Blood & Honour/Combat 18 Listed as Outlawed Terrorist Organizations

I created the blog in November 2007 in large part to monitor the Aryan Guard, a Calgary-based hate group founded by Kyle McKee that I saw as having an incredible potential for violence. Eventually the Aryan Guard "patched over" to become Canada's first official (though there had been individuals affiliated long before) branch of the Combat aligned Blood & Honour.

As both the Aryan Guard and Blood & Honour, this hate group was implicated in numerous assaults, arson, a pipe bomb, weapons charges, uttering threats, and attempted murder. Two former members who created the rival WEB were later charged and convicted of murder. Another Blood & Honour group aligned with Volksfront was also implicated in a number of assaults.

My primary goal had been to warn people about this group. Though I've certainly expanded the scope of the blog significantly since its original creation, I've tried as best I could to keep tabs on the members and supporters of Blood & Honour as they became much more discreet online but no less dangerous in the real world.

As such, I view news as a significant event in the effort to combat hate:

1. Neo-Nazi groups have been placed on Canada's listed of terrorist groups for the first time. https://t.co/i97QERG0Ww

— Stewart Bell (@StewGlobal) June 26, 2019

Extreme right groups (Blood & Honour/C-18) were added to Canada's list of terrorist groups for the first time. I suppose it's fitting to announce that our (@Palgrave_) book on right-wing extremism in #Canada is set to be released in September (co-authored w/@OT_FSSH's B. Perry). pic.twitter.com/hCKrbrs7H1

— Ryan Scrivens (@R_Scrivens) June 26, 2019

NEW (!!): Canada has added international neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour and its "armed branch," Combat 18, to its list of outlawed terrorist organizations, alongside groups including al Qaida, ISIS and Boko Haram. https://t.co/fmm9nom2aj

— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) June 26, 2019

I was interviewed by Vice News earlier today when the news of the designation of Blood & Honour and Combat 18 as outlawed terrorist organizations. I was asked about the activity of the group in recent years and noted that while not engaged in the overt activities of the past, it was still very much active as this 2016 screen shot indicates:

Rather than engaging in marched in Calgary or, as in the case of the last march Edmonton, the Calgary Blood & Honour instead engaged in surreptitious flyering and nearly monthly get togethers sometimes featuring guests who had been in the news:

I kept track of these events and while they were reasonably good at maintaining security, their failures were duly recorded:

More recently, Blood & Honour has been promoting a camp out that is to take place in both Alberta and New Brunswick:

McKee himself no longer lived in Calgary. He and his partner have moved to New Brunswick where McKee now runs a tattoo business.

Based on interactions on the business' Facebook cite, he seems to be one of the go-to tattooists for members and friends of the Northern Guard in the province:

I also mentioned in the interview that as happy as I was that Blood & Honour and Combat 18 have been designated at terrorist groups, I also hope to see further scrutiny on groups such as the III% militia, Northern Guard, Proud Boys, Soldiers of Odin (or any of the other Nouns), and the Yellow Vesters which often serve as "gateway drugs" so-to-speak for entry into even more extreme groups.

On this readers need not take my word for it:

In the Iron March forums, a Blood & Honour organizer told a student on Vancouver Island in 2016, “If you really want to stop the leftists at your school you’re going to have to use more than just arguments, but at least it’ll be a permanent solution.” Thankfully it didn't happen.

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) June 26, 2019

Long time readers won't be at all surprised to know that long-time figure in the hate movement Paul Fromm is a bridge between the extremist Yellow Vests and the even more extreme Blood & Honour:

Alberta III%

Yep, I'm still away and hopefully stretched out on a beach enjoying a Cuba Libre, though given my constitution more than likely laid up in a hotel room regretting not getting that Dukoral booster with a sunburn so bad you could roast a marshmallow using the heat radiating off my body. Either way, here is another now likely out-of-date article scheduled to publish while I'm away.

In a week from today, the Canadian Combat Coalition is planning on holding an event in Edmonton with the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam in attendance as well:

You were never fooling anyone with that name, Ryan.

I'm sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear the oratory of one Joey DeLuca

Given the disaster that the June 24 June 25 MEGA Patriot Rally turned out to be, this might be perceived as an effort to save the CCC and WCAI reputation as actual significant players on the far-right anti-Muslim/refugee/immigrant scene. Certainly Ryan Dean and Joey DeLuca would like to return to the numbers that participated in the June 3 rally which was in large part bolstered by the presence of III% Alberta members who provided security.... and were carrying weapons, btw. The III% members didn't participate in the MEGA rally ostensibly because of "security concerns" when the mayor of Calgary and Muslim student groups were invited by Garvey, however the head of the Alberta III% militia suggests another possible reason:

First, Beau Welling seems just a wee bit full of himself and the capabilities of the III% militia.

Second, even he seems to recognize that the CCC and WCAI are in fact hate groups. In this reply he does seem to be at pains to separate the III% Alberta militia from other groups. He also posted a message claiming to have spoken to the RCMP whom he claims doesn't regard the III% militia as a hate group:

Oh, not a "pure hate group."

