Newly unsealed court documents are shedding light on what police allege was an anti-government militia plot to violently seize land in the Quebec City region, involving four men with ties to the Canadian Armed Forces.
The records, released after Global News and other media organizations went to court, outline the alleged scope of the plan and reveal the existence of a police informant embedded in the group.
According to the documents, Master Cpl. Marc-Aurèle Chabot is accused of being the ringleader of the alleged cell. Investigators allege he believed society was on the brink of collapse and planned to take over cabins in Quebec cottage country by force.
The affidavit alleges Chabot scouted local infrastructure and sought information about bomb-making techniques. The documents say he was prepared to die to carry out the plan to seize land near Quebec City.
Chabot and three other men with military connections had been under RCMP surveillance since 2023, according to the filings. They were arrested last July, when police say they also seized a cache of weapons.
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Police allege the group was motivated by accelerationist ideology, which is the belief that major conflicts should be deliberately hastened to bring about radical societal change.
David Hofmann, an expert at the University of New Brunswick, said accelerationist movements are often linked to extremist goals.
“Typically it’s about creating a white ethnostate or a white Christian fascist ethnostate, something along those lines,” he told Global News in an interview.
The court documents further allege the group’s discussions included antisemitic comments and disparaging remarks about women.
The RCMP investigation expanded to New Brunswick, where officers monitored another alleged member, Brian Foglia, a former military combat engineer and explosives specialist. According to the records, Foglia voluntarily went to an RCMP detachment in Fredericton and was granted immunity in exchange for acting as an informant.
Police allege Chabot referenced the possibility of another Waco, Texas-style massacre, where in 1993, the siege of a compound ended after a 51-day standoff between a religious leader and 76 of his followers and federal agents.
Chabot has been charged with instructing others to carry out terrorist activity, an offence that carries a potential life sentence.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
–with files form The Canadian Press
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