to hate crimes. Hate speech.
Silly me.
Anyway, the CAHN has been advising Canadians on Jeremy Mackenzie for a while now.
So has the mainstream media.
(BTW, pretty sure you won’t hear much on this out of them.)
Consider this example, which ties in to the Emergency Act hearings currently ongoing in Ottawa.
“MacKenzie came up with the idea of Diagolon, she said.”
The “she” is Elizabeth Simons, deputy director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, in a story published two days after RCMP made arrests on February 14, 2022 related to a protest at Coutts, Alberta, at the same time the convoy was occupying Ottawa. Mackenzie was in Ottawa and never in Coutts.
CAHN’s deputy director goes on to say a bunch more about Mackenzie, who she repeatedly reminds us is the leader of Diagolong, which she then connects to the Coutts arrests and by extension, Jeremy Mackenzie to, you know… conspiracy to commit murder charges.
“We first noticed that there was potentially a connection when we saw (Diagolon patches) on one of the tactical vests… (Diagolon is a) “neo-fascist militia who share some characteristics of accelerationism… They believe that civil war is imminent. They want civil war. They want to execute and try their enemies.”
Holy shit. That’s breathtaking.
Dropping, without a shred of evidence, the name of a fellow Canadian and Afghan war military vet claiming he and his supporters - or his audience, depending on which emotion you’re trying to taze - want to “execute” people.
Another quote directly attributed to Simons about Jeremy Mackenzie in that article:
“He’s also very anti-Semitic and very racist.”
Tell us how you really feel Elizabeth.
Simons knows exactly what line she’s toeing, because after hurling out grenades like “execute”, “anti-Semitic” and “racist”, she decides to get nuanced.
She decelerates.
“He’s kind of toned that down in recent years. He’s less overt than he used to be. But there are clips from him in 2019 where he’s actively engaging in Holocaust denial and conspiracies about Jews.”
Oh okay.
Efficient, isn’t she.
There are no clips from 2019 provided, linked or cited in the Saltwire story.
The reference to Mackenzie being “less overt” in “recent years” is fucking wild, given antihate.ca only published their first piece on him just over two years ago.
Mackenzie had just protested a speech made by Omar Khadr. He had every right to peacefully express dissent, which he did.
Everyone, including the attendees and the media, ignored Mackenzie’s protest. The only person who didn’t was Gavin McInness. Mackenzie says he didn’t know who he was at the time. He doesn’t even remember the video being filmed.
McInness’s video went viral and four days later a long-form piece surfaces listing Mackenzie’s alleged offenses, inclusive of audio extracted from what must have been dozens of hours of tape.
Unless Mackenzie, who said in the above clip he had been “ranting on the internet” about Omar Khadr for a “few months”, had already been selected by someone(s) as a target and it had all been prepared and on standby, ready to slip into a ratcheted public narrative after a protest.
As a communications consultant who loves a good news hook, I almost admire the strategy. It’s certainly not a new one.
At the bottom of that February 2020 CAHN piece you’ll note a fleet of undated, unverified audio recordings. I have been through those clips with Mackenzie. Contrary to Simons assertion, they pre-date 2019.
Like so many Canadian veterans, after being discharged from the army in 2016 Mackenzie was struggling with the simple act of being alive. He told me if he hadn’t discovered broadcasting as an outlet for his pain he probably wouldn’t be here.
With little to no experience of the world outside the military context, no broadcasting or media experience and no knowledge of how any of it would transform his life, Mackenzie admits he went down some dark paths at that time that he wishes he had not.
In hindsight he acknowledges that he understands why, at that time, Canadian security institutions may have seen him as a red flag.
As a consequence of all that, those clips will haunt Mackenzie and his family for the rest of his life and he knows it.
Mackenzie is embarrassed and contrite about it all, which he should be… but that’s all he should be.
Tonight he sits in shithole Saskatchewan jail on charges he doesn’t even know when and how he’s going to plead on.
“He’s actually been very clear, (in saying recently that) ‘I do not want violence. But when you spend the last three-plus years screaming for violence, and telling your base that civil war is coming, I don’t really know what else you can expect to happen.” - Elizabeth Simons, deputy director, Canadian Anti-Hate Network
So what I’m hearing from Elizabeth is Jeremy Mackenzie used to scream “for violence” (just take her word for it), but he has also been “recently” (there’s that word again) very clear that '“I do not want violence”.
To reiterate: despite the fact Mackenzie was never in Coutts and made it clear to his audience he was not advocating for violence, the CAHN’s deputy director went public less than 48 hours after RCMP announced the Coutts arrests with clear, distinct statements connecting Jeremy Mackenzie to those violent criminal allegations anyway.
Her evidence?
Jeremy Mackenzie met this guy one time.
“On MacKenzie’s old Instagram, which is no longer up, there’s a picture of the two of them. He’s a big mountain of a man. MacKenzie’s not small himself, and he dwarfs MacKenzie.”
She’s is describing, accurately, Chris Lysak, who is currently incarcerated in Alberta on the Coutts charges and is a “big mountain of a man”.
I’d probably hit it too Liz, but that doesn’t make Jeremy Mackenzie a terrorist.
You know what else it’s really difficult to find evidence of?
Elizabeth Simons’ existence.
I have a growing mountain of evidence that the deputy director and often seemingly unrestrained spokesperson is a fictional character that absolutely no one seems interested in even attempting to refute.
I’ve heard some bleating about her needing to be anonymous because of fears for her safety.
