Soldiers of Odin: Strike Three

In a recent article published here in which we briefly discussed the resignation of former national vice-president and Quebec president of the Soldiers of Odin, it was clear that there was (and likely has been for some time) a bit of an ideological struggle within the movement in Canada. One faction of the SoO wants to disassociate itself from the overt racism of the gang which was started by a well-known Finnish neo-Nazi while the other faction wishes to strengthen the connection to the Finnish movement and the core raison d'etre of the Soldiers of Odin which is anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim in nature:

But as Tregget was busy building the group's membership he was also running afoul of the national leadership as well as the movement's international leaders in Finland. 

According to his one-time second-in-command, Tregget gave a series of interviews in the fall in which he downplayed the links between the Finnish and Quebec branches of the group. 

He also insisted on patrolling the "political correct" areas of Quebec City, like St-Roch, where the group was less likely to confront the city's immigrant population, said Katy Latulippe, who is now the acting president of Soldiers of Odin-Quebec. 

There are conflicting accounts of what, precisely, happened. Latulippe said Tregget was suspended. Tregget said he quit: "Finished with the racist image of Finland," he later told CBC News in a Facebook message. 

Regardless of the details, what is clear is that with Tregget out, and Latulippe in, the group's Quebec chapter will undergo a reorientation....."Dave avoided that, on patrols, we go into areas where there are a lot of Muslims or Islamization," she said during a recent phone conversation.

We should stress that we believe that much of this soul searching is primarily one of optics and how the SoO desire to perceived by the public rather than a disagreement about the fundamental nature of the gang's motives:

SoO, which has chapters across Canada, denies, on its public Facebook page, any accusations of being racist or anti-immigrant and claims to exist to primarily protect women and children by keeping the streets safe.  

However, it’s been alleged the group’s private Facebook page is filled with racist and xenophobic comments, mainly directed towards Muslims.

However there might also be an element of self-delusion as exhibited by Regina, Saskatchewan president Ryen Ward who was interviewed by Paul Dechene for "Planet S":

“I am not accusing you of being a racist,” I explain at one point. “I am saying that this is the cultural context in which the Regina chapter of the Soldiers of Odin swims, and I’m curious as to why you would want to carry all this cultural, racist baggage if you’re really serious about being seen as welcoming and helpful?” 

But as far as Ward is concerned, his group’s negative image has nothing to do with its founder, its connections nor its imagery. It’s all the fault of the lying media. 

“The danger lies in the lies printed about us and the fear you evoke into your readers,” he writes. “For the last time, we are not racist.”

Ward contradicts himself later on though he clearly doesn't see it that way:

When our conversation moves to politics — specifically, Trump — Ward raises his concerns about immigration. 

“Our problems occur with a lack of proper vetting system in which people coming into the country should receive a face to face interview. Very similar to Kellie Leitch’s idea,” he writes. 

And when I press him on this, and on Black Lives Matter, this happens: 

“I would like them [new immigrants] to be interviewed to [ensure] that they do not have anger or hatred, as ISIS [has] stated [that] they have infiltrated the refugee camps and [they’re] sending terrorists to North America through such lame processes that we just believe everything. I would like them to be interviewed on their beliefs of Sharia Law, and other such ideologies that do not fit into our Canadian laws or way of life. 

“Black Lives Matter are not the only protestors/rioters that have caused discord in the USA. I am talking about all of the hate groups. From the KKK all the way to the Black Panthers and every group in between that calls for the death to another race.

Further indication of Ward's apparent difficulty in engaging in self-reflection can be found on social media.

Uhm, no. No it wasn't.

Man Assaulted by Finnish Neo-Nazi Group Linked to the Soldiers of Odin Dies

Our readers who have been following ARC's series on the Canadian branch of the Soldiers of Odin are aware that the group originated in Finland and was founded by Mike Ranta:

Prior to founding the Soldiers of Odin, Ranta, an avowed "White Nationalist" and neo-Nazi, was and still is a member of the Finnish Resistance Movement:

Ranta, who was convicted of a 2005 racially-motivated attack against two immigrants, admits readily to being a neo-Nazi — “Yes, I am” — but insists his ideology and membership in the Finnish Resistance Movement has nothing to do with the patrols. 

“Just because I am, as the founder or whatever, it doesn’t mean the whole group are (neo-Nazis)… We’re just a street patrol group, so why are people making it into something else?,” Ranta argued.

Since the publication of the above article, Ranta has been convicted of aggravated assault and given an 18 month suspended sentence for his attack on a man and woman.

Soldiers of Odin Canada, founded by Manitoba resident Joel Angott, was authorized by Ranta's original Finnish chapter to begin operations in Canada:

This past week, members of the Finnish Resistance Movement assaulted a man during a rally. That man later passed away as a result of his injuries:

FINNISH MAN DIES AFTER BEING ASSAULTED BY NEO-NAZISPosted on 17.9.2016 by mikael 

A Finnish man, Jimi Joonas Karttunen, that was assaulted by neo-Nazis from the Finnish Resistance Movement (FRM) Saturday the 10th of September has died of his injuries. The news was first given by his father Kauko-Vesa Karttunen in a Facebook post on Saturday and the identity of the man has since then been confirmed by other sources, including an old school friend that Kaivuri has talked to. The assault against the 28 year old Karttunen happened during a demonstration by FRM in the center of Helsinki. Karttunen was assaulted from the back by members of FRM and hit his head as he fell on the ground, after he had expressed his dissent to the protestors. 

What is clear so far is that the victim was hospitalised shortly after the attack due to severe head trauma and remained in intensive care for several days. He was released from the hospital on Thursday but began to suffer from intense headaches again on Friday and called the emergency services. When the emergency services arrived he had already lost consciousness and was proclaimed dead on Friday at 10 PM. 

FRM released a video of Karttunen lying on the ground next to a pool of blood on Sunday the 12th of September. In an accompanying text, the organization said they had to ‘discipline’ some people who challenged them, effectively confessing members of the group were behind the assault. Several pictures connected to the article show known members of the organization, giving an idea of which people were present. 

The police have, nonetheless, been reluctant comment on the events to mainstream media outlets (1,2,3,4) and refused to verify whether a causal relation between the death of Karttunen, but confirm that the case is under investigation. Meanwhile, in a post on their website, the Antifascist network Varis has connected names to the faces visible in the pictures published by FMR. Several of the whom have a record of violence against people of colour, queers and political opponents. 

Kaivuri will participate in all efforts to bring the attackers to justice and we will continue to update as the situation develops.

The FRM propaganda video of the aftermath can be seen at about 2:06:

Examining Soldiers of Odin Claims to Have "Purged" Membership of Racists

The media attention focused on the Canadian branch of the Soldiers of Odin has grown increasingly intense the past couple of weeks and the leadership is starting to feel the heat:

• Accused anti-refugee group Soldiers of Odin establishes chapters in Regina and across Saskatchewan
• Soldiers of Odin put down roots in Saskatchewan
• Let’s make sure these soldiers aren’t welcome
• Soldiers of Odin Canada: Not the same as what's going on overseas

The last article is of interest since it indicates that as the public has become more aware of the group, the less inclined the public is to support them despite their efforts to appear as a benevolent and charitable organization:

But because of the group's name, they're being forced to strike down misconceptions that they are a fringe group looking to keep Canada white. 

"That's just misinformation that's been brought over from other countries," Agnott said. "What they do over in Finland and in Europe, they have all sorts of different issues altogether. That's not really what we are. We're an independent charter of Soldiers of Odin; we're a community watch group." 

But this bit of information isn't widely known in Canada, and it's led to the Soldiers of Odin Canada to be shut down in one instance where they tried to hold a fundraiser.
On Aug. 27, the Saskatchewan chapter tried to hold a barbecue fundraiser for STARS Air Ambulance. 

Mark Oddan, communications lead for STARS in Saskatchewan told the CBC, when the Soldiers of Odin approached the organization to see if they would attend the fundraiser, STARS declined to attend. 

"We didn't know who this group was and then did some research and thanked them for their interest and their support, but we declined their invite and said we cannot accept any funds from them as their values are not aligned with ours," Oddan said.

Of course the claim to being an independent chapter sort of flies in the face of statements by Canadian SoO leaders that chapters need the approval of the parent chapter in Finland that was founded by an avowed racist to operate.

ARC was interviewed by a number of the journalist who have written articles about the SoO and we hope that we have been able to provide some decent background on the group and the membership. One of these articles was published later this past week and contains some points that we would like to address:

The blog Anti-Racist Canada (ARC) — an anonymous group that says it is concerned by racist movements — has been tracking SoO Canada mostly via social media since at least March of this year. 

An ARC representative, who identified themselves only as ‘nos’, questions why public statements by people like Angott decrying racism don’t seem to match with the activity of its members in private and sometimes secret Facebook groups. 

ARC has also pointed to social media connections between SoO members and members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

We've actually already written about the link between SoO members and supporters to the Hell's Angels in an earlier article, however we are currently collecting information for a follow-up article which we hope to publish some time this week.

Angott himself, ARC notes, was Facebook friends with Ingrid Rimland, wife of notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. 

When asked about this, Angott told SooToday he had received a Facebook request from a profile with that name but that he did not know who that person was, who Ernst Zündel was, or that holocaust denial “was a thing” and he has since unfriended the account.

While we can't categorically refute Angott's claim that it was Ingrid Rimland who added him as a friend that he didn't know who she was when he added her, we believe this claim could be questioned given:

• Angott has been very careful about who he has added as a friend on his Facebook profile (believe us, we've tried to add him but he seems a bit skittish for some reason) so it doesn't seem realistic that he would add Rimland whom he claims not to have known.
• Why would an 80 year old woman seemingly randomly add some guy as a friend who lived in Gimli, Manitoba?
• As "Holocaust revisionist royalty" through her own efforts as well as her marriage to Ernst Zundel, people who are inclined to agree with her views would be more likely to request her friendship than the other way around, though we should hasten to add that there's nothing yet that indicates that SOO Canada founder and president Joel Angott has denied the reality of the Holocaust himself.
• If Ingrid Rimland slipped through the cracks, that would be one thing. But how might he  then explain the others we've found who have ties to racist groups?

So either Angott is naive, or there might be something else to this. We should however note that he has indeed unfriended Ms. Rimland.

Angott said that over the summer Soldiers of Odin purged some of its Canadian members for having racist views, and has deliberately distanced itself from racist groups. 

“We’ve slowed down on accepting members until we’ve fully checked them out and fully vetted them. We did have some people with ulterior motives come into our organization. We weren’t as vigilant as we should have been with these types of people. We did some research, back checking on who they are and what they stand for and we have released people that didn’t have the values that our organization carried (because) they were racist,” said Angott.

This brings us to the crux of the issue. Angott claims to have purged their membership of individuals possessing racist views.

Soldiers of Odin: Canadian Media Paying Attention

We don't usually refer to ourselves as "media" though in the absolute sense, we suppose we are. We run a niche blog who's members have a realistic understanding concerning our national exposure. Still, we like to think that at least on occasion we've been able to punch above our weight by breaking a few stories before the msm have.

As far as we know, we were amongst the first, if not the first, "media" source that began covering the entry of the Soldiers of Odin onto the Canadian scene. However since we began, there has been some really good journalism focused on the SoO. Not too long after our first exposé, Vice published a story by Mack Lamoureux who was able to infiltrate a meeting by the Alberta chapter of Soldiers of Odin. And last week, CBC's Samantha Craggs wrote what we would regard as a pretty hard hitting profile of the SoO and the group's efforts to organize in the city of Hamilton.

