Burnaby Mountie kicked off private Facebook page after calling out racist posts

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — At a time when police forces across North America are facing intense scrutiny, a Mountie says he has been called a “cop hater” and blocked from a private Facebook group for exposing racist comments made by other current or retired police officers.

Const. Jordan Henderson says he was shocked to see offensive remarks on the MP Mates page suggesting Black people dying at the hands of police were not innocent victims.

“Just the amount and frequency of racism on that page, I honestly have no words on it,” he tells NEWS 1130.

The private Facebook page, which Henderson says is mostly retired members but also some current Mounties, isn’t solely for police officers.

Its description says it’s for police, but also “non-members who support the force,” and it has roughly 12,000 people from across Canada in it, and two administrators.

The Burnaby Mountie says he wasn’t on the page for very long before he was removed for calling out the racism. Henderson says his comments were reported, removed, and often met with demands for him to leave the group altogether.

“I was called a ‘cop hater’ for calling racism out and told to leave the page because it obviously wasn’t the place for me.”

When a Toronto Star article was shared about data showing disproportionate use of force on Black Torontonians, a commenter suggested the answer was to “Stop committing crimes,” while another wrote they were “50 times more likely to commit crimes. 100 times more likely to act entitled and special. 150 times more likely to be ‘new Canadians.’ 100 times more likely to be armed. 1000 times more likely to be arrogant and disrespectful.”

Henderson replied to the thread, calling out the blatant racism.

He says he posted a comment asking the admins why his comments were being flagged, and the racist comments were still there.

But the comment was left without a response, and the racist posts weren’t taken down at last check.

“I want to see from the top down, the RCMP actually deal with these issues. Take our members who are causing problems and fire them. They should not be doing this job,” Henderson says.

‘Why am I the only one calling this out?’

Most of the racist comments the officer saw were often related to the Black Lives Matter movement and the police killing of George Floyd. For example, Henderson says an article about Floyd’s medical examination was shared, and some commenters were quick to excuse the actions of the former Minneapolis police officers involved.

“How can you see that video and think that conduct is in any way acceptable?”

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“These people either are or were police officers, and if you’re saying what you’re saying on this page, how did you conduct yourself as a police officer when that was your job? And for those who are on the page and still currently serving, why am I the only one calling this out?”

“Where are the other voices of the people doing the doing the job now who are just being silent?” Henderson says.

Despite entering the force with convictions about his place in the RCMP, Henderson says the racism he’s seen and heard has forced him to question his decision.

“As a person who joined because I wanted to serve my community, it does kind of erode that for me. I see graffiti and I hear people say, ‘ACAB’ (All Cops Are Bastards) and at this point, I’m like, ‘You’re not wrong.’ I still am a police officer, but how do you separate out … you can’t separate the good ones from the bad ones.”

RELATED: Victoria police chief says ‘ACAB’ in city-sponsored mural ‘disrespectful’ to officers

Henderson, who is transgender and currently on medical leave from the Burnaby RCMP, says he’s been harassed and is ready to leave the job, partly because it has become too demanding.

“I worked in a couple of communities where everything did sort of fall into our laps, even though we are not qualified or trained to do a lot of the stuff that we are doing just the nature of the work and how busy it was in those places.”

Henderson expects to be medically discharged from the Burnaby RCMP by the end of this year.

Expectations of RCMP

While the RCMP states in an email it doesn’t have anything to do with the MP Mates page, it reports Mounties do have certain expectations.

“RCMP members are expected to be culturally sensitive and to act in accordance to the expectations to treat all Canadians without bias of race, colour, gender,” Sgt. Janelle Shoihet writes.

“When concerns about offensive content believed to be written by an RCMP employee are brought forward, they are investigated and can lead to consequences pursuant to the Force’s Code of Conduct. In this regard, RCMP has initiated Code of Conduct investigations in the past based on inappropriate comments in third-party applications or on social networking sites and we will continue to do so once we become aware.”

Facebook group rules

The Facebook page is private, and like many pages, it has guidelines for those who join the group to follow, which are public.

“We are requesting that this group be managed collectively. It is up to each of us to ensure that only deserving people are granted access, and that the MP Mates group be used to engage in respectful, positive, informative and interesting dialogue.”

It goes on to say any personal or demeaning comments directed at members will not be permitted, neither will any political or religious discussion.

“Any posts and their threads that are assessed as being contrary to the group’s rules, will be removed,” the page reads.

Its rules include: “Be Kind and Courteous,” “No Hate Speech or Bullying,” “No Promotions or Spam,” and “Respect Everyone’s Privacy.”

Its activity suggests there are about 90 posts a day, and 2,877 last month.

NEWS 1130 has reached out to the administrators of the MP Mates page.