1. When looking at the tragedy in Buffalo, NY where a murderer (inspired by another murderer in Christchurch, NZ) took the lives of 10 human beings, I've seen a lot of Canadians being smug and saying, "at least that can't happen here."
2. In fact Canadian right-wing extremists have punched above their weight when spreading the "Great Replacement" conspiracy which motivated both the Buffalo and, earlier, Christchurch murderers who rationalized their murders in racist screeds (I won't call them "manifestos").
3. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
When the murders took place I checked to see what the reaction of right-wing extremists was.
4. But there was more that didn't fit these themes precisely.
For example Proud Boy founder and (sadly) Canadian Gavin McInnes seems to deny that the murderer was motivated by racist beliefs and wasn't the act of a right-wing extremist.
5. Also, we have "Red Ice" (shared by Diagolon's Jeremy MacKenzie) and someone posting on the Global Freedom Convoy (remember the claim the #OttawaOccupation wasn't racist?) who seem to suggest the real victims here are maligned white people.
6. They reference an incident in Milwaukee in which 17 people were injured in a shooting.
Even if the claim the media ignored this was true, I think a person livestreaming racially based murders with the hope others will follow is more significant than random gun violence.
7. And also the media didn't ignore the events in Milwaukee.
These are just a few of the articles I could find without looking especially hard.
8. But this is all irrelevant when looking at the larger picture of course.
So let's look at "The Great Replacement", the conspiracy the murder claims motivated him to commit these acts.
9. In 2011, anti-racist sites such were inundated with the Bob Whitaker Mantra. It was an easily refuted rant that suggested being anti-racist was in fact being anti-white.
"Boneheads Are SO Cute When They Think They’re Clever: Bob Whitaker's Mantra"
10. Though incredibly inept and clumsy, in many ways the mantra echoed the same themes of the later, "Great Replacement" conspiracy, particularly the belief in an orchestrated effort to use demographic change to replace white people.
11. In Canada, one of the most strident supporters of the "Great Replacement" conspiracy was Lauren Southern, then a personality with Rebel Media. She echoed the rhetoric of the identitarians such as Generation Identity.
12. For more details I invite readers to view the excellent video by @HeyItsVadim who breaks down Southern's claims as well as whether she (or others who promoted the "Great Replacement" conspiracy) bare any responsibly for Christchurch.
13. Southern wasn't the only Rebel Media personality to share this conspiracy. Faith Goldy also promoted it and while I wasn't able to download this video...
14. ...I was able to get this one where, though she doesn't mention the conspiracy by name, clearly is talking about it.
15. Now prior to the murders in Buffalo this weekend if most Canadians were aware of the "Great Replacement" conspiracy it was as a result of the murder of 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. The murder was motivated by this conspiracy.
16. The Christchurch murder also donated to Generation Identity who promoted the "Great Replacement" conspiracy as well as other groups that he appears to have believed were of like mind when it came to the conspiracy.
17. In Canada, two neo-Nazis, Paul Fromm and Kevin Goudreau, were both investigated, the former having published the racist screed of the Christchurch murderer and the former calling for similar action directed at targets including @antihateca
18. The reaction to the investigation on the infamous hate site Stormfront was to claim persecution.
19. Both Kevin Goudreau and Bill Noble (the moderator "Jotunn" though he also went by "Leto Atreides II" and "Exterminance" in the past) were involved in this forum discussion.
20. In the Stormfront forum thread Goudreau makes mention of Stephen Garvey, a right-wing extremist who was associated with the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam.
21. Though Garvey today seems more concerned with 5G towers, he was also someone who pushed the "Great Replacement" conspiracy.
22. The blog Garvey wrote this for is run by former NB professor Ricardo Duchesne who, you guessed it, also promotes the idea that there is an orchestrated effort to replace white people.
25. The reality is that I haven't even scratched the surface with these examples. I could provide for more examples of how the "Great Replacement" conspiracy has found fertile ground in Canada.
26. An if you think that such a tragedy that occurred in Christchurch and now Buffalo can't happen in Canada because we are somehow unique, I'm here to say that not only can it happen, but it really already has.
28. So rather than being smug and pointing out fingers to our south, perhaps we should recognize the problem that already exists in this country and deal with it rather than pretend it doesn't exist?
29. Because in the end, this isn't going anywhere without a concerted effort to address it.
1. I'm sure that most people have seen the video of Jagmeet Singh being accosted and threatened outside an NDP campaign office in Peterborough. If not I'll include the video but be warned that it is awful.
However I want to look at what happened in a broader context.
2. In September 2017 during the NDP leadership campaign I was among the first to publish a story about Singh being accosted by a woman linked to an anti-Muslim hate group.
"Woman Who Verbally Attacked Jagmeet Singh Tied to Rise Canada"
3. Of course this wasn't the last time Singh would be targeted. In October 2020, Brian Kidder also accosted and threatened to "arrest" Singh for... reasons?
1. So while I can guarantee that I had a better time today than the "Rolling Thunder" crowd did (despite what they may believe) I thought it might be useful to provide a bit of a summary of the day's events in Ottawa.
3. I usually head to the usual suspects when I cover these stories and one of those people i look at is Kim Kerr who was also a participant in the February #OttawaOccupation.
1. Well it looks like the "Rolling Thunder" event turned into exactly what it was expected to have been, though the participants have been met with a much different police response.
So let's get started.
2. You'll remember that there was a controversy about Holocaust denier Chris Saccoccia's (aka Chris Sky) involvement.
2. The key figure behind this event is Neil Sheard, a man who claims to have served 12 years in the CAF. Here on March 26 he said that if people in Ottawa thought the trucker rally was loud, wait until 1000s of motorcycles arrive.
3. Now sadly Goudreau isn't in custody and he continues to be active on his Telegram pages denying the charge while also referring to my fellow board member as a scumbag and writing "I can't wait to find out who sent Warman these lies" which seems, at least to me, to be a threat.
1. A couple of weeks ago I published a thread concerning the rhetoric of Marcus Ray (real name Mark Chilcott). It received a lot of attention at the time and the situation has appeared to have escalated... sort of.
2. Another video has been floating around of one of Marcs Ray's followers who is convinced that "patriots" will soon be gathering en mass and "taking back" BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
3. The TikTok channel with was found at has been deleted but a friend managed to get screen shots of some of the comments.
Despite Marcus Ray's claims their event will be peaceful is seems clear that his supporters believe there will be violence.