Gary Schipper
Encyclopedia
Gary Schipper< He is best known as the Heritage Front's voice for acting as its spokesman in interviews and recording messages for telephonic broadcast on the group's controversial telephone hotline.
The telephone messages resulted in the Heritage Front being brought before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
for communicating racial hate messages. Schipper defended the messages saying "Our hot line is not illegal, [t]he hot line's a romper room, it's politically incorrect. If you want a little humour, a little satire, call the hot line."
His high profile as a proponent of racism in the early 1990s culminated in a June 1993 demonstration outside his house by 175 supporters of Anti-Racist Action
in which rocks and paint were thrown at Schipper's residence breaking windows and causing property damage. The demonstration assembled in a downtown park and was expected by white supremacists to be heading to the house of Ernst Zündel
who had gathered at the Carlton Street property and were surprised to learn later of the protest's true destination. Heritage Front leader Wolfgang Droege
was "enraged" by the attack and reportedly vowed revenge saying ""From now on, if that's the way they want to play the game, that's fine."
That evening, approximately 30 to 40 Heritage Front members attacked Anti-Racist Action supporters at Sneaky Dee's
bar, a popular hang-out for anti-racists. According to a bar employee, the white supremacists "stomped all over people" and "They just went crazy. They wanted to kill anybody. There were riot cops everywhere and a lot of glass flying around. Cops were tackling guys all over the place."
Front leader Droege and leading members Peter Mitrevski and Christopher Newhook was criminally charged with aggravated assault and weapons offences as a result of the melee
The legal problems and jail sentences stemming from the aftermath of the attack on Schipper's house as well as from the hotline's operation were a leading factor in the Front's decline after 1993 and the decline in Droege's involvement.
In June 1994 Schipper was sentenced for two months imprisonment (Droege and Kenneth Barker were also sentenced) for contempt of court
for disregarding a court order to cease the telephone hate messages.
Also, in 1994, the five anti-racists charged for attacking Schipper's house were acquitted.
Schipper claimed to have developed his racist and anti-Semitic views as a result of having been adopted by a Jewish family as a child. "I was adopted by a Jewish family who couldn't have their own children when I was a month and a half old," he said. "I never got along with them at all. I didn't look Jewish. I didn't act Jewish."
"We disagreed on absolutely everything. Races think differently, you know. They finally threw me out when I was sixteen."
He bummed around North America, playing guitar in bar bands and working as a telemarketer. Finally, Schipper found his calling after contacting the Heritage Front. "We whites are the doormat at the house of equality," he said. "I want to be politically incorrect and stir things up."
The telephone messages resulted in the Heritage Front being brought before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 by the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and is independent of the Canadian Human Rights Commission which refers cases to it for adjudication under the Act.The Tribunal...
for communicating racial hate messages. Schipper defended the messages saying "Our hot line is not illegal, [t]he hot line's a romper room, it's politically incorrect. If you want a little humour, a little satire, call the hot line."
His high profile as a proponent of racism in the early 1990s culminated in a June 1993 demonstration outside his house by 175 supporters of Anti-Racist Action
Anti-Racist Action
The Anti-Racist Action Network is a decentralized network of anti-fascist and anti-racists in North America. ARA activists organize actions to disrupt neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, and help organize activities against fascist and racist ideologies. ARA groups also oppose sexism,...
in which rocks and paint were thrown at Schipper's residence breaking windows and causing property damage. The demonstration assembled in a downtown park and was expected by white supremacists to be heading to the house of Ernst Zündel
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
who had gathered at the Carlton Street property and were surprised to learn later of the protest's true destination. Heritage Front leader Wolfgang Droege
Wolfgang Droege
Wolfgang Walter Droege was a Canadian white supremacist, neo-Nazi and founding leader of the Heritage Front.-Early life:...
was "enraged" by the attack and reportedly vowed revenge saying ""From now on, if that's the way they want to play the game, that's fine."
That evening, approximately 30 to 40 Heritage Front members attacked Anti-Racist Action supporters at Sneaky Dee's
Sneaky Dee's
Sneaky Dee's is a bar on the south-east corner of the College and Bathurst intersection in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its original location was on Bloor Street west of Bathurst, but it moved to its present location in 1990....
bar, a popular hang-out for anti-racists. According to a bar employee, the white supremacists "stomped all over people" and "They just went crazy. They wanted to kill anybody. There were riot cops everywhere and a lot of glass flying around. Cops were tackling guys all over the place."
Front leader Droege and leading members Peter Mitrevski and Christopher Newhook was criminally charged with aggravated assault and weapons offences as a result of the melee
The legal problems and jail sentences stemming from the aftermath of the attack on Schipper's house as well as from the hotline's operation were a leading factor in the Front's decline after 1993 and the decline in Droege's involvement.
In June 1994 Schipper was sentenced for two months imprisonment (Droege and Kenneth Barker were also sentenced) for contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
for disregarding a court order to cease the telephone hate messages.
Also, in 1994, the five anti-racists charged for attacking Schipper's house were acquitted.
Schipper claimed to have developed his racist and anti-Semitic views as a result of having been adopted by a Jewish family as a child. "I was adopted by a Jewish family who couldn't have their own children when I was a month and a half old," he said. "I never got along with them at all. I didn't look Jewish. I didn't act Jewish."
"We disagreed on absolutely everything. Races think differently, you know. They finally threw me out when I was sixteen."
He bummed around North America, playing guitar in bar bands and working as a telemarketer. Finally, Schipper found his calling after contacting the Heritage Front. "We whites are the doormat at the house of equality," he said. "I want to be politically incorrect and stir things up."