Ryan Dean Found Guilty Of Attacking Ex

The past seven days haven't been a lot of fun for Ryan Dean, former Soldier of Odin, former Guardians of Alberta vp, founder and former leader of the Canadian Combat Coalition, and founder and leader of the formerly named North American Freedom Fighters.

More on that last part in a bit.

Last Thursday we reported that Dean had been arrested at a courthouse in Edmonton where he and a few others (very few based on the photos ARC received) planned on protesting at a trial.

To note that he was a bit upset might be somewhat of an understatement:

 

All this being said, I can't imagine that his conviction today for assaulting his ex will be especially helpful to a man with an obvious anger management problem, though it does put this post in some context:

Monitoring Dean's Instagram account has been interesting. For example he is still furious about being ousted from the CCC. His preoccupation has become a bit of an obsession:

Request for Information

Could the person who left a message (not currently published) regarding this incident please email ARC:

Police probe hate posters on Bells Corners mosque

ARC's email is arc(dot)collective200(at)gmail(dot)com.

In Memoriam

Ibrahima Barry, aged 39

Mamadou Tanou Barry, aged 42

Khaled Belkacemi, aged 60

Aboubaker Thabti, aged 44

Abdelkrim Hassane, aged 41

Azzedine Soufiane, aged 57

Far-Right Attacks on Antifascist Protesters Appear Premeditated

When ARC wrote about the events that took place at both Nathan Phillips and Mel Lastman squares in Toronto yesterday, those that occurred at Mel Lastman Square appear to have been where most of the action occurred. PEGIDA, Northern Guard, III% militia, and Proud Boys were outnumbered significantly and were prevented from marching. While members of PEGIDA Canada were disappointed, it would appear that Northern Guard, the Threepers, and Proud Boys were very pleased because their motivations were different.

They were there specifically to assault counter-protesters.

In focusing on Northern Guard Toronto chapter leader Lee Down's video indicating that he had brought along a concealed weapon as well as his posts on his Facebook profile urging supporters to assault "liberals" and to burn down the homes of Trudeau supporters, I only very briefly discussed this post by a participant:

Since I was quite busy with things going on outside the blog (my detractors will no doubt be skeptical that I have a life outside the blog) I didn't actually click on "Bain Scott's" profile:

However upon receiving subsequent information I decided to give the guy a once over. Turns out he is someone ARC has discussed on the blog before:

Of course he didn't go by the name "Scott Bain" when ARC was first introduced to him. Then he was going by the name Shawn McBeath, though he did also use the moniker "Shawn Isgone" as well:

ARC was first introduced to McBeath on April 1, 2017 when as a member of the Soldiers of Odin he attended an anti-Muslim protest. He also was caught on video assaulting a counter-protester:

The next month he participated in another event, this time decked out in body armor and sporting Threeper iconography. At that protest McBeath can be seen in a video harassing journalist Kevin Metcalf prior to Metcalf being assaulted by JDL members and others anti-Muslim protesters:



Individuals were charged with assault the following month:

• Charges laid following alleged assault on journalist at anti-M-103 rally

When ARC examined McBeath at the time my concern was, since he seemed to be able to act with impunity by the police, that he might attend future events armed. This concern was in part due to what was found on his Facebook profile:

That concern appears to have been justified based on posts made by McBeath (posting as "Scott Bain") and Tim Kelly of the Proud Boys on both the national and Ontario Northern Guard Facebook group pages:

The Proud Boys, Threepers, and now the Northern Guard often claim that their violence is in fact a reaction to real or perceived threats from the antifascists. However the other posts prove that this is a contrived justification as they brag about bringing weapons and singling out people to assault:

"Flagpole worked great," eh?

Not even very subtle.

Braying jackass Proud Boy member Tim Kelly further confirms that the flagpoles were always intended to be used as weapons:

Anti-Muslim Protesters Outnumbered In Toronto At Mel Lastman and Nathan Phillips Squares; Islamophobes Possessed Weapons

On January 29, 2017, six men were murdered at a Quebec City mosque. While most decent humans were heartbroken and reached out in support of the Canadian-Muslim community, this blog has provided ample evidence that Alexandre Bissonnette fellow Islamophobes either were thrilled by the attack, attempted to blame Muslims, or denied it took place altogether.

And the ghouls to show their character as the JDL has organized a rally attacking the Canadian-Muslim community on the anniversary of the massacre:

Today a number of organizations held rallies to memorialize those who died in the Quebec City mosque massacre at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto:

David McKee says we need to remember the names and faces of the victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting. pic.twitter.com/8kIxiJNEVC

— Bobby Hristova (@bobbyhristova) January 27, 2018

In what I'm guessing wasn't a coincidence PEGIDA Canada, as well as participants from the Northern Guard, III% militia, and the Proud Boys, had also planned on staging an anti-Muslim protest at Nathan Phillips Square on the same day though they later claimed to be moving the event to Mel Lastman Square. Suspecting duplicity, anti-fascists made sure to be at both locations. The suspicion proved correct when PEGIDA Canada, III%ers, Proud Boy, and Northern Guard members showed up at both squares, some wearing body armor and quasi-military gear:

However, in both locations, the anti-Muslim protesters were outnumbered significantly by antifascists, members of C.U.P.E., and ordinary Torontonians who wouldn't put up with their shit:

Now, people like the middle-aged Proud Boy Robert Jones tried to put a brave face on the situation and claimed their presence marked a victory of some kind:

However as the day progressed, things took a bit of a turn:

Northern Guard's Toronto Chapter leader was also present and provided some erudite political commentary :

So, the bad guys were outnumbered, kettled, and prevented from marching anywhere.

That's good.

Still, this writer has significant concerns as these hate groups become increasingly militant and violent. ARC has already shown in an earlier screen shot members of the Proud Boys bragging about assaulting people at this rally including using a flagpole as an improvised weapon:

But in addition to the body armor and makeshift weapons, it appears that at least some members are bringing actual weapons to these events, something we've suspected for a long time:

I will remind the readers that Lee Down is the Toronto chapter leader of the Northern Guard providing evidence that he brought a concealed and prohibited weapon to an anti-Muslim protest..

In addition to carrying a weapon to the event, Down has encouraged his followers to engage in politically motivated terrorism.

That isn't an exaggeration:

His threats are not anomalous:

Lee Down appears to have been fooled by an obvious false document

ARC hopes the TPS will scrutinize the heavily armored anti-Muslim protesters as closely as they do those antifascists wearing black hoodies next time.

UPDATE: A report on the event was published yesterday by some of those who participated.

Mark and Connie Fournier of Free Dominion Declare Bankruptcy

It has been a while since ARC last wrote about Mark and Connie Fournier of the (not so) dearly departed Free Dominion. While ARC certainly had a rather contentious relationship with the denizens of Free Dominion (they even inspired ARC's "History of Violence" article), their defamation of Mr. Richard Warman is what ultimately led to their precipitous downfall as the Fourniers and co-defendants lost a defamation suit to Mr. Warman.

The Fourniers decided to appeal the decision and attempted to crowdfund their effort which resulted in some rather interesting support:

• Winnicki Donates to Free Dominion's Warman Appeal
• Winnicki Donates to Free Dominion's Warman Appeal: Part II
• Winnicki Donates to Free Dominion's Warman Appeal: Part III

Though the writing was on the wall as others who had defamed Mr. Warman settled and apologized, the Fourniers stubbornly soldiered on. 

They chose.... poorly

Since then it seems that Mr. Warman has spent at least some time trying to get Mark and Connie to pay the damage and costs, but they seem to be rather recalcitrant. 

And as of yesterday....

Mr. Warman posted the following regarding the declaration of bankruptcy:

26 January 2018 

Connie Fournier is bankrupt. Mark Fournier is bankrupt. 

I suppose that as between honouring the payment plan they agreed to or bankruptcy, it had to come to this. 

As readers may recall, Connie Fournier and Mark Fournier published defamatory attacks against me through their website forum Freedominion (RIP). I asked them to remove the material and while they initially did so, they then refused to remove further defamatory material that was posted by their users or themselves. 

I sued them for libel. The Fourniers demanded a jury trial and their day in court. After a three-week trial, the jury found the Fourniers and their fellow defendants had defamed me and awarded me $42,000 in general, aggravated, and punitive damages. The judge also ordered the defendants to pay me $85,000 in legal costs. 

The Fourniers appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and lost spectacularly there too. The Court of Appeal ordered them to pay me a further $23,000 in costs. 

The Fourniers agreed to pay me the jury’s award of damages and costs at a rate of $500/month. They made 2 payments but then there were always reasons why they couldn’t pay the next month and then they just went silent. It wasn’t like they weren’t earning income – at the first judgment debtor exam, they estimated that Mark’s income from truck driving earned them $30,000-$50,000 per year. For her part, Connie had been voluntarily or otherwise unemployed or underemployed for years despite advertising herself as a computer programmer. 

Tired of waiting for the Fourniers or Godot to show up with the money they said they’d pay me, I recently arranged for them to attend a new judgment debtor examination where my lawyer would ask them why they hadn’t honoured the payment plan they agreed to and they would produce all of their financial records showing their ability to pay the judgment.

Now if Mark and Connie thought that this would means to avoid any legal obligations, there is some very bad news for them:

Instead of attending the examination they agreed to they decided to go bankrupt instead. They have the legal ability to do that, but the Courts have said repeatedly that people who try to take advantage of bankruptcy protection to avoid paying civil judgments against them shouldn’t emerge from bankruptcy until they’ve paid at least 1/2 of their outstanding debts. Given they owe in excess of $100,000, Connie Fournier and Mark Fournier have likely condemned themselves to a lifetime status as bankrupts. 

Sad but true…

However, Mr. Warman does include a postscript that may, if the Fourniers take up the offer, might help them to get out of the hole they have dug for themselves:

NB – The Fourniers were always successful at crowdfunding money to support their defence. I’d be happy to endorse or run a similar campaign now in their hour of need to pay off their debt and would donate all the money raised to charities or non-profits. I would also deduct an equivalent amount from the 50% of their outstanding debt to me before I would no longer object to them emerging from bankruptcy. The Fourniers and charities/non-profits would benefit – sounds like a win-win. Ball is in their court.

So we'll see what happens.

What I do know is that I have better taste in music than Mr. Warman:

Ryan Dean Arrested and David Tregget Resigns From Storm Alliance

Just a few quick updates.

First we learned a few days ago that Ryan Dean had evidently been arrested on outstanding warrants in Edmonton:

ARC readers will be familiar with Dean as an active participant in a number of anti-Muslims/anti-refugee/anti-immigrant rallies that took place during the spring and summer of 2017 primarily in Calgary but also Edmonton, Red Deer, and a few other locations in partnership with the WCAI.

Dean first came on to ARC's radar as a member of the Alberta Soldiers of Odin. He then became the Vice-president of the Guardians of Alberta before forming his own nativist group the Canadian Combat Coalition. While the CCC did expand into Ontario, this expansion ultimately resulted in Dean's expulsion from the group. He then formed the North American Freedom Fighters, though he spent much of his time at this point sniping at the Ontario CCC and creating false news stories.

The other big news is that the founder and president of the Storm Alliance has stepped down. David Tregget had been an early member of the Soldiers of Odin, serving as national vice-president and Quebec president, however after conflicts with leadership both in Canada and Finland, he left the SoO forming the Storm Alliance. While there are ostensibly chapters in other provinces, the Quebec chapter is the largest by far and has been the most successful.

The resignation of Tregget from the group be created seems to be as a result of certain allegations that have been leveled at him. In an article that came out earlier today, it appears that the allegations are related to claims that Tregget had asked a woman for "sexual favours"; the screen shots of the alleged online conversation can be found here:

Ça vole très bas dans la fachosphère, tous les coups sont permis. Je reçois des infos sur Atalante et la SA des meutons. Par exemple, Sébastien Chabot garde de la Meute me donne ceci sur Treg en pensant le faire mal paraître. Mais le compte de Treg a été hacké #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/pQbYiySPdU

— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) January 24, 2018

On the Storm Alliance Facebook page, Tregget posted the following message (translated into English):

The allegations against me have been brought up with only one aim in mind, to destroy me, to make me feel worse, and they’re working... For legal reasons and to protect Storm Alliance I’m quitting the organization, and will be absent from social media for an indeterminate amount of time, perhaps forever.

Dave Treg quitte la Storm Alliance et pourrait ne jamais s’impliquer à nouveau dans le groupe. Sebastien Chabot @TrutHurtU de la Meute qui a fortement diffusé les allégations doit jubiler #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/owUMue3UT1

— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) January 25, 2018

bye bye Treg :)
maintenant est-ce que Sébastien avouera qu'il était le whistleblower... ou va continuer de nier pour s'éviter d'la merde! .... à suivre... https://t.co/7TPL4xD3Cd

— Anti-Pegida Québec (@Anti_Pegida_Qc) January 25, 2018

Should ARC receive more information, those additional details will be included in this article.

UPDATE: The following was posted by SA co-founder Colin Oleary:

Kevin "Poodle" Johnston: No Credible Evidence

Back on June 3, 2017, a number of anti-Muslim protests occurred in Canadian cities across the country; most of them were dismal failures that attracted substantially more counter-protesters than Islamophobes. One of the events which really has to be considered to be a failure was "One Million Canadian March Against Trudeau" on Parliament Hill which, rather than featuring the million people advertised, may have had fewer than 130. In fact a group yoga session that occurred a few hours before attracted substantially more people.

Among those who did show up in Ottawa was a the shamelessly self-promoting anti-Muslim YouTuber, perennial Mississauga mayoral candidate, and provocateur currently up on hate crime charges Kevin "Poodle" Johnston. In fact he arrived in Ottawa a day before the rally, spending much of that time posting messages and photos on now suspended twitter account trying to antagonize anti-fascists:

It seems that Johnston was determined to try and cause an incident. On the day of the protest, there was some sort of confrontation as Johnston appears to have actively sought out counter-protesters. He later posted the following which he claimed resulted from that encounter:

Johnston's claims, many of which were promptly disputed by the police, immediately failed the smell test. For example, Johnston claimed that one of the people who participated in the alleged assault against him was journalist Kevin Metcalf. Metcalf has become a bit of a bogeyman in Islamophobic circles and is fairly easily identifiable at this point. Johnston claimed that Metcalf had stood by taking video of the alleged assault against him and his partner:

The problem is that this claim was verifiable false as Metcalf was conducting interview as well as being interviewed in a different, and distant, location with reliable witnesses conforming this to be the case:

One man Johnston targeted is Kevin Metcalf, a member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, who says he was at the Hill protest as an observer, shooting pictures and video of people at what was billed the “Million Canadian March.” 

Johnston posted a video Tuesday showing Metcalf’s picture and called him “a coward, domestic terrorist and stalker of women.” 

“If you see this man, you have to assume he is armed,” Johnston told his followers. “We have to get this guy behind bars, people. Get him behind bars now.” 

Metcalf says he was on Parliament Hill conducting interviews around 11:30 a.m., the time it’s alleged Johnston was assaulted in Confederation Park. He says he’s considering legal action against Johnston over the online video.

Journalist Evan Balgord also noted in his article a number of other inconsistencies in Johnston's allegations, including the use of a knife:

However....

Johnston originally reported on Twitter that he was the victim of a knife attack. But Sergeant Hrabchak of the Ottawa Police Service tells CANADALAND that there was no knife attack. “We don’t have any information of that,” says Hrabchak. “None whatsoever. We’ve got one victim, and he’s not even being cooperative with us now.”

None of these contradictions prevented the Islamophobes who support Johnston from rallying to his side in support and making threats towards those whom they claimed had targeted him:

Well, a funny thing apparently happened yesterday as reported by a friend who has been following this case and reported on ARC's twitter account:

Crown drops charges against 4 individuals accused of assaulting Kevin Johnston and his camera operator in Ottawa last year. The charges were dropped because Johnston wasn't providing "credible" evidence.

— (((ARC COLLECTIVE))) (@ARCCollective) January 23, 2018

Interesting. Not entirely unexpected, but interesting.

Timely too.

Since reports that an 11 year old child had not been truthful about an alleged Islamophobic attack against her, the bigots that we've been covering have been apoplectic, some demanding charges filed against the child, her mother or both, the deportation of the girl and her entire family, an apology from the Prime Minister for having the audacity to suggest that attacking a child is wrong, and claiming that ALL attacks that have been committed against Muslims past and future have been lies.

Now, if they are to be logically and morally consistent, shouldn't that same anger be directed towards a middle-aged man who may very well have provided a false report to the police about being attacked by "antifa?"

Don't bother answering that question. It's sort of a rhetorical one.

As far as this writer knows Johnston has not yet responded to news about the Crown dropping assault charges. Currently he is on his way back to Canada after having spent about a week in Burma in the guise of a "journalist" and where he spent much of his time demonizing the Rohingya, a Muslim minority currently facing severe persecution and potential genocide at the hands of the Burmese state and military.

Actually, his presence in Burma is also interesting, but that is a story for a different time.