As we enter the final couple of days before 2014, we thought we would provide an update on the ARC history project. Those who follow the blog will remember that we sent out a request a year or so ago asking that anyone who has news letters, racist propaganda, photographs, newspaper clippings, or any other documents that might be able to tell the story of the racist movement in Canada to send us a scanned copy. Our focus had been primarily on the Heritage Front and the period between 1989 and 1999, however we decided to expand our focus, so we have in our possession not only electronic and hard copies (thanks to a good friend in Victoria) of primary documents originating with the Heritage Front, but also documents from the Nationalist Party of Canada and the Western Guard Party.
Our readers might have noticed that we have again added to our, "History of Violence" article and time line. Originally the time line ran from 1989 to 2011, but as contemporary events continued to unfold we extended forward to the present date. Likewise, as we conducted more research, we pushed back the starting point, first to 1981 and now to 1970. Many of the new additions feature the Western Guard, but the earliest focus on the Edmund Burke Society.
In a lot of ways, the Edmund Burke Society was the grandfather of the modern racist movement in Canada. The organization was established by three men, Leigh Smith, future Nationalist Party of Canada leader (and perpetual Toronto mayoral candidate) Don Andrews, and this fella:
Yep, our buddy Paulie.
The philosophy of the Edmund Burke Society, founded in 1967 at the University of Toronto, would be described today as paleo-conservative. Not overtly racist when it began, it became increasingly so as the membership became more active and more raucous. Eventually the organization changed its name from the Edmund Burke Society to the Western Guard (later the Western Guard Party) in 1972 which was indeed overtly and violently racist.
Paulie has denied he was a member of the Western Guard. But that isn't quite true as he was a member for at least the first few months after the name change and the "change" in tactics and ideology (though to be fair he did split with the organization before the end of 1972). Paulie suggested he didn't agree with the direction of the Western Guard and instead went on to form his own organizations.
That being said, we actually have some evidence that Paulie's views might not have differed so much from the Western Guard.
Our readers might have noticed that we have again added to our, "History of Violence" article and time line. Originally the time line ran from 1989 to 2011, but as contemporary events continued to unfold we extended forward to the present date. Likewise, as we conducted more research, we pushed back the starting point, first to 1981 and now to 1970. Many of the new additions feature the Western Guard, but the earliest focus on the Edmund Burke Society.
In a lot of ways, the Edmund Burke Society was the grandfather of the modern racist movement in Canada. The organization was established by three men, Leigh Smith, future Nationalist Party of Canada leader (and perpetual Toronto mayoral candidate) Don Andrews, and this fella:
Yep, our buddy Paulie.
The philosophy of the Edmund Burke Society, founded in 1967 at the University of Toronto, would be described today as paleo-conservative. Not overtly racist when it began, it became increasingly so as the membership became more active and more raucous. Eventually the organization changed its name from the Edmund Burke Society to the Western Guard (later the Western Guard Party) in 1972 which was indeed overtly and violently racist.
Paulie has denied he was a member of the Western Guard. But that isn't quite true as he was a member for at least the first few months after the name change and the "change" in tactics and ideology (though to be fair he did split with the organization before the end of 1972). Paulie suggested he didn't agree with the direction of the Western Guard and instead went on to form his own organizations.
That being said, we actually have some evidence that Paulie's views might not have differed so much from the Western Guard.