Nazi Flag and Claims of "False Flags": Brendan Miller's Accusations Amplified By Extremists and Conspiracy Promoters

I've been holding off on this but I thought I would provide some commentary on an incident that occurred during the Emergency Act inquiry (POEC) early this past week.

First though, I'm going to talk about Ray Epps and why Canadian right-wing extremists and conspiracy believers are talking about him now:

Ray Epps is an American conservative and Trump supporter who was at the Capitol on January 6 during the insurrection and attempted overturning of the presidential election results. In a video he was seen urging people to enter the Capitol. Since then the conspiracy theorists have claimed with no proof that Epps was in fact a "deep state" agitator who wanted to discredit the efforts of the Trump supporters on that day and not, as is true, an elderly Trump supporter whose life is now in turmoil as a result of the accusation against him (including by Trump himself). 

It doesn't matter how ridiculous the claim is; Epps was a single person in a sea of humanity and if you're going to suggest that crowd had to be convinced by one old man to storm the Capitol then there are many bridges in many Brooklyns I would like to sell you. This story fits a narrative and no amount of proof will convince the true believers otherwise.

So with that, let's get to the story, shall we?

Prior to the incident I will be writing about, the big news emerging from the inquiry was that CSIS had advised that the Prime Minister invoke the Emergency Act in response to the occupation in Ottawa and the border blockades in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. 

I wrote as a bit of an aside I wrote extensively about the occupation and border blockades at the time:

1. If you are following me odds are that has been since January 29, 2022 when I started composing some epically long and frequently snarky threads on the "Freedom Convoy" which I often characterized as the #OttawaOccupation. pic.twitter.com/mt3TIEYUT5

— Kurt Phillips🧛‍♂️ (@ARCCollective) October 20, 2022

However soon a lawyer representing the "Freedom Convoy" made a bombshell claim in which he implicated an executive with Enterprise Canada in an incident that occurred in the early days of the occupation. Brendan Miller suggested this executive, who he accused of carrying a Nazi flag, was a "Liberal plant" who was sent by the government in an effort to discredit the soon-to-be occupiers of the city of Ottawa.

The commissioner tried to give him out and say that time was up.
Another lawyer objected by rightfully stating that it is not an established fact that Brian Fox was holding the Nazi flag.
Brendan went forward anyway.

2/6 pic.twitter.com/gDss4oQZmT

— Tony of the inner circle (@TonyYvce) November 22, 2022

Miller's demand to order the executive as well as two others was ultimately dismissed as a fishing expedition, but the one witness that Miller wanted whom he claimed to have identified the executive in Ottawa is of some interest:

The request also asked to have three others present evidence: Enterprise Canada, David Chan and Shawn Folkes.

Enterprise is Fox's employer, Chan is a freelance photographer, and Folkes -- who identified Fox in an affidavit.

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) November 23, 2022

Shawn Folkes was one of the attendees of the "Freedom Convoy" occupation on Ottawa and early on claimed to have spoken to the person carrying the flag:

It would appear that Brendan Miller put in all his eggs into the basket that is Shawn Folkes, a person who posted things like this during the occupation:

Vandalism is punishable with a ticket and you want to murder me. Cool cool pic.twitter.com/5HXzF4JDFg

— Louie Louie (@JoeAmite) February 3, 2022

But is worse than even just that:

This part is WILD:

Folkes said he saw a man holding a Nazi flags at the protest on Jan. 29 and "attempted to speak with him."

It was only *after* watching Miller's examinations on Nov. 21 that, the same day, he went to Enterprise's website and identified Mr. Fox.

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) November 23, 2022

So this appears to be the evidence that Brendan Miller went with to help prove the Liberal government set up otherwise peaceful protesters, he word of a man who not only threatened violence against those who opposed the occupation but also who happened to "remember" the person the same day Miller would subsequently claim the executive was the one with the Nazi flag.