Just like millions of women across the planet, I’ve been doing hard things out in the open under my name and face for years. Yes at times it has sucked, but we still do it because progress.
Further, the use of a pseudonym and why should be disclosed in every media story or public event in which this person or persons participated.
I have repeatedly requested, from various outlets, organizations, elected officials and other individuals who have allegedly had contact with Elizabeth Simons, an indication of how they have connected with her or whether they’ve been provided credentials or her background, given the public statements she is making about real Canadians.
I have received nothing in response. Zip. From anyone.
Mackenzie is not connected to whatever happened at Coutts, none of which has been tried in court or convicted. Frankly, I might look at that next because this is getting more fucked up by the minute.
Mackenzie has never been connected, criminally or otherwise, to the convoy. He was there, along with thousands of other Canadians, whether you like them or not.
Mackenzie was never called to testify at the current Emergency Act hearings that are entertaining Ottawa right now, which should tell you a bunch as well.
I know nothing about weapons or their related charges to speak to what he’s facing in Nova Scotia.
You used to be able to access a full, non-redacted copy of the Nova Scotia RCMP warrant connected to them at a link about a quarter of a way down this page.
Yesterday I emailed the Nova Scotia RCMP some questions, including one about the link to that warrant, which was working when I sent the email.
The RCMP’s response was that the warrant hadn’t been sealed and its publication had nothing to do with the RCMP.
Today the link is dead and the warrant is gone.
I had not yet contacted the Halifax Examiner about their choice to post the warrant. I look forward to a response from the (pretty helpful actually) Nova Scotia RCMP about whether they did and if so, why.
Presumably it has nothing to do with another name on the warrant, which I asked Nova Scotia RCMP about in the same email: that of the RCMP officer whose affidavit was the basis of the search warrant.
In the summer of 2019, British Columbia resident and marijuana activist Brian Carlisle, who had a rich history of run-ins with the RCMP, sued ten of its members and the force itself.
In the suit Carlisle alleges, with a seemingly ungodly amount of evidence, that he was maliciously investigated by British Columbia RCMP and falsely charged with multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault. All charges against Carlisle were dropped eight months after one RCMP news release destroyed his life.
I’ve spoken extensively to Carlisle and may get into more of what he had to say down the road. The multi-million dollar lawsuit remains in court.
The Nova Scotia RCMP officer who signed the warrant that led to Jeremy Mackenzie’s numerous, yet-unproven charges laid in January is named as a defendant in Carlisle’s 2019 lawsuit.
Mackenzie was the subject of a warrant within weeks of returning to Nova Scotia, signed by a RCMP officer being sued for malicious investigation on the other side of Canada.
Then there’s the matter of the Saskatchewan charges.
We’ve just established the RCMP officer behind Mackenzie’s Nova Scotia charges is currently embroiled in a lawsuit.
The Saskatchewan prosecutor who handled Mackenzie’s bail hearing in Saskatoon in early October pled guilty to conduct unbecoming a lawyer. In April.
Of 2022.
“It was this improper exercise of prosecutorial discretion, the substituting of personal discretion and effecting the member’s own idea of justice, that must be addressed through denunication and deterrence. These factors must be emphasized in order for the public to have confidence in the administration of justice and for the legal system to function properly.” - Scott Moffat, hearing committee chair, Law Society of Saskatchewan
So again, the cop behind Mackenzie’s Nova Scotia charges is a defendant on a RCMP lawsuit involving allegations of maliciously investigating and pursuing prosecution of a local rabble rouser.
Now the Crown prosecutor responsible for keeping Mackenzie, who has no convictions of any kind, in jail, just pled guilty to conduct unbecoming a lawyer for
“…intentionally maintaining a prosecution against C.R., when there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction, in order to prolong the effect of conditions of release.” - Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Clements, 2022 SKLSS 1
I mean fuck me, do I need a whiteboard?
I might, actually.
The provincial court judge who ruled that Mackenzie should stay in jail was Bruce Bauer.
Just Google it.
What has struck me the most since wading into this quagmire of stupidity, unmanaged addictions, mental illness and broken moral compasses - none of which are Jeremy Mackenzie’s - is how many people don’t even want to think about examining any of the emotionally-ratcheted narratives permeating Canada over the last couple years.
What I’ve written here today about Jeremy Mackenzie is just the tip of the iceberg on the facts. I will continue to pursue and share the facts until I have a reason not to, or until this is sorted out. If you’re screaming (respectful) questions at your screen, please share them with me and I’ll try to find fact-based answers.
Inside the shrivelled black heart of this story - even deeper than the potential government and political corruption - is another, smaller group of sick-minded Canadians who thrive on making other people miserable under the guise of protection from the other… from the unknown.
Because that’s really where the real fear lies, right? In not knowing.
Not knowing when the pandemic was going to end. Not knowing - if there was never any way to know - if the Ottawa convoy was going to devolve into violence.
Not knowing if Jeremy Mackenzie was going to kill us all.
I’m tired of it. I need to learn how to live with all Canadians again and am not the only one who needs to figure that out. I don’t think I can do it if I don’t believe in the truth anymore.
I also need to figure out my role in all this.
Anyway. I appreciate there are a laundry list of questions outstanding that I have not addressed tonight. There likely will be more from me as all of this starts to unravel, which it surely will one way or another in the imminent future.
If you’re looking for more background on Jeremy Mackenzie and this debacle, this is a solid, albeit anonymously written with a few mistakes (in my opinion) article. It’s worth a read if you’re interested and might at least help answer questions that crossed your mind while you were reading this one.
Talk soon,
