Team leader Marcus Ray, in Guardians of Humanity uniform. He says the group isn't active yet and won't be for another year when they are officially trained.

(MARSHALL JONES / iNFOnews.ca)

The spokesman and leader of a paramilitary organization training on a ranch south of Kelowna was ex-communicated from other ‘freedom’ movement organizers because he was considered too extreme and was accused of calling for violence.

Marcus Ray, also known as Marcus Chilcott among other aliases, was at the centre of the freedom trucker rally in Ottawa in January 2022, posting dozens, even hundreds of videos from the event. A few months after, in June 2022, Ray announced controversial plans to train what he called “constitutional sheriffs,” a spin off of an American idea.

He planned to bring a large number of these people to the RCMP Depot in Regina, along with simultaneously staging protests at RCMP stations across the country on Sept. 11, 2022.

He was accused by Veterans4Freedom of planning to wear uniforms, arrest people and try them in a “constitutional courtroom.”

The Veterans posted a video of Ray on a podcast talking about his plan, which has since been deleted. He was asked what kind of punishment or justice should await the people who “destroy(ed) our country.”

“Well, what do you do with mass murders?” Ray responds. “What do you do? They get sentenced to death. And all their wealth will be collected and given to the people that have suffered. They're not hanging on to their money. Their family’s not getting their money. Their kids are not getting the money. That money's going back to the Canadian people where it was robbed from.”

The Veterans warned others of like mind not to join Ray because it would lead to violence and ultimately harm their overall movement. The date of the protest — 9/11 — would make them look like terrorists, they feared.

READ MORE: 'Guardians of Humanity' training in Kelowna for when 'hell breaks loose'

“Marcus Ray is building a movement of individuals right across Canada. And he keeps telling people, you know, a big event is coming and it's going to save Canada when it happens,” V4F Sgt. Major Jeff Evelyn said in a June 14, 2022 podcast. “We also don't think at this point that Canada's so far gone that violence is the actual answer yet. But yet we've got guys like Marcus Ray and a few others indicating they're going to turn violent on us.”

Ray changed his plans as late as August of that year then went quiet shortly after, but last week, he and three other men appeared at a freedom political event in Kelowna dressed in tactical uniforms with stab-proof vests, calling themselves the Guardians of Humanity. Two had handcuffs on on their belts.

Ray wore a Velcro patch identifying himself as ‘Commander’.

Marcus Ray, also known as Marcus Chilcott, in a 2022 interview fending off accusations from others in the Freedom movement of being too extreme and inviting violence.

Image Credit: YOUTUBE

In a story last week, he told iNFOnews.ca he has since left the freedom movement. He and "dozens" of men with "hundreds" more interested are training on land in Beaverdell to be volunteer emergency responders — and licensed security guards. They are setting up across B.C. and moving into Alberta. He had vague answers about their intentions.

"The way we see it is we think within five years all hell is going to break loose. Like, riots in the streets. And we believe that law enforcement is going to need a helping hand.

“We want to have a new security team out there that's going to be able to actually help people.”

It remains vague despite attempts to find more specific. It’s a similar description to his plans less than 18 months before.

“I’m… just bringing the word that we are forming the constitutional sheriffs and the constitutional sheriffs are going to be the protectors of the Canadian people and protect you from unlawful acts and bodily harm and injury and death,” he told a Kelowna podcaster in June 2022.

In that interview, he denied the accusations from the Veterans and claimed he said things he wished he didn’t on that podcast and never had plans to overthrow anything nor for violence.

Their plans changed from the 9/11 police protests to a challenge in the courts. His ‘sheriffs’ would accompany one of their members into a courtroom somewhere and ask questions.

“We're not going to storm a court, by the way. We're just going to walk in there. We've got no firearms, no nothing. We're merely walking in there as a group. And what we want to do is we want the truth. We want to see if the justice system can still work for us because it's not right now.”

READ MORE: City scraps graphic photos from Kamloops mayor's speech

In an interview with iNFOnews.ca this week, Ray tried to distance himself from past comments.

“No, no, no, we're doing something totally different. That was a totally different time, totally different thing.”

He said he has given up on the freedom movement, despite the Kelowna Town Hall event, which is another outlet for the movement, and clearly still strong feelings on the subject.

“What you're talking about before was the fight to save freedom, save Canada,” he said. “Canada's already gone. Look at all the new laws.… That's not the free Canada we had, so you can't stop it. There's no intention of trying to stop it.”

He had help coming to that conclusion. He says he was arrested by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, known as INSET, in late June 2022.

“I was taken in and reprimanded and everything else,” he said. “You didn’t hear a peep out of me after that.”

He said he has informed the RCMP of training activities at the Beaverdell property “so that (they) don't think we're, you know, some kind of a terrorist operation or something. And they're all good with it.”

Kelowna RCMP has not responded to numerous requests for comment.

Ray insists the Guardians’ only intention is to provide a voluntary force for police, fire and search and rescue organizations when called upon. He says they don’t train with firearms and they are working to get their members licensed by various authorities.

He still can’t articulate their exact intentions, particularly why licensed and trained security guards would be needed for emergency response, how they would respond to crime or their perceived role when “hell breaks loose.”

He was asked if he sees why people might be skeptical considering the similarities between his old plans and new.

“From everything I've seen, I don't think (everything’s) going to be fine. And what the Trudeau government keeps doing, I think that they’re really going to spark something sooner or later. I don't know when, I have no idea. I'm not trying to predict it. But what I would like… is to be a part of helping people at that time, rather than cowering like most people will. They'll lock their doors in their homes. We just want to help if we can. We're right out in the open. We're not hidden. We don't have a hidden agenda or anything.”

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