But it was all enough to convince the many right-wing extremists, conspiracy theory promoters, and hard-core anti-government folks as it confirmed their particular biases. Among those who accepted the truth of Miller's accusations with absolutely no question were mayor Jay Riedel (yeah, he is an actual mayor) who at one time worked with Pat King on the United We Roll convoy to Ottawa that was tied to the Yellow Vest movement and Wayne Peters, a conspiracy promoter associated with the Yellow Vests, Pegida Canada, and the Canadian Nationalist Party among other right-wing extremist groups who claims that all the people who received the Covid vaccine will be dead within 5 years:

But it wasn't just these folks who ran with Miller's claim as gospel truth.

Brian Kidder Arrested (Again). Also Chris Vanderweide Gets Involved Because Of Course He Does

By this point readers of this blog and other activists who monitor the far-right, or even people who regularly follow the regular news, will be familiar with the antics of Brian Kidder even is the name isn't immediately familiar. He is a figure associated with the Canadian Revolution protesters who were only just this month removed from the grounds near the War Memorial in Ottawa having been camping since July 1 and demanding the resignation, arrest, or both of Justin Trudeau and Liberal MPs. Kidder, a QAnon supporter, may have first come to readers' attention when he attempted to "citizen arrest" an journalist who he erroneously believed was a Bloc Quebecois MP. He later made the news when he and his enablers were harassing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stating next time he saw Mr. Singh that "we're going to dance":

• Man Trying To Arrest MPs Part Of Months-Long "Revolution" Encampment
• Parliamentary district protest camp leads to tighter security — and a criminal complaint

Given Mr. Sigh's background in martial arts, I'm not sure the encounter would go the way Kidder thinks it will.

In fact this isn't a new phenomenon as Kidder has been attempting to place politicians under citizen's arrest for years going back to at least 2014:

Man angry re: #WSIB claim threatens to put @Kathleen_Wynne under citizen's arrest and is escorted out of QP. #onpoli pic.twitter.com/NAYAw4SK42

— Rob Ferguson (@robferguson1) November 18, 2014

The difference now is that Kidder has a fan base of far-right extremists who are encouraging him.

Kidder's most recent target is Doug Ford (yes, THAT Doug Ford). Once praised by far-right extremists, Ford is now reviled by many of these same people because he has been taking the COVID-19 pandemic much more seriously than they would like given that they believe the pandemic is a Luciferian conspiracy planned by George Soros and Bill Gates and implemented by Justin Trudeau to impose communism, take away their freedom (do die gasping for breath alone in a hospital I guess?), and thwart their Messiah Donald Trump from saving the world from the cabal of demonically-processed pedophiles who they think rule the world.

They also really take umbrage at being referred to as "yahoos" which we personally feel might be underselling it a bit.

In any case earlier this week Kidder attempted to enter the Ontario Legislature to, you guess it, arrest Doug Ford. It went about as you might expect:

And the response of his enablers who called the police "pedophile protectors" and referred to the "beast system" in which the police would join with their side in the end was equally predictable:

Red Deer Aftermath and Some Identifications

This past Sunday the group Red Deer Against Racism with speakers from the Rural Alberta Against Racism (RAAR) and the Black and Indigenous Alliance Alberta (BIAA) had planned on holding a rally in the city of Red Deer, AB. Similar rallies had been held in other rural communities where members of those communities spoke about their experiences with racism in rural Alberta. The events attracted people from both outside these communities and within and were always peaceful and included families.

Then Pat King decided to Pat King all over their efforts:

After threatening demonstrators who “come to my f****** town," Pat King is organizing against an anti-racist rally on Sunday, September 20, at 4 pm in Red Deer, Alberta. https://t.co/BmVtDTg48k

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) September 18, 2020

Despite being the one who threatened the members of RAAR and their supporters with violence should they come to "his town", King unsurprisingly claimed that they were the ones who were violent. The thing is, King knows this to be untrue. He harassed members of RAAR at another event and at still another he hid in the bushes filming the rally. In neither incident was he touched and in the second he was ignored:

No Pat, this isn't creepy at all.

But then the truth isn't of great importance to these people.

