Heritage Front
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
neo-Nazi white supremacist
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
organization founded in 1989 and disbanded around 2005.
The Heritage Front maintained a telephone message line with a different editorial each day. The voice on the hotline was Gary Schipper. The line resulted in complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a quasi-judicial body that was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal...
and hearings into allegations that the group violated Canada's hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
laws. The group organized a series of white power rock concerts in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and elsewhere. Immediately after one of these concerts, a Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
man, Sivarajah Vinasithamby, 41, returning home from work was beaten and partially paralyzed by several white power skinheads who had just left the concert.
History
The Heritage Front was founded in 1989 by former Nationalist Party of CanadaNationalist Party of Canada
The Nationalist Party of Canada is an unregistered Canadian political party that was founded in 1977 by Don Andrews , who continues as leader of the party...
members Wolfgang Droege
Wolfgang Droege
Wolfgang Walter Droege was a Canadian white supremacist, neo-Nazi and founding leader of the Heritage Front.-Early life:...
, Gerry Lincoln
Gerry Lincoln
Gerald C. Lincoln was one of the founders of the Heritage Front along with Wolfgang Droege, Grant Bristow and James Scott Dawson. Lincoln was editor of Up Front, the group's official magazine, designed the groups logo and also acted as one of its spokespersons.In 1989, Lincoln traveled with Droege...
, Grant Bristow
Grant Bristow
Grant Bristow was a mole for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service working inside the Heritage Front for six years, who was exposed by Toronto Sun reporter Bill Dunphy in August 1994...
and James Scott Dawson. They were joined by Al Overfield
Al Overfield
Alan Overfield is a Canadian white supremacist.He was a founding member of the Edmund Burke Society established by Paul Fromm, Don Andrews, and Leigh Smith. He was also part of an attempted takeover by Fromm of the Ontario wing of the national Social Credit Party of Canada...
and other former members of the Nationalist Party who had become disenchanted with Don Andrews
Don Andrews
Donald Clarke Andrews is a Canadian white supremacist. He is also the leader of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Party of Canada and a perennial candidate for mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Early years:...
's leadership and felt that a new organization and tactics were necessary. The idea for the new group was developed in early September 1989 when a delegation of 18 Canadian far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
activists were visiting Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
at the invitation of Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
, who was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his regime. The Heritage Front formed an alliance with the Church of the Creator and its Canadian leader George Burdi
George Burdi
George Burdi, also known as George Eric Hawthorne , is a Canadian musician who initially became known for his role in White nationalist organizations. He led the Canadian branch of the World Church of the Creator, which formed an allegiance with the now-defunct nationalist organization Heritage Front...
. Other prominent figures in the Canadian far right, such as Paul Fromm and 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,...
, worked with the Heritage Front but did not join the organization.
In 1992, the Heritage Front illegally brought prominent American neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
Tom Metzger
Tom Metzger
Thomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
and John Metzger to Canada to speak, and provided security at a speech by Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
. Droege retired in 1995, following legal troubles, and handed leadership over to Marc Lemire
Marc Lemire
Marc Lemire is a figure in the Canadian white supremacist movement. He works closely with leader Paul Fromm, and is the webmaster of the Hamilton, Ontario-based Freedom-Site which he began in 1996. He has been called a "bigot" by Jonathan Kay of the National Post...
. Under Lemire's leadership, the membership of the group declined rapidly, and by 2005 it existed in name only. Now it is defunct.
The activities of the Heritage Front led to the formation of an 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,...
(ARA) branch in Toronto, which engaged in a series of demonstrations and confrontations with the Heritage Front, culminating in 1993 with a riot on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
between members of ARA and the Heritage Front after a concert by George Burdi
George Burdi
George Burdi, also known as George Eric Hawthorne , is a Canadian musician who initially became known for his role in White nationalist organizations. He led the Canadian branch of the World Church of the Creator, which formed an allegiance with the now-defunct nationalist organization Heritage Front...
's rock band RaHoWa. Four Heritage Front members, including Burdi, were arrested and charged with assault. Burdi was sentenced to a year in prison for aggravated assault, and later dropped out of the movement and renounced racism. A month after the clash in Ottawa, ARA held a militant demonstration outside the Toronto home of Gary Schipper, which resulted in thousands of dollars of damage to the property. Droege and other members of the Heritage Front responded that evening by attacking members of ARA outside of 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....
- a known ARA hangout - resulting in Droege and other Heritage Front members being charged with assault. In 1995, Droege was convicted of the assault and sentenced to five months in prison. He also spent time in jail 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...
and other violations relating to the Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal.
Grant Bristow
Grant Bristow
Grant Bristow was a mole for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service working inside the Heritage Front for six years, who was exposed by Toronto Sun reporter Bill Dunphy in August 1994...
, working on behalf of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS), infiltrated the group and became one of its leaders. According to the CSIS and Bristow, their role was to gather intelligence on the far right and try to suppress its violent activity. Bristow's role in the group was exposed in 1994 by the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
, and became the subject of an inquiry by the Security Intelligence Review Committee
Security Intelligence Review Committee
The Security Intelligence Review Committee is an independent agency of the government of Canada empowered to oversee and review the operations of Canada's security service, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and investigate complaints against CSIS...
, which published a report on the matter in that same year.
See also
- Fascism in CanadaFascism in CanadaFascism in Canada consisted of a variety of movements and political parties in Canada during the twentieth century. Largely a fringe ideology, fascism has never commanded a large following amongst the Canadian people, and was most popular during the Great Depression...
- Max FrenchMax FrenchDavid Maxwell French is a far-right political activist in Canada and a leading figure of the Heritage Front.A railway brakeman by training, in 1988, French was a fringe candidate running to be mayor of Scarborough, Ontario as the candidate of the white supremacist Nationalist Party of...
- List of white nationalist organizations
- Neo-Nazism in CanadaNeo-Nazism in CanadaNeo-Nazism is the post World War II ideology that promotes white supremacy and specifically anti-Semitism. In Canada, Neo-Nazism has existed as a branch of right-wing radicalism and has been a source of considerable controversy during the last 50 years.-History:...
External links
- The Heritage Front Affair -From The Nizkor Project