Details are beginning to emerge about the armed man from rural Manitoba who gained entry to the grounds of Rideau Hall Thursday morning.
On Thursday, several police vehicles swarmed Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s residence and the prime minister’s temporary home, after RCMP said Corey Hurren breached the Thomas Gate at around 6:30 a.m.
CBC has confirmed Hurren is a member of the Canadian Rangers, a component of the Canadian Army Reserve that serves in the remote and coastal regions, typically offering help with national security and public safety operations.
Hurren allegedly got out of his pickup truck and proceeded on foot to the greenhouse where patrolling RCMP officers stopped him. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family live at Rideau Cottage close to the greenhouse; however, they and Governor General Julie Payette were away at the time.
The RCMP said the National Division Emergency Response Team arrived shortly after 7 a.m., and Hurren was arrested “without any incident” and brought into police custody at about 8:30 a.m.
As a precaution, hazardous materials experts searched and secured Hurren’s truck, police said. The RCMP said it is collaborating closely with the Canadian Armed Forces in the investigation and charges are pending.
According to his LinkedIn page, Hurren lives in Bowsman, Man., about 390 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg near the Saskatchewan border, and is the owner of the small business, GrindHouse Fine Foods, which makes sausages.
According to a Bowsman Lions Club Facebook post, Hurren served with the Royal Canadian Artillery in the late 1990s out of Yorkton, Sask. A member told CBC News Manitoba that Hurren belonged to the club.
CBC News Manitoba also reported that roughly an hour before Hurren entered the Rideau Hall grounds, a Facebook page associated with his Grindhouse Fine Foods business posted a meme of a big outdoor party that would supposedly occur after the lockdown.
The post also directed people to look up “Event 201,” a conspiracy theory that suggests Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is behind COVID-19.
Other posts from Hurren’s business poke fun at the hardships and fears spawned by the pandemic. Some mention the work of the Rangers and the Canadian military.
Rangers serve as helpers in communities
Whitney Lackenbauer, a Canada Research Chair and professor at Trent University and author of The Canadian Rangers, A Living History, says he was startled to learn a member of the Canadian Rangers was arrested.
“I definitely am surprised because all the rangers who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting over the last 20 years have not struck me as the type of people who would take this kind of action,” he said.
Rangers are more likely to be at Rideau Hall accepting awards for heroism, he said, not being arrested there as alleged intruders. He said Canadian Rangers come from all walks of life but tend to be respected members of their communities with deep knowledge of the geographies where they serve.
“You’ll have everything from civil servants to fishers to lumberjacks to subsistence hunters to electrical engineers,” he said.
A key function of Rangers is supporting isolated coastal and northern communities by helping in search and rescue operations, serving as guides for visiting members of the military, and, on occasion, providing intelligence to the military about any unusual vessels or aircraft they see in remote areas.
Canadian Rangers are issued a C19, which is a firearm patterned after a hunting rifle, along with rounds of ammunition each year. The rifle is used mainly to help protect communities from bears and for hunting if food is scarce.
They are not provided basic training, like other members of the military, and are not expected to serve overseas, said Lackenbauer.