More Overt Racism In Calgary Soldiers of Odin Chapter

On August 29 two rallies took place in the city of Calgary. One was a BLM/Defund the Police rally at city hall which, despite attempts to harass and antagonize the participants by Jeff Clayton, Proud Boys, members of the tiny (and ridiculously named) Woke Onez Rebellion, and others, went off without a hitch.

Elsewhere in the city the local contingent of Yellow Vesters held their weekly rally which has over the course of several months morphed into what is for all intents and purposes a QAnon and anti-mask rally flavoured with an unhealthy dose of anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Among this group were members of the Calgary and Central Alberta chapters of the Soldiers of Odin.

As a brief aside I have never really understood why groups like the SoO, Northern Guard, Urban Infidels, or any of the other quasi-biker, anti-immigrant, militias think they look cool being photographed from behind like this. These photos always make them look like they have inadvertently stumbled across something that has totally befuddled them.

See what I mean? Sean Telford (Central Alberta SoO leader) here probably believes he looks like a sentinel, stoically standing on guard against threats both foreign and domestic.

I see someone who is confused as to why there is a body of water in front of him.

Or perhaps someone who is just bewildered by the CONCEPT of water in which case, as it can exist as a solid, liquid, and gas, fair point.

We haven't written much about the SoO since the departure of our blog's founder in January mainly because it really is spent force. Most of the former SoO members appear to have found themselves drifting into other similar leather vest fetish groups, the most significant being the Northern Guard with a number of lesser groups containing a handful of members. Alberta however is sort of a special case as the SoO out of Calgary and Central Alberta (Red Deer) are still quite active.

Perplexed by windows and LED lights?

As such we thought we would take a quick look at some of the key figures in the Calgary and Central Alberta groups to determine if they are indeed the civic-minded folk they claim they are.

The original president of the Calgary chapter of the SoO was this fella.

Given that the SoO had been founded by an overt Finnish neo-Nazi and the Calgary chapter confirmed their allegiance to the Finnish mother chapter what was learned about Dale Caldwell from a quick look at both his Facebook and original VK profiles wasn't in the least surprising.

Suffice it to say he isn't a fan of ARC.

Caldwell doesn't appear to be especially active with the SoO these days so his status as the leader is up in their air, however he appears to be friendly with current members of the gang including the then vice-president and seemingly current defacto leader of the gang Terry Lefranc.

Lefranc too has a VK profile where he is much more overt in his beliefs.

Another member of the Calgary SoO is Daniel Loree.

Stupefied by fences.

Stumped by mountains.

Discombobulated by urinals

Loree with former SoO members, now Urban Infidels, Steven Lane and Al Bitz

He too is much more open on VK.

Now we've made a point of highlighting the VK groups that these three are members of. For example Loree is a member of this group.

Really subtle.

All three men are members of this group.

There is a fourth member of the Calgary SoO who should also be mentioned here, though it looks like she is moving to Edmonton (if she isn't there already).

Flummoxed by small crowds.

Puzzled by still ponds.

I could go on all day.

Sheila is Terry Lefranc's partner, or rather she was his partner. At least that is our reading of her posts.

A few years ago she posted the following missive complaining about people who believe the SoO and, by extension, herself is a racist group (which, by the way, it clearly is).

She too has a VK profile and, while not as overt as Caldwell, Lefranc, and Loree, is still telling.

The Canadian Nationalists group which is now defunct was a project of Kevin Goudreau.

As for the NPD, that's this German political party.

Germany’s National Democratic Party (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right political party that advocates racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim views. According to the German intelligence service, the NPD rejects the concept of liberal democracy. The NPD is hostile towards both the United States and Israel. The party is opposed to multiculturalism and is concerned about the “foreign infiltration” (Überfremdung) of Germany, namely the perceived Americanization and Islamization of German society. The NPD considers the presence of immigrants in Germany—regardless of whether they hold German citizenship—to be an attack on the German ethnic community (Volksgemeinschaft) and advocates deporting immigrants to their respective countries of origin.

Now in a future article we'll be looking at other chapters of the SoO in Alberta, but we think we've managed to do a good job framing the group so we'll save all that for later.