2. About a week or two, @antihateca published an incredible resource for schools on how to deal with extremism. As a teacher myself I know many don't have the knowledge base to effectively approach the issue when they come across it so this will be a very effective tool.
3. I would urge readers to take a good look at the resource as it can be used by anyone who struggled to deal with extremism when they encounter it..
4. the folks with CAHN put a lot of incredible hard work into this resource, however right now it is being attacked primarily because of this inclusion in the symbols section.
8. And it didn't take long before one of the candidates in the Conservative leadership race decided to make this an issue as well; I don't doubt more will also chime in eventually.
9. Here is where it gets a little more interesting as the use of the Red Ensign as a symbol co-opted by the far-right isn't an original CAHN perspective. Where we discuss the Red Ensign we provided a handy link to back up what we have written.
Wanna guess where the link lead?
10. If you guessed that the link leads to "The National Post" from 2017 you win a prize!
11. The Red Ensign in and of itself isn't a racist symbol (though our FNMI friends can certainly point to it being a symbol of colonialism). It is the flag that Canadian soldiers fought under against the Axis powers. In short, the flag at your Legion isn't inherently hateful.
12. However, it has been adopted by the far right as a symbol of what Canada "used to be" which is perpetuating a racist myth.
But don't take my word for it. Here is someone who will happily admit this is the case.
13. But I suppose people will still want proof that what we have said is true so buckle up folks!
Also, if you think this will be overkill, believe me when I tell you that I am only posting a tiny fraction of what I have.
14. We begin with John Beattie, the 1960s founder of the Canadian Nazi Party and later the British Peoples' League. Here he is hanging out with two members of the Hammerskins on one of his more recent YouTube videos.
22. Along with Goldy, Kevin Goudreau was also banned from Facebook permanently.
23.
24. There are more recent articles (you can do a search) but since I started with a "National Post" article I might as well continue (this one written by the awesome @StewGlobal).
29. Speaking of Marc Lemire, here is the last leader of what was once Canada's most "successful" hate groups prior to learning there was a mole in it and Lemire running it into the ground.
30. FYI, Lemire tried to deny he was actively involved in the HF so I wrote a series of articles explaining why he was a lying liar who lies.
31. If you knew of the Heritage Front you knew of the band Rahowa (Racial Holy War), a contemporary racist music group fronted by George Burdi with Jon Latvis on guitar.
Latvis continued his... er... music after the band broke up.
32. He also made news a few years back in Toronto. It involved a Ford of course.
36. By this point you have likely been seeing a lot of one person. That is Paul Fromm and I'll talk more about him later. In the meantime here he is with the splinter "Proud Goys" who weren't actually a splinter.
38. Now we head back to the late 1990s and early 2000s as members of the Northern Guard and the Canadian Heritage Alliance protested in support of Ernst Zundel and Brad Love.
39. Among the folks in this one are Tomasz Winnicki and Jason Ouwendyk who was the head of the Northern Alliance.
40. Melissa Guille on the other hand was the leader of the Canadian Heritage Alliance.
41. You might be wondering if there was a mech page.
There was indeed a merch page.
42. And if you are wondering why you have never heard of the Northern Alliance, the Canadian Heritage Alliance, and Tomasz Winnicki, you have CAHN board member Richard Warman to thank for that.
45. So that brings us to the Aryan Guard/Blood & Honour and the splinter WEB. They used the Red Ensign frequently during their annual "White Pride" days.
46.
47.
48. Paul Fromm gave them a shoutout about their fancy new clubhouse too.
49. The Aryan Guard was featured frequently on the blog.
Again, you have Richard Warman to thank for that if you don't as well.
56. Now I've mentioned Paul Fromm a great deal. Fromm has been a part of every far-right movement since the 1960s as a member of the Edmund Burke Society through the anti-mask movement today.
57. Perhaps no other person has "popularized" the Red Ensign as a far-right symbol than Fromm whose use of the flag is very much a way he tries to appeal to his supporters sense of a world lost that they want back.