Some members of the SoO took notice, including co-leader of the Saskatchewan chapter of the Soldiers of Odin:

In the article, the national president of the Canadian Soldiers of Odin, Joel Angott, claims that the group is opposed to racism:

The presence in Hamilton is informal right now, with about eight or nine members getting organized, said SOO national president Joel Angott. There's a lot of interest, but potential Hamilton members are being carefully vetted. 

SOO members do neighbourhood patrols, Angott told CBC Hamilton in a phone interview from Winnipeg. Right now, its Hamilton plans focus on cleaning up local parks. 

He denies that the group is anti-immigration, or anti-Muslim, although the group's bylaws lament the government "accepting refugees from countries that hate us" and "letting illegal aliens into this country and giving them the ability to vote and drive."

Denying that the SoO is not anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim sort of flies in the face of what is routinely posted on the various provincial Soldiers of Odin chapters' Facebook pages however. For example, here are a few from the British Columbia chapter group page:

Former Green Party Candidate and 9/11 "Truther" Also Denies Holocaust

We would like to introduce our readers to Monika Schaefer, a three time (and perhaps four time) federal Green Party candidate in the Alberta riding of Yellowhead:

We first came across Monika Schaefer a few years back when Arthur Topham published an open letter penned by Schaefer to Green Party leader Elizabeth May regarding Schaefer's belief that the 9/11 attacks were a "false flag" operation:

Now, anyone being promoted by the likes of Topham in regards to this particular conspiracy theory is likely going to have some other suspect views. Ms. Schaefer confirmed this when she referenced, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as if it is a legitimate primary document rather than the plagiarized fraud it has been proven to be time and time again:

March 2015 Bits and Bites: Warman, Dr. Dawg, Zundel, and Daniel Gallant

We've learned that Richard Warman has won another one. David Icke has paid Warman $90,000 to settle a rather long running libel action:

DAVID ICKE SETTLES LIBEL ACTION
5 March 2015

British conspiracy writer David Icke and co-defendants have paid Canadian human rights lawyer Richard Warman $210,000 CDN (117,000 GBP) in damages and legal costs to settle a libel action against them.

In 1999-2000, Warman had worked with various Jewish and anti-racism groups to notify public venues in Canada of discriminatory elements within Icke’s mishmash of conspiracy theories. After being provided with material from Icke’s own writings, a number of these venues withdrew permission for Icke to use their facilities in his tours.

In retaliation, Icke included false allegations in his 2001 book Children of the Matrix that Warman was seeking to suppress Icke’s purported exposure of Satanic child abuse and murder.

David Icke made an out-of-court settlement on January 8th paying $90,000 CDN (50,000 GBP) on the eve of a long-delayed trial that was scheduled to begin in Toronto on February 2nd, 2015. The Court order formally discontinuing the claim was issued on 4 March 2015 thus paving the way for this announcement. Insurers for three Canadian bookstores that had refused to stop selling the book after being served with libel notices had previously settled out for $120,000 CDN (67,000 GBP). Information obtained from litigation by Icke against his former US business partner demonstrated that at least 55,000 copies of Children of the Matrix had been sold worldwide.

The settlement includes the requirement that Icke immediately cease any further distribution of Children of the Matrix and remove the defamatory material from any future editions. Warman thanked his lawyers Christine Lonsdale and Elder Marques of law firm McCarthy Tétrault – “They were absolute professionals and I couldn’t have done it without them.”...

Sec. 13 Dead.... For Now

NOTE: This is a little screen shot heavy. Be forewarned.

