July 2017 Bits and Bites Part II: Solomon and WCAI Spy on Mosques and Brazau JDP Persona Non Grata

First a fun fact. Did you know that in the history of Canada there has NEVER been a forest fire? It's true. At least not until the arrival of Muslims and NDP governments, of course:

Yep, the brain trust that is Devon Mannix, the president of the Alberta chapter of the Cultural Action Party of Canada.

Sigh.... just sigh.

Anywho....

Some of what I'm about to write about comes from mid to late June and there will most likely be things that come up in July before this article self-published, but meh! I'm on vacation.

Joey DeLuca of the WCAI has continued to attempt to rationalize the failure of the June 24 June 25 MEGA Patriot Unity Rally in the most hilarious of ways:

It is like he strung every possible cliche he could think of together to try and sound important.

"Shakes the establishment to its very core...." eh?

"Your greatness will silence them all" hmmmm?

And by the way, it is a myth that Europeans thought the Earth was flat. The concern about a westward voyage to Asia was that (a) the distance was too great and that the sailors would die of thirst and hunger before reaching land and (b) that the winds would make a return voyage difficult. And Columbus didn't "discover" America because he was looking for it as Joey seems to imply; thank goodness it was there for his crew's sake since they WOULD have died before reaching the shores of Japan had a massive continent not been between Asia and Europe.... though it certainly wasn't good for the people who Columbus met who had occupied that continent for at least 20,000 - 25,000 years.

But I digress....

Still, the WCAI and their new friend Sandra Solomon have been busy. And by busy I mean making further fools of themselves:

Anti-Omar Khadr Rally Planned For July 16 on Parliament Hill: An Examination of One of the Organizers

The story that has dominated much of the media cycle during the early days of this month has been the settlement made to Omar Khadr who at 15, was accused of killing American special forces soldier Sgt. Christopher Speer. Khadr was held at Guantanamo for a decade before he was returned to serve the rest of his sentence in Canada. During this time the Supreme Court ruled that the Canadian government's interrogation of Khadr, "offends the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth suspects." The settlement and apology were as a result of a civil suit Khadr brought against the Canadian government claiming the government had worked with the American government to abuse his rights. He also suggested that his plea agreement was based on his belief that it was the only chance he would have to be transferred back to Canada from Guantanamo and that he had no memory of the firefight that resulted in the death of Sgt. Speer. To be sure, there has been a debate not only about the treatment of someone who would be considered a child soldier, but also whether or not he actually threw the grenade in the first place.

Obviously this story has polarized Canadians. While I agree with the settlement and with Prime Minister Trudeau's justification that the Charter needs to be protect all Canadians, including Khadr whom the Supreme Court ruled had his rights violated, there are a number of people who I normally agree with and whom I respect a great deal who disagree with the settlement. I have had some very good discussions with these individuals about their concerns and while I don't agree, I understand where they are coming from. However there also those who are attempting to use this issue as a cudgel to win political points. Personally, I don't believe Ezra Levant, Andrew Scheer, or the people this blog covers who are apoplectic about the settlement actually give a damn about Sgt. Speer's widow and simply view this as a means of attacking the government. In fact, the rhetoric involved clearly indicates an antipathy towards not only Omar Khadr, but Muslims in general and the virulent Islamophobia that has been a feature of conservative politics since Stephen Harper first began talking about "old stock Canadians" and Kellie Leitch tried to emulate Donald Trump's xenophobia in her failed bid in the Conservative leadership race.

And so it isn't at all surprising to see two extremely partisan Conservative operatives and activists organizing a rally on Parliament Hill for July 16:

I'll get to Georgeanne Burke and Debbie Jodoin in a moment, but some of the initial comments left on the page are as follows:

Considering Khadr was born in Canada, deportation would be difficult, then again....

.... Ms. Burke seems to agree with you.

More Shade Thrown on Sandra Solomon: Greg Renouf

Sandra Solomon is currently continuing her tour of western Canada soliciting money warning everyone of the nonexistent imminent  threat of anti-Muslim crackpots doing something stupid sharia law being imposed on Canadians which, of course, means a dystopian society where bacon is banned and that everyone in the country is required to listen to Yusef Islam:



Dear god.... the horror.

The horror.

But while she still has her supporters in the JDL and WCAI, the shine on Solomon is starting to wear off in Ontario where people know her best.

We can add another individual to the list of Solomon's detractors.

Our readers will know the name Greg Renouf who first became infamous for his involvement in the Occupy Movement, first in Vancouver and, after he was punted for being a dick, Toronto where he was also very quickly booted. He then decided to throw his lot in with Ezra Levant to attack left-wing, progressive, and socialist movements in the country. He has frequently been seen at the anti-Muslim protests at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto attempting to agitate.