Well that is certainly reassuring.

If such a conversation did take place, I'm guessing that Beau is either gilding the lily or really didn't understand the nature of the discussion because given the rhetoric of the membership, the III% would absolutely be on the radar of the RCMP.

At the beginning of July ARC published an article discussing the decline of the Soldiers of Odin and how the membership is drifting into other, perhaps even more extreme, movements. This fella who was (and may still be) in an SoO leadership position is a case in point:

Also, last month Mack Lamoureux wrote an article for "Vice" detailing a months long investigation into the III% movement, focusing specifically on the Alberta chapter which appears to be the most active as well as a sit down interview with Beau Welling. The article indicates the III% militia is a deeply paranoid, anti-Muslim group that readily accepts any conspiracy theory that confirms their biases. This may be somewhat of a concern under normal circumstances, but add the stockpiling of weapons for a future civil war and the "monitoring" of those citizens they consider to be un-Canadian, well, the danger meter is sort of dialed to 11.

First, let's take a look at the claim that they aren't racists. As of the writing of this article, the New Democratic Party is in the midst of a leadership campaign. One of the candidates is Jagmeet Singh, a Canadian-born Sikh (and a much better dresser than I am). The presence of Singh, who again I stress was born in Canada, was commented on by at least some III% supporters:

Well, maybe their antipathy was directed more towards the NDP, though I somehow doubt that is the whole reason.

One thing that is crystal clear though is the III% Alberta hatred of Muslims. Here are but a few of the posts that illustrate that:

There's also the anti-Muslim conspiracy theories that get trotted out with frequency:

They also seem to attract a few people who are.... shall we say questionable?

Well Evert, Thomas Trenerry certainly didn't stand alone when the Aryan Guard was a going concern:

Trenerry's involvement in the III% militia actually brings me to the other reason why the RCMP would be keeping an eye on the III% militia. Even if the racism and Islamophobia was not present, the III% militia would be a concern due to their anti-government position that is often (hell, usually) violent in nature, at least rhetorically speaking:

Again, the following is merely a Whitman's Sampler of anti-government rhetoric from III% supporters on the Alberta Facebook, national, and other provincial Facebook groups, much of which is directed at the current Prime Minister and would probably constitute a crime:

And then there is there is how they monitor people. Not just the Muslims, as was evident in the Vice article, but also their ideological opponents:

Not Jason, or Bonnie, or Andy,  or Shane,  or Marcell, or Syed, or Leah,  or Julian, or Richard, or Charles, or Grace, or Martin, or Alan, or "two brothers in Calgary," or any of the other people that have been erroneously listed as writers of the blog.  Some of the names aren't even ones I recognize as activists. It has been almost a decade and you still have yet to get it right. Then again why listen to me now when you haven't so far?

Really, you people are very bad at this.

Don't think that being a bystander gets you off the hook. Not showing the requisite amount of patriotism for a III% supporter might be enough to put you or, as in this case, your neighborhood on the list:

When reading posts such as these, I can't help thinking of the line from Alan Moore's groundbreaking comic series:

Who watches the watchmen?

Racists and Antisemites Attending June 3 Event in Calgary

Tomorrow the protests planned for Ottawa, Calgary, and other Canadian cities should all be under way by noon. Though billed as "million Canadian" marches (thereby attempting to co-opt past progressive events), this writer suspects the numbers will fall far, far, short of one million people. In Ottawa, I suspect there will be between 300 and 500 people, though that is perhaps a generous estimate. In Calgary, perhaps 50 to 100.

Then again, I've never been good at these kinds of estimates, so I may be surprised either way.

In Calgary, WCAI and the Canadian Combat Coalition have been whiny because their event has been referred to by ARC and others as racist and bigoted, a charge WCAI clumsily refutes:

Yeah.... you probably shouldn't do live videos while drunk because this alone undermines everything you just wrote:

Wow.

Rape jokes too.

Just.... wow.

Well, the WCAI videos MAY have been directed towards Trudeau (and based on the above video, homosexuals, the mentally challenged, and of course, Muslims), but the rhetoric coming from the participants and the possible guests tells another story.

For example, Karyn Draper, someone ARC has discussed in the past, will be attending the June 3 protest. In one post she says there will be another individual who will be attending but that she would like someone to accompany her to the event.

Let's see if you can spot the name I and others working with ARC noticed?

Actually, Merle is a name familiar to many, but let's let that slide for a bit.

It looks like Kyle McKee, founder of the Aryan Guard and current leader of the Calgary chapter of Blood & Honour may be attending the event. Kyle McKee, convicted of such crimes as possession of bomb making materials, possession of prohibited weapons, uttering threats, fleeing police, and assault. Kyle McKee, a man charged with attempted murder and other crimes. Kyle McKee, suspected of being involved in a violent home invasion, vandalism, and the firebombing (directly or having provided orders) of an anti-racist's residence.

Naw! It couldn't be THAT Kyle McKee, could it?

Yes, THAT Kyle McKee.