Thursday, August 29, 2019

YWN Sentencing Update: St. Germaine gets 1 year House Arrest, Sears out on Bail

After James Sears was led away in handcuffs last week, the sentencing of LeRoy St. Germaine to one year house arrest for promoting hatred against women and Jews is anti-climactic at best. While he received the maximum one year penalty (6 months/count), he avoided jail time because, according to Justice Blouin, his Indigenous heritage and poor health (heart and lung problems) needed to be taken into account. He added that "although Mr. St. Germaine was aware of the content of Your Ward News as edited by Sears, there is no evidence he created any of it.” St. Germaine also expressed regret about the direction the paper took after Sears came on board. Previously it went after "dirty politicians" and St. Germaine said he would like that to become the focus once again. 

 While I appreciate the validity of some of the mitigating factors in this case, I don't believe justice was served in deciding St. Germaine should avoid jail time altogether. His lack of respect for Your Ward News' victims is striking. When offered the option of a sentencing circle, he declined because he did not want to apologize. Outside of court today, when asked what he would say to his victims, he stated they should "suck it up and get over it." 

 
Then, of course, likening Sears to Christ and saying the paper will be back blows any assertion of St. Germaine's regret or desire to distance himself from Sears out of the water: 




And while St. Germaine evidently didn't write any of the hateful material that's in violation of S319(2) of the criminal code, as publisher, he had the final say in whether to print those words and images. I believe that responsibility should carry more weight in Justice Blouin's courtroom. 

As St. Germaine begins organizing his appeal, Sears' is already underway and he is out on a mere $500 bail. His bail conditions include taking Your Ward News offline, refraining from contacting any of his victims, and, the most challenging for Sears, not making any public statements. His new lawyer, criminal defence attorney Ian McCuaig, will have quite the challenge in convincing the court that Sears' conviction and sentence was arbitrary, politically motivated, and "too harsh." 

EDIT 1: Ian McCuaig acted as St. Germaine's attorney for the initial trial and sentencing. Obviously Sears liked the work he did enough to retain him for the appeal. It is unknown whether McCuaig will continue to act for St. Germaine as well. A preliminary investigation did not show McCuaig having any obvious racist or far right sympathies. However, more digging will be done to confirm.

At the time of writing, it is unknown whether Sears and St. Germaine's appeals will be heard together or when the appeals will begin. However, it is clear that for their victims, closure is still months away.

You can read the full background of this sentencing circus below:
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Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Former leader of the National Alliance, at one time the largest hate group in the United States, now a PPC activist in Ontario.

I'm not sure I can articulate how big a deal this is. The National Alliance was founded by William Pierce and under his leadership became the largest hate group in the United States. He is also infamous for having written The Turner Diaries which depicts a violent revolution in the United States which ultimately leads to the extermination of non-white and Jewish Americans; ultimately the genocide of non-Europeans and Jews is extended worldwide by the new racist American government. This novel was used by the terrorist group The Order, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, and a host of others who have used the novel as inspiration for their murders.

After Pierce's death the National Alliance began to collapse. Erich Gliebe would succeed Pierce and after his resignation Shaun Walker briefly assumed leadership in part as a result of Kevin Strom's efforts to take over the group (Strom would later be convicted on child pornography charges):
In June of 2006, however, Walker's past caught up with him. He was arrested on federal civil rights charges for allegedly leading a series of organized attacks on Mexicans and Native Americans in Salt Lake City bars in 2002 and 2003. The conditions of his pre-trial release prohibited Walker from having any contact with past or present members of the National Alliance, forcing him to resign as chairman and hand the reins back to Gliebe. Walker and two co-defendants, Travis Massey, the former Utah spokesman for the Alliance, and Eric Egbert, were convicted in April 2007 of conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of individuals based on their race. On Aug. 13, 2007, Walker was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison. He later won a sentence reduction and was released on Nov. 27, 2009.
Walker now appears to be living in Ontario and is a member of the Peoples' Party of Canada led Max Bernier.

Thank you to Atlanta Antifascists for all the hard work they did digging up this information:
















UPDATES 1:




UPDATE 2: Looks like he preemptively blocked the ARC Twitter account.


The question is whether he did it after I tweeted the story or prior to it being published which would suggest he wanted to stay out of ARC's sights?
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Monday, August 26, 2019

Far Right Infighting Part ∞ + 1: Alberta Northern Guard Split

This is late in coming not because ARC wasn't following it practically in real time but because we wanted to see where it was going. We do however have to thank the folks with Edmonton Against Fascism for covering this from the start and keeping us up to date.


Oh, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll get to Kyle Sizler in just a moment.

A few months ago there was a changing of the guard in the Alberta Northern.... er.... Guard.


This past spring Jeremy Clark appears to have left his position as head of the Alberta Northern Guard which allowed Kyle Puchalski taking over:


Prior to this he had been in a leadership position in Calgary were he and his fellow boneheads I mean Northern Guard members as well as Calgary Soldiers of Odin members participated in a few patrols of the city which, if we're being really honest, amounted to preening and strutting in areas of well lit and relative low crime while another member took pictures of them:








The guy sporting the Northern Guard emblazoned leather vest and the yellow hoodie is fashion icon Kyle Silzer seen here in one of his more contemplative moments:


Silzer also became a member of the Northern Guard around spring time. He referred to the hate group as his "new family" and was welcomed with open arms by Puchalski:


Awww! They even included heart emojis!

So when it was time for the new provincial head of the NG to appoint individuals to leadership positions, Silzer was one of the first who was picked:


Yeah.... you ALL already know where this is going:


Barely.

A.

Month.

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Sunday, August 25, 2019

Man Convicted of Attempting to Burn Down Mosque Connected To Yellow Vests Canada

It seems fitting that almost immediately after we write about the current situation regarding the Yellow Vests in Hamilton we identify a person of serious interest within their ranks.

 On September 14, 2017, Keith Frederick, of Hamilton ON, attempted to burn down the Ibrahim Jam-E Mosque.

 From Vice Canada:
On Sept 14, just before midnight, Keith Frederick rummaged through the trash behind a Hamilton mosque until he found something flammable. With the objects in hand he walked to Ibrahim Jam-E Mosque, dropped them in front of the door, took a knee and lit them.
This was how he was going to, as he texted his uncle weeks earlier, "bring his own jihad to those camel fuckers."
The trash ignited in a ball of flames. With that, the 34-year-old man turned and walked away, seemingly unaware that all of this was caught on the mosque's security camera. Soon after the fire started, a newly-arrived group of Syrian refugees saw the flames and called police. Frederick was arrested moments later.
While the damage was minor, this was clearly a crime of intent, and Frederick was subsequently sentenced to 25 months in prison, less time served for his crime.

 Since his release, Frederick's Facebook feed has been littered with the usual Islamophobia we see from these people, and it seems he hasn't reformed his ways.







It should come as a shock to absolutely no one to discover that Frederick is now a very active member of one of the largest Yellow Vests groups on Facebook - Yellow Vest Rebellion - where he frequently participates in thread discussions:





In addition to contributing to the discussion, he often shares content from the group to his own feed:


This is not the first arson attack on a mosque in Canada within the last few years. On June 16, 2018 the Edson Islamic Centre was lit ablaze, with three people praying inside it. 

Additionally, this is not the first individual with a criminal history related to their activism that we've identified within Yellow Vests Canada. The movement continues to prove that it is a breeding ground for radicalization and hate, and it is being suggested as a "gateway" by the likes of ex-Canadian Nazi Party/current British People's League leader, John Beattie: 


While we don't recognize him from attending rallies, folks in Hamilton should be on the lookout given Frederick's history.
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Saturday, August 24, 2019

The Mess That Is Hamilton


The Canadian Yellow Vest members in the Hamilton area continue to hold their Saturday rallies and they've been as wacky as anything YVC has organized so far.

On August 10th Yellow Vest and very troubled man Martin Brousseau drove his destined-for-the-scrap-heap bus onto the sidewalk towards counter protesters. Dubbed the "Hate Bus" by anti-racist and antifascist counter protesters, Hamilton police officers negotiated with Brousseau to move the bus for a reported 30 minutes before he finally moved that dilapidated piece of shit.


We've covered Brousseau previously:
However, even we were surprised at his boldness, given that he brought gear to detain people with and told the Hamilton cops he would do so, with anyone he deemed causing trouble. 
After the Hamilton police managed to politely convince Brousseau to move the Hate Bus, they arrested a counter protester, claiming they had made a "disturbance." They now face charges of resisting arrest for an arrest which was completely unwarranted to begin with.

This also emboldened the yellow vest crowd, resulting in a truly disgusting display: 
In attendance at the Hamilton rallies is a woman, who according to Brousseau's videos is Ukrainian, that goes by the first name Lily/Lilia. She has been spotted throwing roman salutes the week before, regularly sports Canadian Nationalist Party apparel, and engages in hate speech and violence. She attends other far-right events, including C3 in Ottawa and PEGIDA in Toronto.
Justin Long has attempted to denounce Lily, however considering his willingness to ally himself with other nazis such as Paul Fromm and Kevin Goudreau I don't see what the point is.

"Jack Smith"/Confederate Shirt Guy was also there.
Also confirmed in attendance has been Duke Willis:
The Hamilton yellow vest rallies have been problematic for some time, particularly with the violent attack on Hamilton Pride. That being said, counter-demonstrations have been growing and now completely dwarf the Yellow Vests. Interestingly, Duke Willis has put forth a strategy for sidewalk protests instead of rallies in order to avoid  counter protests.
I'm taking that as a sign that their rallies in Hamilton are floundering. The Yellow Vest movement has been fading away across the country, but their associated hate groups are still around and we'll continue to document the hate and violence from them.

See also:

Identifying Hamilton Homophobes, Yellow Vests, and Canadian Nationalist Party Members

Hamilton Yellow Vests Rally Draws Numerous Hate and Patriot Groups

Hamilton Hate Groups Harass Pride Event Participants, Assault Counter-Protestors, Claim Victimhood
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A Yellow Vester, a Hatriot, and a Neo-Nazi Walk Into a Bar...

...Not really, but they did go live on Facebook.

Shortly after Your Ward News editor James Sears was sentenced to one year in prison for his role in distributing the virulently antisemitic, misogynistic, and homophobic hate rag, Derek Storie of the Yellow Vests and Ed Jamnisek of Northern Guard thought interviewing neo-nazi Paul Fromm would be a good use of their time.


Nice of Ed to brush his hair for the occasion.  

The three chatted about all sorts of "patriotic" things, like how you can't be antisemitic anymore:



Fromm's opinion that Maxime Bernier's Peoples' Party of Canada will get rid of hate speech laws: 


Given Fromm's support for the PPC platform, the fact he thinks this will actually happen isn't surprising. 

Fromm even went as far as to use standard white nationalist talking points, reiterated by Jamnisek who complains "if you're questioning who rules you, who can you not criticize?" 


Also of interest here is Storie including himself when referencing their belief that "white people are outnumbered," given that he repeatedly claims to be indigenous, stated he was Metis earlier in the video, and insists that his vlogging under the name "Noble Savages" is a reference to his heritage. 

Anyway, they continue on with Ed asking if civil war is imminent. Fromm is careful with what he says, but does express a lot of support for the Yellow Vests:



Poor Paulie

That said, he certainly has participated in Yellow Vest rallies before, but has reportedly been asked to stop coming around, since we covered it. 

Paul Fromm with Hamilton Yellow Vest organizer Justin Long, earlier this year. 

Fromm insists "we are at war," and is confident that such "free speech advocates" as himself would be thrown into a gulag or camp. We can think of a few places Fromm can go, but it's neither of those. We'll leave such monstrous ideas to those who pal around with Blood and Honour, Combat 18, and the Aryan Guard. 


Derek Storie is still somehow not aware of Paul Fromm's affiliations, or the affiliations of those he spends time with, such as the Canadian Nationalist Party: 


About that... 




Who's going to tell Derek? 


Ed provides an extremely watered down primer on who Paul Fromm is, including the indication that he's somehow NOT a holocaust denier:


Huh...

I suppose we can't blame Ed, given Paulie's very convincing attempts to portray himself as a run-of-the-mill free speech dude. 



I can't imagine where we'd get that idea. 




We leave you with not a nazi or a holocaust denier (heh) but definitely a very large baby Paul Fromm's thoughts on the sentence: 


Sure, Paulie. 


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Friday, August 23, 2019

Anna Slatz of "The Post Millennial" Once Ran Uncritical Profile of Self-professed Nazi as Editor of a New Brunswick University Student News Paper

When it comes to right-wing media in Canada "The Post Millennial" has become an increasingly important source cited by conservative politicians, conservative pundits, your angry uncle insisting taxation is theft during Thanksgiving dinner, the lady who shows up to Parliament Hill at 1:00 am to scream at tourists about chem trails, and the numerous online sites this blog monitors. Although touting itself as a news source, the reality seems to be that it is by and large a propaganda network that helps to promote conspiracy theories and right wing talking points.


On August 22 Emma McIntosh of "The National Observer" (click here to support them financially) published a story that profiles the editor of "The Post Millennial" Cosmin Dzsurdzsa who readers might know best as Lindsay Shepherd's boo:


In the article McIntosh traced Dzsurdzsa's career working for a pro-Putin "Russian Insider" and before then as a creative director and correspondent with "Free Bird Media" which some people may have first heard about regarding a controversy involving an Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate:



ARC has discussed FBM a number of times, though my personal favourite article was the pissing match between Ronny Cameron and FBM's Alex Van Hamme:
Anti-Racist Canada, putting the "c" in classy headlines since 2007.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dzsurdzsa deigned to turn his eye toward this lil' blog on the Interweb on at least one occasion:

I feel seen!

But at the same time Emma McIntosh was looking into Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, ARC happened to be looking at another figure within "The Post Millennial" universe:


Anna Slatz has been writing for "The Post Millennial" for 7 months. Though she suggests her politics run to the left, her articles seemed focused on critiquing progressive activists, politicians, and academics as well her more recent preoccupation with the very troubled (and perhaps mentally ill) Jessica Yaniv. Slatz was also the writer who promoted the conspiracy theory that the Talya Davidson story, which ARC commented on last week, was a Liberal plot to damage the Conservative Party prior to the election:


More recently Slatz was in Portland, Oregon ostensibly to report on the Patriot Prayer protest and massive counter-protest pushing the narrative that "antifa" were a violent and uncontrollable mob, a narrative that Andy Ngo certainly approved of:


That being said we've know Ngo to play fast and loose with the truth so.... maybe take his praise with a grain of salt?






It is prior to Slatz's involvement with "The Post Millennial" that is of interest to this writer however:


Michael Thurlow is a spectacularly marginal figure even for the far right in Canada. ARC has only written about him once and that was in relation to.... wait for it.... a pissing match with Kevin "No Show" Goudreau (see a pattern here folks?).  However there was a moment in early 2018 when Thurlow's National Socialist Labour Revival Party made the mainstream news:

Don't worry though. Thurlow isn't a Nazi according to Jonathan Kay:


Except that he is TOTALLY a Nazi:


Thurlow also got him some love from now former Acadia University professor Rick Mehta:



It is at this point that Anna Slatz, who once went by the name Anna de Luca, comes in. At the time Thurlow's flyers were being posted around the UNB campus, Slatz was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, "The Baron" which is a position she appears to have held for less than a month by that point. In that position, Slatz published an op-ed by Thurlow as well as an uncritical interview where none of his racist statements were challenged.
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