Long story short, he's not a fan of Solomon:

Pretty clearly Solomon is becoming a rather polarizing figure.

But at least she still has the support of the classy mofos in the WCAI:

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.

White Supremacist Threat in Ottawa-Gatineau: The Local Soldiers of Odin

The following is an article that was submitted by a reader and activist who lives in the Ottawa area and who has been researching the Soldiers of Odin and associated individuals and groups for some time. This article is especially relevant considering the Canadian leadership of the SoO claim they have broken with Finland over the latter's ties to racism. If this individual wishes to contribute any future articles, ARC would welcome those contributions.

A Soldiers of Odin (SoO) section has started to ramp up activity in Ottawa-Gatineau recently, possibly divided formally between the two cities but working closely together. Their members were seen openly providing “protection” at the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCCC) rally in front of Parliament Hill on March 21:

From left to right: Stéphane Vaillancourt, Serge Côté, unknown woman, James Simpson,
Ken Urquhart, Éric Cloutier, “Kyle Zomgee”, Jason Moore and “Tru Blu”

It seems that a few days later two of their members were seen talking about their group at an open-house event in Hull’s mosque which was reported by local media. Around that time, they have also posted pictures on Facebook from a night patrol in the Mont-Bleu neighbourhood, in an area densely populated by immigrants. It bears mentioning that, in living memory, the only recent murder to have taken place there was done by the cops, against a single mother with disabilities. The thing with SoO though is that they like to call the police when they see something they find suspicious, so you can bet their actions won't lead to increased security in any neighbourhood they step foot it:

Like other SoO chapters in the country, members of this section proclaim that they are a grassroots-based organization dedicated to ensure community safety and deny any links with racial views. During their visit to the mosque, they aimed to dispel any fears the Muslim community might have had towards their intentions. A close inspection of a few of their members’ real views however reveals connections with white supremacy and particular hatred of Muslims:

Infighting Amongst Canadian Islamophobes: Part 3

This is as much a bit of a PSA to Anti-Racist Canada's allies as it is a spotlight on Islamophobic bigots.

I'm going to post the screen shot of a fake Facebook group:

Whoever created this group has no affiliation with anti-fascists in the city of Calgary. It is in fact one of a number of fake sites created (we know of ones in British Columbia, Edmonton, and two additional fake page in Calgary) over the past couple of weeks. The consensus amongst activists is that these sites are intended to both gather intelligence on anti-fascist supporters as well as to smear the anti-fascist movement:

"Naed Nayr's" profile photo is a symbol used by the ridiculously named Canadian Combat Coalition, a group (such as it is) affiliated with WCAI Canada. The head of the group was once a member of the Soldiers of Odin but, as has been happening frequently during the past several months, broke (or was kicked out, depending on whom one believes) and started his own hate group.

The fake Calgary antifa group was taken down by Facebook, but not before images such as this were posted to the site and disseminated in Islamophobic and racist circles:

 
While anti-fascists have been wary of such disinformation campaigns, our opposition is far more naive it seems, as evidenced by Meir Weinstein who appears to accept without question a tongue-in-cheek article making fun of the idea that George Soros is cutting checks for every leftist protester who is able to participate in a drum circle:

There has been an effort to push back against this campaign, though the effort is more focused on keeping anti-fascists in the loop since the bigots tend to believe whatever confirms their biases anyways:

Again, the consensus is that Pegida Canada Watch is on the right track:

Soldiers of Odin: Terrorist Organization Supporters?

On Sunday, I reported on the April 1 anti-Muslim protests that occurred in both Toronto and Calgary. At the protest in Toronto was this fella:

Zaza Vili, pictured here with Sandra Soloman, has attended at least two of the anti-Muslim protests in Toronto with Canadian Jewish Defence League leader Meir Weinstein. Vili himself serves as the Canadian JDL's Head of Security:

This blog has written about JDL violence in the past and the reason why it is considered a terrorist group in the United States. If anyone is interested, that article can be found here.

Vili also recently attended AIPAC in Washington D.C. where fellow Canadian JDL member Yosef Steynovitz assaulted a Palestinian-American college instructor (and because she's drawn to anything the is even vaguely anti-Muslim like a moth is drawn to a flame, Sandra Soloman was also in attendance).

Also at the three Toronto anti-Muslim events, the last two in some force and acting far more aggressively, were the Soldiers of Odin, an organization founded by a Finnish neo-Nazi and which is Canada has become increasingly strident in their targeting of Muslims and refugees.