On June 26, Sec. 13 of the Human Rights Act cease to exist. As our friend BCL noted however there is no reason why Sec. 13, which was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, can not be brought back by a more enlightened government in the future. In the meantime the good folks at the now moribund Free Dominion have decided to post (a now rare) comment to celebrate the demise of Sec. 13:

It it isn't surprising that Connie would give props to Marc Lemire as Free Dominion had been on the forefront of the effort to rehabilitate Lemire's reputation, characterizing him as a free speech martyr. In fact, they went beyond this and engaged in a little bit of historical revisionism. Not only did they deny his role in the leadership of the Heritage Front from 2001 to 2005, they have all but denied that he had any significant history with the hate group. We have attempted to show them the error of their ways, but it seems they have decided to believe him rather than us. But then they aren't the only ones who have tried to help Lemire cover up a very shady past. Ezra Levant, in two interviews with Lemire, asked about the Heritage Front and did not challenge this response:

Uh, the Heritage Front uh, was active back in, uh, the the 90s and I was a young kid at the time. I had some, uh, interest in some of the things that they were doing in particularly thing like uh opposition to employment equity, things like reducing immigration. So I uh, listened to some of what they were about, and uh, I went away from it. I mean I was involved with them peripherally in my teenage years.

Well, that is partially true, as these articles indicate he was active with the Heritage Front in his teen years (he would have been 18 at the time of the 1993 photo and 19 when they were published):

Keegstra's Death: Relic of the Past Responds

That James Keegstra did not die on June 12 when the news became public, but in fact died 10 days earlier, is telling. The name Keegstra was still mentioned occasionally by the likes of Fromm when he rambled on about Sec. 319 and about free speech in an abstract way, but the man himself had been largely forgotten, drifting into obscurity soon after his final sentencing hearing in 1996. Even his contemporaries appear to have forgotten about him and it seems that few even attempted to remain in touch with the man they, at the time, lionized and rallied around.

Of his contemporaries, many like John Ross Taylor, Doug Christie, Wolfgang Droege, and Martin Wiche have died. Others like John Beattie, Don Andrews, and Ernst Zundel have yet to acknowledge Keegstra's passing, in part because they have shied away from their more colorful past (Like Beattie, who is running for Deputy Reeve in Minden, Ontario) or couldn't be bothered to care.

Such is the nature of the White Nationalist movement.

But at least one of those infamous old relics from the past has decided to make a rare appearance. Terry Long, like Keegstra, disappeared not long after of the Canadian branch of the Aryan Nations' he lead collapsed. Last we heard he was living in Ontario, but he does periodically pop up from time to time. He ran for office under the Doug Christie-led Western Canadian Concept Party. We know that it was Long whom Todd Conroy (former BC Volksfront leader) had been visiting when he got into a near fatal motorcycle accident. And we know that he still keeps up on the state of the movement, as we copies of emails sent by Long to some of the more contemporary members of the movement dating to the 2000s. So while he might not be active anymore, he certainly hasn't changed his views. And when Keegstra died Long (eventually) decided to break his silence as well.

Actually, Western historians generally agreed that the number of Jews who died in Auschwitz numbered between 800,000 and 1.35 million since at least 1961 and the Soviet numbers had been long discarded, but why should we expect revisionists like Long to be accurate?

Paul Fromm also got around to posting a eulogy of sorts, but we aren't sure that yet another one of Paulie's  self-promoting missives is really all that necessary here.

While Keegstra's obscurity is telling, it is also fitting. And so is the fact that his remaining contemporaries will eventually follow him, some likely sooner than others. Ernst Zundel is 75, Long has to be at least in his 70s,  and Don Andrews is around 72. John Beattie, someone who sounds to be in the early stages of dementia, is in his early 70s (UPDATE: Beattie is 72) and Paul Fromm in his mid 60s. Another 10, 15 years....

There will come a point when these men too will shuffle off their mortal coil and their names forgotten. We find this fact to be a comforting one.

The Heritage Front: The True Story in Race Traitor

KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/race-traitor-the-true-story-of-canadian-intelligence-service-s-greatest-cover-up
Amazon (Digital): http://www.amazon.com/Race-Traitor-Canadian-Intelligence-Services-ebook/dp/B00JA05FYM
OCTOBER 2014 UPDATE: Now for purchase at Amazon as a paper back: http://www.amazon.com/Race-Traitor-Canadian-Intelligences-Greatest/dp/1502779714/ 

A few years back, we posted a link to Elisa Hategan's novel, Race Traitor. While it was a work of fiction, it was still very obviously based on her experience in the Heritage Front as well as her subsequent defection and testimony that ultimately helped take down the group. Many members of the Collective purchased the novel. One question that we often discussed was which parts were true and which parts were fictionalized for the sake of a compelling thriller? We all really enjoyed the novel, but we still hoped that one day a definitive history of the Heritage Front might actually be written (the closest thing that was currently in existence was Warren Kinsella's Web of Hate). Not knowing if there would be anything published, we started our own project, attempting to document the history of the racist movement in Canada (this includes our "History of Violence" which has become by far the most viewed article on the blog) paying particular attention to the Heritage Front. We thought this was a period in Canadian history that needed to be remembered, however we knew that what we could compile would be insufficient.

Thankfully, Ms. Hategan did continue her writing in this area and has, as of a few days ago, published her story about the Heritage Front. We downloaded it on KOBO two nights ago and completed it this morning. It is an incredibly compelling story and one that we think needs a wider audience.

Artwork by Nina Bunjevac

We'll provide the blurb from Amazon (links added by ARC):

Old Haunts of the Heritage Front

We're currently waiting for some information regarding a couple of upcoming articles, but we thought that we would revisit our project concerning documenting the history of the Canadian racist movement. The primary focus of our research has been on the years 1989 to 1994 under the leadership of Wolfgang Droege which coincided with the rise and decline of the Heritage Front, though there was a brief mini-resurgence in 2001 under the watch of Marc Lemire.

Two weeks ago a couple of ARC members began documenting some of key locations in the early history of the Heritage Front in Toronto. There are rumors that some of the locations, such as the, "Zündel Haus" may be torn down to make way for condos so we decided to record them while they still exist.

Don Andrews: Nothing If Not Persistent

Summertime and the livin' is easy!

We have to admit that the blog has not be a primary focus for our members. Life has gotten in the way in the best possible way and we've been just having way too much fun. As such we really haven't been interested in allowing the miserable excuses for humanity that we cover here to harsh our mellow.

Then, this evening, one of our members doing a pretty routine check of bonehead websites noticed this on the Nationalist Party of Canada's website:

And, as is clear by the following article, we weren't the first to catch this brainfart by the city of Regina:

Regina duped by white supremacy group

The city agreed to a request by the Nationalist Party of Canada to proclaim a week in Oct. "European Heritage Week"

CBC News  Posted: Aug 20, 2013 6:47 PM CST

The mayor of Regina has cancelled a proclamation to declare a week in October "European Heritage Week" after he says he was fooled by a white supremacy group.

The group called Nationalist Party of Canada put in a request in July.

Saturday Night Trivia: Marc Lemire Edition

So, riddle us this Marc....

Where were you on June 15, 1999?

Hint:

Yeah, childish.

We can live with that.

Doug Christie: The Truth Will Out (Part II)

Christie in his law kiosk

Not surprisingly, we've already been criticized for our focus on Doug Christie by our friends at Free Dominion, including what might be a veiled (and pretty ironic in light of their claim to be supporters of free speech) threat of, we suspect, future litigation for having the temerity to post and comment on what Christie himself published. But then this is all part of the whitewash of Doug Christie and his reinvention as a free speech hero who defended those who said or wrote quirky things about Jews and people of color. As a result, Christie has practically been deified while we and other Christie critics are vilified.

But then our Free Dominion friends might have a little bit of a problem. You see, while we are an easy target (they don't like us very much for some reason), it might be more difficult for them to vilify someone who leads an organization that recently hosted an event to raise funds in support Free Dominion (pictures here and here).

What does Meir Weinstein have to say about the passing of Doug Christie?

NOTE: While it might seem silly to black out the names of the other individual also involved in the conversation we decided that we would do so unless given permission to post his name here.

So why would the head of the Canadian branch of the JDL write, "let him rot in hell" regarding the passing of Doug Christie? Well, one thing we've noted here in covering JDL, the organization in general and Meir specifically, are pretty consistent when it comes to an understandable antipathy towards people who hold anti-Jewish or anti-Semetic views and who promote those views publicly.

Which brings us to the topic at hand. Was Christie, as Meir Weinstein appears to imply, deserving of such criticism?

Continuing our Documentation Project (And An Examination of Marc Lemire: Part XII)

Hey, trivia question for our readers.

What do these guys....

1. Nick Griffin 2. Dennis Mahon 3.Richard Girnt Butler, Aryan Nations founder
4. Eugène Terre'Blanche, founder of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement
5. Ewald Althans (no longer a part of the neo-Nazi movement)
6. Bernard Klatt 7. Tom Metzger of W.A.R. 8. Wolfgang Droege
and Marc Lemire, the first and second leaders of the Heritage Front
9. Chris Newhook, violent member of the Heritage Front currently in
prison as as a dangerous offender 10. Siegfried Verbeke, Holocaust
revisionist 11. National Alliance founder William Pierce 12. Terry Long,
leader of the Aryan Nations in Alberta

.... have in common with this guy?

Answering Free Dominion: Part II

The way you deal with Nazis is to, “break their heads.”

The JDL fundraiser for Free Dominion took place about a week ago and was attended a who's who of the Canadian right-wing blogosphere as well as some of the more active members of Free Dominion. Prior to this, Connie responded to our last article:

Well, we really don't have to paint the JDL as violent, Connie, since your own membership seem to agree:

Now, our Free Dominion friend here couches the violence of the JDL in more respectable terms; they represent the "warrior race" that is befitting of the Jewish people. Our Free Dominion friend also goes on to claim that the reason why we or anyone else would be concerned about the JDL is because we are closet anti-Semites who want Jews to be powerless in the face of those who would harm them.

It's a ridiculous accusation (especially directed at us) but this is sort of Free Dominion's schtick.

It  might be instructive, however, to learn how the JDL earned the honor of being referred to as warriors since the Canadian branch of the JDL has engaged in the very activities that Free Dominion has accused (and condemned) us at ARC of engaging in.

But we begin at the beginning.

Arthur Topham Arrested

Not sure of the details, but boneheads  are claiming online that Arthur Topham was arrested this past Wednesday:

Arthur Topham, publisher of the Radical Press website, was arrested on May 16, 2012, at 11:30 am on the Barkerville Highway near Quesnel, B.C., put in handcuffs and taken to jail. Apparently, Arthur’s home had been staked out for quite some time by the RCMP.

Heritage Front Project

As we're in a bit of a lull right now (and that is decidedly a very good thing) we thought we would start some work on a project that we had considered long ago but had put on the back burner. However we will need the help of our readers.

In 1989, perhaps the most "successful" hate group in Canadian history, the Heritage Front, was formed. It's heyday was between 1989 and early 1994, though it did continue in a much weakened state until 2005 when it finally ceased to exist.

We would like to document, as much as we can, the history of this group.

We are looking for examples of Heritage Front propaganda, newspaper clippings, and photos of the group (individual members, meetings/rallies held, encounters with antifa, informal gatherings, etc) between 1989 and 2005, with a special focus on the years between 1989 and 1999 (though the period between 2001 and 2005 is also of particular interest).

If you have any items that could be scanned and emailed to us, our address is as follows:

arc.collective200 (at) gmail.com

Since the Heritage Front was founded almost a generation ago now, we'd sort of like to collect this information before much more of it is lost to time.We know that there are antifa and former HF members (who have rejected racism since they left the hate group) who have items that have not yet found their way into the public realm as yet and, from an historical point of view, these items would be of great interest to not only ourselves, but academia.

To those who are willing to help us out, we thank you.

Update on Macdonald Court Appearance

We were sent this a few moments ago:

Shawn MacDonald's court appearance delayed till 1:30 pm today (same courtroom 307 at 222 Main). He has plead not guilty to the hate crimes and they are setting trial dates (he elected for a judge and jury). His lawyer is infamous/notorious far-right libertarian Doug Christie who has a history of defending white supremacists and neo-Nazis (Keegstra, Zundel, Collins, Fromm etc).

In addition to this, the individual who originally posted this message also stated she received an email from someone trying to intimidate her into being silent.

From what we know about this woman, that ain't happening. For the benefit of our bonehead readers, does the term, "chew you up and spit youu out" mean anything to you?

Abrams is Part of ARC???

On Saturday, we published an article speculating that Marc Lemire, or at least his wife, isn't pleased with Paul Fromm using Lemire's Sec. 13 fight to fundraise off of, since another poster also implied that the money raised in other cases may not have reached those for who the money was originally intended.

One of our most faithful readers, Maikeru, focused on a photograph we included of Fromm and Lemire together. Originally posted by Fromm on his open Facebook account, he originally labelled it as originating at the "George Orwell Dinner" awards ceremony honoring the Fourniers (though, truth be told, it ain't an honor we would be proud to receive). Maikeru then accused us of three things, but we'll start with the second and third accusations.

The second thing we were accused of was "document tampering" which, given we didn't do anything to the photo itself and were simply providing a label that one of the attendees of the dinner and awards ceremony had ascribed to it sort of leaves us scratching our heads a little.

Connie herself erroneously claims we are engaging in witness tampering for talking about Lemire on these pages who is apparently their witness in Richard Warman's lawsuit against the Fourniers as the third accusation. We actually didn't know this before Connie first wrote about it a while back in making the same accusation against us then, but we can assure Ms. Fournier that we would be absolutely delighted if Mr. Lemire were to testify under oath, especially if the cross examination asked him certain questions about his past he would like to deny. But no, we are not trying to intimidate him or anyone.Trust us, once we knew that you planned on calling him as a witness we have all been very eager for Lemire to testify and have been ever since.

The first accusation though, now that we think about it, wasn't so much an accusation against us but against Harry Abrams whom Maikeru is now claiming is part of our little Collective here. And while hanging out with us is actually pretty fun (we have, "make your own sunday" Sundays here... oh, that reminds us that we need more sprinkles and rum n' butter syrup) and isn't something we think one should be ashamed of.


But we decided to contact Mr. Abrams, whom we haven't had any contact with for some time sadly (because we quite like him and his YouTube videos shows he plays a mean accordion) and  let him know that Maikeru has claimed him as being amongst the Collective. Yesterday, Mr. Abrams sent us the following message:

Want to Get Out of the Racist Movement? Please Read This

Yesterday, we posted a link to one time Heritage Front member Elisse Hategan who did more to take down the Front than any Canadian government agency ever could (and, really, in spite of some government agencies). Despite the efforts from 2001 to 2005 to revive the group, Elisse's testimony essentially killed the Heritage Front as a viable movement in Canada and exposed the activities of CSIS to public examination (NOTE: For those interested in reading more about Grant Bristow and CSIS' involvement in the Heritage Front, we would suggest reading Elisse's testimony before the parliamentary committee investigating the affair.) 

Elisse was able to reject racism and move on to lead a productive life. We know that there are those out there who are trying to get out as well, so we asked Elisse if she would mind recounting her story to our readers with the hope that perhaps it might push some who are a part of the racist movement but having second thoughts to take that leap of faith to get out. It might also cause those who are on the fence to consider the consequences of their decisions and make a better choice.

My former name is Elisse Hategan. When I was 16 years old I met Wolfgang Droege and joined the Heritage Front. Shortly thereafter began to work as a daily helper in Ernst Zundel’s old bunker on Carlton Street in Toronto. It was 1991 and the Front had just started to grow. Being part of the small inner circle of HF leadership, I was there to see it develop into the beast it would eventually become.