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:

Soldier of Odin Member Christopher Hayes Update 1

Last Friday we wrote about Christopher Hayes who was arrested for making threats towards Prime Minister Trudeau on social media. We also posted comments defending said threats as "freedom of speech." We also learned that Hayes was a supporter, if not a member, of the Saskatchewan chapter of Soldiers of Odin:

We didn't initially notice, but upon a second look we found that Chris Hayes' arrest had been discussed in a thread originally begun by an individual who claimed Chris as a brother:

The thread continued today:

This is interesting, in that another supporter (or member) of the Soldiers of Odin, David Rhinelander, has admitted to being investigated for threats made on social media.

Of additional interest is that Michael "Mjohn" Hayes is a leader within the Saskatchewan chapter of the Sons of Odin; he has been listed as the Oxbow chapter president:

Court Appearance for Michelle Erstikaitis

Michelle Erstikaitis appeared in court today and has been charged with attempted murder. In a previous court appearance, Ms. Erstikaitis had with her an item that might make her friends Paulie and Canadian Creativity Movement leader Wes Smith scratch their heads a bit:

But the designated dangerous offender was clutching a Qur’an as she appeared briefly in an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday to face charges for allegedly slashing a U.S. Consulate security guard.

Not that we actually believe for a moment she is a Muslim now, just as we questioned her commitment to the cause of "White Nationalism."

Still, isn't it interesting that Paulie, who had inexplicably championed her for years, has remained silent?

Things that make you go, hmmmm.

Man Arrested for Threatening Prime Minster: Ties to Canadian Extremist Group Soldiers of Odin

On August 2, a man residing in Grayson, Saskatchewan, was arrested for online threats made against Prime Minister Trudeau:

On Tuesday, Christopher Hayes was arrested by RCMP members at his residence in the Saskatchewan town 170 kilometres northeast of Regina. 

He was charged with one count of uttering threats against a Canadian government official. His home was also searched, and several electronic items were seized by police.....In one post from July, Hayes writes, “if I have to folks I’ll start personally threatening civil unrest, personally gathering people to overthrow Notley and eventually Trudeau… I have nothing to hide from the #RCMP who are already watching my Facebook account… am I threatening personal harm to Trudeau or Notley? Nope." 

The post goes on to say Hayes will spend all of his time “to organize a movement to overthrow a corrupt government. If the RCMP as a whole had any balls ya [sic] all show throw Notley and Trudeau in fn [sic] jail for corruption and crimes against the people of Canada.” 

Other posts are in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, while others go after government and politicians.

One of the threatening messages were still on Mr. Hayes' Facebook page when this writer took a look. A second one could not be found at that time, but a screen shot was taken by a friend who tipped us off to Christopher Hayes' online activities. Both posts were made on July 8:

 

Another post made on the same day included a petition to allow concealed firearms in Canada (because goodness knows people like this should be walking around with concealed weapons):

The day before his arrest, Hayes posted another message which given the context of his other posts a call for violence.... as well as exhibiting an overall ignorance of economics and geopolitics:

This also doesn't appear to have been Mr. Hayes' first interaction with the police:

Prior to the tip about this guy, we really didn't give it much thought. But when we did a little bit of digging, we found that he had recently become associated with a group we started covering here on the blog a few months ago: