Trans Mountain says consultant not linked to Proud Boys

This article is more than 3 years old

Trans Mountain, a pipeline and energy company owned by the Canadian government, says an internal investigation has concluded a consultant it worked with did not have ties to the Proud Boys, a group on a federal government list of terrorist organizations.

“Trans Mountain has thoroughly investigated this claim and it has been proven to be false,” a company spokesperson said by email.

In a follow up, the company said the individual in question was not associated with the Proud Boys.

Last February, the Canadian government added the Proud Boys to its list of terrorist organizations, saying the extremist group had played a “pivotal role” in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol Building. The listing makes it a crime to provide financial support or other services to the Proud Boys.

The allegations follow a massive data breach of records from Epik, a U.S.-based internet company known for hosting and providing online services for far-right content.

The records, released by the online hacktivist group Anonymous, include a trove of personal information about some of the names behind viral campaigns promoting racism, misinformation, disinformation and other extremist views online, the Washington Post reported on Sept. 21.

The Narwhal reviewed invoice records from the breach that appear to reveal the name, personal address and phone number of a Calgary-based consultant who said on LinkedIn that he worked for Trans Mountain as a geographic information systems technologist beginning in November 2019. It’s unclear whether the individual is still associated with Trans Mountain.

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According to the leaked records, the Calgary man registered the domain ProudBoysCalgary.com on Dec. 9, 2019. The domain is not currently active.

Trans Mountain did not immediately reply when asked whether it had determined the individual did, in fact, register that domain.

The consultant did not immediately respond to questions from The Narwhal asking about the investigation or whether he had registered the domain.

In September, when the allegations against the consultant first appeared on social media, he told The Narwhal that he was unable to comment as he was seeking legal advice on the matter.

“I categorically deny any and all involvement and the police are involved and assisting me in this matter,” he said at the time.

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An anonymous account on Twitter also named the man in published tweets, but later deleted these posts.

The federal government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline and several related assets in 2018 in a multibillion dollar deal, after the previous owner, Kinder Morgan, threatened to cancel a proposed West Coast pipeline expansion project.

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Published By

Drew Anderson

Drew Anderson is the Prairies reporter for The Narwhal, based in Calgary. He previously worked for CBC and was the editor and publisher of the now-def...

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