58. So how ubiquitous is Fromm's use and debasement of the Red Ensign?
Here he is at a KKK event in the US.
59. With former KKK leader and current owner of the hate site Stormfront Don Black.
69. "Maybe there are some people who use the Red Ensign as a far-right symbol, but they are fringe. Nothing to worry about.
Right?"
70. So here is my answer to CAHN's critics upset that we included the Red Ensign in our section detailing far-right symbols.
71. You seem more upset that we told you something that is accurate than the fact that it is happening and you would rather stick your head in the sand and pretend it isn't real or serious.
72. If you don't want hate groups co-opting symbols that you seem to cherish, then perhaps do something about that rather than criticizing those who provide you with an unpleasant truth you don't want to believe.
73. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
74. Okay, anyone remember the series "Columbo"?
75. Going back to the old school boneheads, a very dear friend @onemooreliz reminded me that the Red Ensign was often prominently displayed during Heritage Front speeches as it is here, along with the HF flag, behind Grant Bristow.
76. Of note, @onemooreliz also did a very similar thread from a very unique perspective. Please give it a read as well.
One of the CF dorks, Richard Carmichael, broke his arm climbing a statue of Sir. JAM to hang a Red Ensign on it.
They used the Red Ensign as a sling because, well, they are clumsy idiots.
81. The Red Ensign was also carried into the #OttawaOccupation/"trucker" convoy event in Ottawa this past February, one of which carried by a CF member.
82. That CF member was Shane Marshall (sons.Of.liberty)
1/ It's been a while since I've done a thread here, but the recent focus on Pat King got me to wondering what was up with his own Salacious Crumb, Tyson "Freedom George" Billings.
2/ Last time I looked at Billings he was a part of the efforts to set up a permenant camp outside Ottawa so there could be daily protests, though the original plan involved surrounding the police and arresting politicians.
Suffice to say it didn't go anywhere.
3/ Billings and Ron Clark soon headed home, but they both soon got involved in other protests including the anti-carbon tax protests occurring in the province. The numbers at these events have been small but that hasn't stopped from politicians from courting the fringes it seems.
1/ Though I'm not especially active these days, I'm still sometimes gobsmacked by some of the ridiculous (though sadly effective) rage farming by some on the right. Harrison Faulkner of "True North" is just a recent example of that.
2/ So a bit of background. Musical artist Karan Aujla won the 2024 TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award at the award ceremony this past weekend.
I think it was this weekend. Truth be told I don't pay a lot of attention to awards shows.
3/ It should be noted that Aujla has been in Canada for years emigrating as an orphan. He graduated from high school in Canada. The album was produced by a Canadian on a Canadian label.
1/ A couple of days ago self-proclaimed leaders of the "freedom movement" held a press conference in Ottawa which was about as unhinged as you might have expected.
2/ Apparently the person who set this up was Derek Noonan who was also one of the speakers.
That would be this guy and I shall get back to him shortly.
3/ Because these "freedom patriot" types are SUPER jealous of anyone getting even a tiny bit of the noteriety they seem to believe they deserve and are entitled to, Gordon Berry was not happy with the press conference.
1. Misinformation has always been a feature on Twitter but prior to Musk's ownership there appeared to be a minimal effort (very minimal) to counter it. Those days are clearly over.
Case in point, Theo Fleury shared this with his 285.8K followers today:
2. Before I go any further, no. This is not in fact true at all and a fact check would indicate that it isn't true.
Pictured here with Chrystia Freeland is her mother and sister.
3. When asked about the photo, the original poster said it was taken in 1967:
2. I am NOT going to post a clip covering every part of the video, but I do think there are a couple that are important.
First, Venne claims that he wasn't able to be himself and had to be careful how he spoke.
3. It appears that for people who complain about controlled narratives, Norm Blanchfield and Gordon Berry are really determined to control the narrative.