And the SoO loves them their JDL:

I'd suggest those are faces only a mother would love, but (a) I've been admonished already about being mean when writing about fascists and (b) I'm not entirely convinced that the sentiment is actually true.

In any case, the mutual love-in sort of presents a bit of a problem for the SoO in that one of their key claims is that refugees from Muslim countries, and really Muslims in general, are a Trojan Horse and that by their very nature Muslims either are terrorists or support terrorist organizations, with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood acting as the key boogeymen.

Here is Zaza Vili while in Israel visiting the grave of Meir Kahane, founder of the original JDL as well as the Israeli political party Kach.

Actually, to be more precise, here is Zaza Vili while in Israel visiting the grave of Meir Kahane, founder of the original JDL as well as the banned Israeli political terrorist organization Kach.

April 1 Anti-Muslim Protests and Counter-Protests: Toronto

We're going to focus on Toronto and Calgary in two separate articles since there's a fair about of information to unpack.

We received the following information from a friend who knew some of the people who participated in the counter-protest:

Reports from those who were attended indicated that the Soldiers of Odin and Jewish Defence League were both present, though there were not more than 20 people on the fascist side. One carload was confronted by antifascists in an underground parking garage and, “literally burned rubber” leaving, though it seems that they might have been able to make it to the protest some time after this occurred. As it was, the fascist protesters had a significantly less productive day than they did on March 19. 

The antifascists showed up in significantly larger number than they did on March 19 (though still less than on March 4). The fascist protesters, who could only seem to hold their position for a bit more than an hour, weren’t able to get their speakers working and any chants they may have engaged in were drowned out by the larger group antifascists. All of this contributed to a significant amount of frustration and demoralization on the fascist side 

Unlike March 19, the fascist protesters were unable to march and needed not only the bike police to act as escorts back to the underground parking garage, but also a full riot squad. It was also reported that of the arrests, two were fascists though there aren’t any details concerning who they were or what charges, if any, they will be facing. It is clear though that the SoO were especially aggressive based on some of the photos and videos we’ve seen.

We've seen videos of the scrimmages and it looks like SoO members initiated the violence, an assessment shared by another group who documented the protest:

Soldiers of Odin initiated physical violence to assert themselves as soon as they got to the square. A member of the JDL urged police to "smash her ****ing face" in an openly hateful and sadistic display directed towards a petite female-identified protester. She was aggressively detained by police after approaching the JDL and shouting "shame on you!" She did nothing threatening or violent and only voiced her own opinion.  

Moments later, a Soldiers of Odin prospect wearing a "Sons of Anarchy" Television show hoodie can be seen singing "I love me, I love me, lets gang up and kill Commies." Make no mistake, calling for violence and death towards people for exercising their democratic right to oppose you is an explicitly hateful position.

One of the SoO thugs arrested was this guy, though his name isn't yet known:

March 19 Anti-Muslim Rallies: Some Victories, Some Hard Lessons

By this point ARC readers know that any time we mention Kevin "The Chairman" Goudreau on the blog, it is probably because he did something profoundly stupid or embarrassing but isn't self aware enough to realize that this is the case:

Yep, the Goudreau held a rally in Peterborough while wearing an ill-fitted suit because he now wants to project gravitas.

Though really, to refer to what the Goudreau held as a rally is sort of like polishing a turd and calling it a diamond:

Still, despite holding his "rally" (word is they were there for less than 5 minutes) in what looks to my uneducated eye as a relatively empty street with few people to witness it, and what few people who did witness the event simply mocked him and his merry band of short bus passengers, the Goudreau appears to see it as a massive success and his first step towards his inevitable rise as der Kanadisch Führer:

Add caption

At least one person however, seemed to imply that the Goudreau was sort of gilding the lily:

That's right folks. There were more anti-Muslim rallies in select Canadian towns and cities this past week.

Kevin's explanation for the pathetic nature of his rally is flimsy at best, but it is telling in that he really believes (and is likely correct) that some of the kind of people who would attend a "White Pride" march would also be attracted to an anti-Muslim protest. It's sort of a Venn Diagram, but of hatred. For example, Goudreau has some prominent anti-Muslim activists amongst his own friends:

Brad Salzberg, the leader of the Cultural Action Party of Canada, isn't just anti-Muslim but is also anti-immigrant in general. He held a very small anti-Muslim protest in Vancouver this past Sunday. And Sara Smith is better known as Sandra Solomon, an especially vocal and virulent anti-Muslim protester associates with Eric Brazau and Ron Banerjee; she was a key speaker at the anti-Muslim event that took place Sunday in Toronto.

When analyzing the anti-Muslim protests that took place this past Sunday, I think it is important to look not only at the victories scored by those who opposed the xenophobes and Islamophobes, but it is equally important to recognize that there were some setbacks.

Rise Canada and Other Islamophobes Celebrate Their Islamophobia At Toronto Mosque

On February 17, Ron Banerjee, Eric Brazau, Sandra Solomon, and other Islamophobes protested in front of a mosque in Toronto. As of Saturday the Toronto Police Service claimed to be investigating the protest as a possible hate crime.

And since Banerjee was kind enough to provide video of the event, this writer decided to provide our readers with the pertinent excerpts interspersed with Banerjee's tweets and screen shots from the Facebook profiles of some to the other participants.

Yep, this writer made a video:

Yeah, it isn't great; poor production value, editing, and all that (including a rather unfortunate lapse in memory regarding the year that we are currently residing, as the first text page has the date that the rally took place as 2016 rather than 2017 UPDATE: fixed). It's my first time so cut me a little slack. But we think it provides our readers with the general tone of the protest as well as the bigotry of at least some of those involved in the protest:

Meir Weinstein and Ezra Levant, unsurprisingly, thought the protest was supper kool:

Though they wouldn't have needed the excuse be hateful towards Muslims, Banerjee and co. were reacting to M-103, a private members motion condemning Islamophobia.

Actually, lets, post the full text of the motion:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear; (b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by it; and (c) request that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage undertake a study on how the government could (i) develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia, in Canada, while ensuring a community-centered focus with a holistic response through evidence-based policy-making, (ii) collect data to contextualize hate crime reports and to conduct needs assessments for impacted communities, and that the Committee should present its findings and recommendations to the House no later than 240 calendar days from the adoption of this motion, provided that in its report, the Committee should make recommendations that the government may use to better reflect the enshrined rights and freedoms in the Constitution Acts, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That's it. And it is similar to the wording of another Liberal motion condemning the rise in antisemitism around the world:

a) there has been, in the words of the Joint Statement issued following the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on January 22, 2015, “an alarming increase in Antisemitism worldwide,” including the firebombing of synagogues and community centres, the vandalizing of Jewish memorials and cemeteries, incendiary calls for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, and anti-Jewish terror; 

b) this global anti-Semitism constitutes not only a threat to Jews but an assault on our shared democratic values and our common humanity; 

Therefore the House: 

a) declares its categorical condemnation of anti-Semitism; 

b) reaffirms the importance of the Ottawa Protocol on Combating anti-Semitism as a model for domestic and international implementation; 

c) reaffirms, in the words of the Ottawa Protocol, that, “Criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, and saying so is wrong. But singling Israel out for selective condemnation and opprobrium – let alone denying its right to exist or seeking its destruction – is discriminatory and hateful, and not saying so is dishonest;” 

And the House further calls upon the government to: 

a) continue advancing the combating of anti-Semitism as a domestic and international priority; 

b) expand engagement with civil society, community groups, educators, and other levels of government to combat anti-Semitism and to promote respect, tolerance, and mutual understanding.

That motion condemning antisemitism was, rightfully, adopted unanimously.

So it would make sense that M-103 would be similarly accepted. I mean, given that this motion will be voted on in the aftermath of what appears to be a likely Islamophobic mass shooting resulting in the death of six men as well as numerous assaults on Muslims and vandalism of their places of worship, who could possibly have a problem this this non-binding motion?

Right?

Nope. People are losing their shit. Or to be more specific, demagogues such as Kelly Leitch and some other Conservative Party leadership candidates as well as Ezra Levant and his merry band at "The Rebel" are ginning up fear that this, I once again stress, non-binding motion will take away people's free speech, become an anti-blasphemy law, and impose sharia on Canadians:

Except this happened in 2015.

And despite the efforts of reasonable Conservative such as Michael Chong and rather valiant efforts by some media outlets such as the CBC, "Globe and Mail," "The National Post," and Global to inform the Canadian public as to what M-103 is and what it is not, the folks who are inclined to believe Muslims are hiding under their beds and in their closets ready to jump out one day to dress their women up in niqabs and force feed them kabobs are having none of this rational discussion and have fully embraced the crazy:

In the meantime, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid who tabled the motion spoke about the death threats she has received ("The Star" also covers these threats and sexually demeaning insults) as a result of her motion as a reason why she would not remove the word "Islamophobia" from the motion as requested by the Conservative Party. She has since been offered police protection.

You know, threats (as well as other lovely comments) like these posted yesterday: