"A History of Violence: 1981 - 2011" by NomDeGuerre200
1981
No discussion of Canadian racist violence can be complete without reference to "Operation Red Dog."
In
1981, a number of Canadians were arrested in a bizarre plot by Canadian
and American white supremacists (led by Don Black who now runs
Stormfront), with Mafia funding, to overthrow the government of the tiny
Caribbean island of Dominica. The plan, called "Operation Red Dog,"
was to have netted the supremacists a base of operations and lucrative
illegal businesses. It was foiled by the FBI, and the participants were
arrested. Those Canadians who were involved in the plot included Wolfgang Droege, Larry Lloyd Jacklin, Marion McGuire, James McQuirter, Charles Yanover, and Harold Woods.
On a routine traffic stop, police found two ounces of cocaine and 5000 pills in James Alexander McQuirter's car. When they went to search his home, they were threatened by another KKK member who waved a loaded shotgun at them.
1982
James
Alexander McQuirter was an outspoken Canadian racist who helped start
the Ku Klux Klan in Toronto in 1976. He soon became the group's "grand
wizard" and opened a public office in Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood
in 1980. At its peak, McQuirter claimed, the Ku Klux Klan had over 2,000
Canadian members; police estimated the number at about 70. McQuirter's
imprisonment was largely responsible for the group's decline in Canada.
While in prison for the Dominica plot, McQuirter (then 24) was sentenced
to serve eight more years in prison after he pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit murder. He had paid an undercover policeman posing
as a hitman $2,000 to murder former Klansman Gary MacFarlane, who he
believe was interfering with Klan activities (see 3:41 of video link).
McQuirter also received a concurrent sentence of five years in prison
for forging cheques, passports and other documents.
1985
After disembarking from a flight in Huntsville, AL, federal agent search
Wolfgang Droege and his luggage. They find a Teflon dagger on his
person and 4 ounces of cocaine (he claims the dagger had been a gift and
the cocaine was for the purpose of financing “the movement”). Droege
was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison, but he was released and
deported back to Canada in 1989. (Kinsella, 261)
1987
Ottawa, ON – Members of the Aryan Resistance Movement (ARM) shoot immigrant
Neo-Nazis
Mark Bauer, Brian McQuaid and a 16 year-old young offender fired a
weapon at the home of Jaajpe Ladan. Ladan was hit in her face but
survived. In May 1988, after a Crime Stoppers segment on the crime was
aired, the three men were arrested. All three would plead guilty to
criminal negligence causing bodily harm, and were given two-year
suspended sentences and ordered to stay away from one another. Bauer was
the leader of the Ottawa chapter of ARM, one of the publishers of the racist magazine Canada Awake! and played in the white power band Cross. No mention was made of the perpetrator’s white supremacist views during the trial or the sentencing. (Kinsella, 311)
1988
Calgary, AB - Tearlach Mac a' Phearsoin charged with gross indecency
Imperial
Wizard of Alberta’s Invisible Empire, “was charged with gross
indecency, following a complaint by a mentally disabled teenager…” Mac
a' Phearsoin was fined $1000.00. (Kinsella, 33)
Two members of Mac
a' Phearsoin’s Invisible Empire Association’s Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan are arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and
conspiracy to commit property damage and serious injury by use of
explosives. The targets were a Jewish businessman and the Calgary Jewish
Centre. The two men would be convicted and sentenced to 5 years in
prison. (Kinsella, 33)
Ottawa, ON – Carleton student beaten
ARM member Richard Arbic brutally assaulted
a Carleton University student Michael Jeffries in an unprovoked attack.
He was later convicted and sentenced to 90 days. “Evidence given in
court established that Arbic had joined two other Nazi skineheads in
kicking and beating Michael Jeffries at a local bar. Jeffries was left
with serious head and chest injuries; when he was arrested by police,
Arbic gave a false name and was concealing a knife. A weapons charge was
dropped when he agreed to plead guilty to assault.” (Kinsella, 318)
1989
Chris Newhook, a Heritage Front member originally from Nova Scotia, attacked a Vietnamese shopkeeper in Toronto, leaving him blind in one eye.
1990
21-year old Kevin Dyer Lake, an ARM (Aryan Resistance Movement) bonehead, was
found guilty of murdering 15-year old Tony Le and sentenced to 12
years. Le, who had come to Canada as a Vietnamese refugee, was fatally
stabbed in the heart after he intervened in a New Years Eve
confrontation between his friends, Dyer Lake and another neo-Nazi. Le’s
friend, 18 year old Mukesh Narayan, also tried to intervene and was
stabbed five times by Dyer Lake.
Two men including 25-year old Jeffrey Paul Jusczel, a Hammerskin, attacked a fellow Toronto neo-Nazi. Juczel beat and choked the victim, stole his money and credit cards, and dragged him naked through the streets while continuing to beat him.
The victim, who was left crippled by the attack, was found lying near
railroad tracks with a gash in his neck. Jusczel was charged with
robbery, aggravated assault, endangering a life and choking. He fled,
ending up in Colorado where he would be charged in the killing of a
friend who was a fellow Hammerskin.
Daniel Sims and Mark Swanson, 19-year old members of the Final Solution Skinheads and followers of Terry Long of the Aryan Nations,
attacked Keith Rutherford in his Edmonton home. Rutherford was a
retired radio journalist who had 30 years prior broadcasted an expose on
an alleged Nazi war criminal. He was kicked in the groin and left blind
in his right eye as a result of being struck in the face with a club.
Sims received an 18 month sentence and Swanson received 8 months. Rutherford filed and won a civil suit against Terry Long, alleging that one month before the beating, the attackers and several other neo-Nazis (including Cpl. Matt McKay) had been at Long’s home when it was suggested that he be hurt.
25-year old Canadian Hammerskin
Jeffrey Paul Jusczel was sentenced to 27 years after pleading guilty to
the second degree murder of 22-year old Norman Dale Hillier, a fellow
white supremacist. Jusczel and three other Hammerskins beat Hillier to
death and threw him over a cliff after he stole $25 from one of the men.
At the time of the murder, Jusczel was using the name Jeffrey Paul
Greszik and was a fugitive in Canada, wanted on charges of assault after
crippling another neo-Nazi.
1991
Prince Albert, SK – Carney Nerland kills Leo LaChance
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| Carney Nerland |
Carney Nerland, a Klan member and leader of Saskatchewan’s Aryan Nations chapter,
shot Cree trapper Leo LaChance in the back as he was leaving Nerland’s
gun shop. Despite Nerland telling a police officer, "if I am convicted of killing that Indian, they should give me a medal and you should pin it on me," he
was charged with manslaughter instead of murder. He pleaded guilty to
manslaughter and was given a sentence of 4 years, of which he served 16
months. The case prompted a public outcry when Nerland’s racist
associations were learned, and when it was later revealed that he had
been an informant for the RCMP. Nerland left prison in 1993 and entered
the witness protection program. A commemorative statue of Leo LaChance stands outside the Prince Albert courthouse.
Gordon
Kuhtey, who was walking in an area of Winnipeg known as the “gay
stroll,” was beaten, stoned and thrown into the Assiniboine River.
Charges would not be laid until 1996, when 4 men were implicated in his
murder: Matt McKay, a member of the Manitoba Klan and the Final Solution
Skinheads in Winnipeg, and Northern Hammerskin members Robert Welsh,
James Lisik and Gary Kuffner. One year after the murder, McKay, a member
of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, would be implicated in the Somalia Affair scandal after he was caught on tape saying “we ain’t killed enough niggers yet.”
The four were tried for murder in 1997, but the charges were suddenly
dropped after it was proved that the star witness wasn’t in Winnipeg at
the time of the murder.
Three teenage affiliates of the Confederate Hammerskins,
including one 16-year old Canadian, shot an African American man named
Donald Thomas as he sat on the back of his truck. Prior to the murder,
the three teenagers had gotten drunk and decided to “shoot a black person.”
The Canadian teen was tried in 1993 and initially received probation.
Public outrage led to a second trial and different charges including
engaging in organized criminal activity, for which the teen was
sentenced to 40 years.
1992
Heritage Front member
Leslie Jasinksi was connected to a plot to seriously harm Jewish
community leaders in Toronto. It was reported that HF member Ken Barker had told Wolfgang Droege that Jasinksi planned to walk into the Toronto offices of the Canadian Jewish Congress and "take out some people."
The threat was investigated by both CSIS and the Metro Toronto Police.
Shortly thereafter, Jasinski was involved in an armed robbery on a
coffee shop in Oshawa.
Heritage Front members Ken Barker, 31,
and Leslie Jasinksi, 25, were charged with armed robbery and weapons
offenses in connection with a hold-up at the Gem coffee shop in Oshawa.
Jasinski was affiliated with the Christian Identity
movement and had been kicked out of a Toronto KKK chapter a year
earlier for being emotionally unstable. CSIS had also investigated him
for allegedly plotting to seriously harm leaders in Toronto's Jewish community.
During the heist, Jasinksi had brandished a sawed-off shotgun and
stolen $275 from the teller. Several weeks later, another Heritage Front
member, 21 year old Phil Grech, was arrested when he fled to Barker's
apartment after robbing a bank in a clown mask. There, police found a
cache of weapons including ammunition and shotguns, a crossbow, a sword,
batteries wired to a timer to look like a bomb, as well as a police
scanner, neo-Nazi propaganda and a wad of cash. Barker was subsequently arrested and charged
with robbery, possession of a prohibited weapon, careless storage of a
firearm, possession of a dangerous weapon, use of a firearm in an
indictable offence, disguise with intent and possession of an explosive
device. Jasinski was arrested after he showed up at Barker's court
hearing to confess to the coffee shop robbery in order to clear him.
Barker was briefly jailed for weapons possession, but the robbery and
explosives charges were thrown out because police didn't have enough
evidence to convict him. Despite Jasinski confessing to the coffee shop
robbery, police were unable to use his statement against him and he was
also released with the order to refrain from possessing firearms and
explosives for the rest of his life. In 1995, he would be identified as
the Toronto representative of an Aryan Nations militia that never actually materialized. Grech pleaded guilty to the bank robbery and received 18 months in jail.
51-year
old Yves Lalonde was beaten to death by 4 neo-Nazis while jogging in
Angrignon Park in Montreal. The perpetrators, all between the ages of
15 and 17, admitted that they targeted Lalonde because they thought he
was gay, and that they routinely sought out gay men in Montreal parks to
beat up. One of the attackers said he had attended a White Power
Canada meeting the night before the killing, and all of them said they
belonged to a white supremacist gang. Lalonde was bludgeoned with a
baseball bat and sticks, fracturing his skull and rupturing his liver. The youths received three years of detention for second degree murder. Two
weeks after these arrests took place, Daniel Lacombe was murdered at a
rest stop in Joliette. Five young men aged between 16 and 19 were
eventually charged with manslaughter. They too were linked to White
Power Canada. (Kinsella, 350)
Hours after attending a protest against British Holocaust denier David Irving,
a home belonging to 55-year old Monna Zentner, who was Jewish, was
gutted by fire. As the home was unoccupied at the time (Zentner was
living next door), no one was hurt, but the fire caused $100 000 in
damage. Irving had been invited to speak at European Sound Imports, a Kitchener stereo store that distributed anti-Semitic hate literature.
For several weeks leading up to the incident, Zentner had been
picketing outside the store to protest Irving’s scheduled visit. The
fire was ruled an arson and was suspected to have been set in
retaliation by Irving supporters. Zentner’s house would again be
firebombed the following year, and a former Heritage Front member would later accuse the organization of being responsible.
Johnny Sharbnow, a 29-year old neo-Nazi, was shot to death by two fellow WNs on the way to the Aryan Nations compound
in Hayden Lake, Idaho. 19-year old Tim Biscope, of Alberta, and
23-year old Adam Elteto were charged with second degree murder. Biscope
received a 19-year sentence and returned to Edmonton after his release.
Richard Manley, a security enforcer for the Heritage Front and for George Burdi,
was arrested after an investigation by Canada Customs on allegations
that he was importing a gun part to convert semi-automatic weapons to
fully automatic. A police search of his home uncovered several weapons
including an AR-15 assault rifle and an Uzi automatic pistol.
1993
Several hundred people gathered in Ottawa to protest a planned RaHoWa concert, culminating in fights on Parliament Hill that led to assault charges against 4 neo-Nazis. George Burdi, leader of RaHoWa and the Canadian branch of the World Church of the Creator, was sentenced to one year in prison for kicking then-ARA member Alicia Reckzin in the face, breaking her nose. Burdi has since left the movement.
22-year old Tyrone Alexander Mason, a Heritage Front member
who was resigning from the organization, was kidnapped by Drew Maynard
and brothers Elkar Fischer and Eric Fischer, all members of the Church of the Creator. Both Fischer brothers were members of the infamous Canadian Airborne Regiment,
and Eric Fischer was a former sergeant and the head of security for the
Heritage Front. During the ordeal, Mason was handcuffed, beaten, and
threatened with injections of window cleaner. The attackers believed
Mason had been responsible for stealing a Church of the Creator computer
that contained a membership list and names of neo-Nazis in the Canadian
military. In a police raid on the residence of 6 Church of the Creator
members, a cache of guns was discovered and the three kidnappers were
arrested. The charges against Maynard were eventually stayed because the charges took too long to come to trial.
The Fischer brothers pleaded guilty to kidnapping, forcible
confinement, assault causing bodily harm and threatening death, and
received a plea deal sentence of 30 days.
Wolfgang Droege and fellow Heritage Front members
Peter Mitrevski and Chris Newhook were charged with assault in relation
to an attack on anti-racists that took place at Sneaky Dee’s bar in
Toronto, following a militant ARA demonstration outside the home of HF
member Gary Schipper.
Droege was charged with aggravated assault and possession of dangerous
weapons and in 1995 was sentenced to 5 months in prison. Newhook was sentenced to 12 months for
possession of a dangerous weapon and assaulting an officer with the
intent to resist arrest. A police officer testified that he witnessed
Newhook chasing an unarmed man with a sawed-off baseball bat that was
decorated with swastikas and SS symbols. Mischief charges against
anti-racist protestors who had been at the demo outside Schipper’s home were dismissed.
Following a RaHoWa concert
in Toronto, Jason Roberts Hoolans and two other WNs went looking for a
victim to beat up. They attacked 45-year old Tamil refugee Sivarajah
Vinasithamby, who was left brain damaged and partially paralyzed as a
result of being repeatedly kicked in the head. Hoolans’ lawyer admitted
that the attack was racially motivated, and Hoolans himself told the
court, "I am proud of my achievements and proud of my country. I don't hold extreme racial views. I am proud of my race." But before sentencing he begged the court for another chance, offering to do community service speaking out against racism. Hoolans, who was described by Wolfgang Droege as a “hanger on” of the Heritage Front and had ties to the Church of the Creator, was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated assault.
Kitchener, ON – Paul McGraw is charged with assault with a weapon and uttering threats
Neo-Nazi drug dealer and Heritage Front member Paul McGraw was
charged with assault with a weapon and uttering threats in relation to
an incident at the Headin’ West store in Kitchener. McGraw, Gary
Danicki and one other neo-Nazi were asked to leave the store by its
Jewish owner, Elliot Eisen. In the attack that ensued, Eisen was shoved,
had cowboy boots thrown at him, one man tried to punch him, and McGraw
told him that “he was going to kill me and kill all the Jews.”
Eisen’s 18-year old son was also spat at and two merchandise displays
were overturned. While in court on the charges, McGraw gave a Nazi
salute as he exited the prisoner’s box and was greeted outside by his
pregnant 16-year old girlfriend (McGraw
was then 20 years old). At the time of the charges, McGraw was on
probation for a 1992 assault in Toronto and had outstanding charges in
Nova Scotia for theft, possession of stolen goods and assault.
In
August of 1993, a home owned by Jewish anti-racist activist Monna
Zentner was destroyed in a second arson. The first attack on the home
occurred in 1992 when it was firebombed after a protest against
Holocaust-denier David Irving who was speaking at the European Sound
Imports Store. In May, Zentner was an observer at a Nazi gathering in
the store during which the owner, Michael Rothe, handed her a copy of “Did Six Million Really Die?” That same month, Zentner received a phone call in which “he
(the caller) said there would be a second fire on Nov. 7 (the
anniversary of a previous fire at her house) and he hopes the Jews would
burn and he hoped I would die too in the fire.” 90 people marched through Kitchener in support of Zentner. Later that year, Elise Hategan, a former member of the Heritage Front, testified that the organization had been responsible for the fire.
The
Somalia Affair was a military scandal that began with the death of
Somali teenager Shidane Arone at the hands of peacekeepers in the
Canadian Airborne Regiment who found him hiding near the Canadian base
and accused him of planning to steal supplies. Arone was subsequently
tortured by Cpl Clayton Matchee and Trooper Kyle Brown, who were on
guard duty. Cpl Matt McKay, a white supremacist, suggested that Matchee
use a ration pack or phone book to beat Arone so that it wouldn’t leave a
mark. Matchee and Brown proceeded to beat Arone, sodomise him with a
broomstick and take “trophy” photos of the torture. Burn marks were left
on his genitals. Matchee, who is Native, also told another soldier, “now the Black man would fear the Indian as he did the white man.” Arone died as a result of the beatings, his last words reportedly being “Canada! Canada! Canada!”. The
killing took place weeks after Canadian soldiers shot two unarmed
Somalis in the back, killing one of them. In that incident, allegations
were made that the victim had been killed while lying on the ground, and
that trophy photos of his corpse were taken. Two other Somalis had also
been killed on that tour of duty. Matchee and Brown were arrested and
charged with murdering Arone. Matchee attempted suicide, leaving him
with brain damage and unfit to stand trial, while Brown was convicted of
torture and second degree murder and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
One
year later, a lifted publication ban led to the release of the photos
of Arone’s murder, causing a public outcry and inquiry into the Canadian
Airborne Regiment. The investigation uncovered a culture of racism and
white supremacist activity in the CAR, including a Confederate flag
being used to decorate 2 Commando’s barracks and a video of racist
hazing rituals in 1 Commando which showed a black soldier being walked
like a dog on a leash, the phrase “I Love KKK” written on his
back while soldiers screamed about white power. It was alleged that hate
literature floated around the base camp and that soldier Mike Abel, who
died in Somalia, was a member of the KKK. Pte Brocklebank was also
videotaped making racist and violent statements. Cpl Matt McKay, who was
an associate of Aryan Nations Canada leader Terry Long, was
photographed making a Nazi salute in a Hitler t-shirt. McKay had also
hung a swastika in his army barracks and was a past member of the
Manitoba KKK and the Final Solution Skinheads in Winnipeg. He was quoted
as saying that he went to Somalia to “shoot me a nigger,” and was caught on video saying, “we ain’t killed enough niggers yet.” He later told Global News that CAR soldiers had set up a trap for Shidane Arone. McKay would later be implicated in the 1991 homophobic murder of Gordon Kuhtey (charges were dropped). The Canadian Airborne Regiment disbanded in 1995 as a result of the Somalia Affair.
1994
22-year
old neo-Nazi Darryl Wesley Sutton was sentenced to life in prison for
killing an 18-year old street kid named David Murray Quesnel. Quesnel
was beaten, stabbed and left in a bathtub to die during a party at a Toronto rooming house.
Northern
Hammerskin member Sacha Clouatre was arrested for firing blanks at
employees at Carlos & Pepe’s Restaurant in Montreal. When police
showed up, Clouatre pointed a gun at an officer and was subsequently
shot by the officer in the shoulder. Clouatre pleaded guilty to 4 counts
of assault with a weapon and received a suspended sentence.
Brant
Smith, a member of the Northern Hammerskins, spent 60 days in prison
after he pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm at someone. In 1998, he
would also be charged in a series of attacks on patrons at Montreal
bars.
1995
A
violent brawl in the subway between neo-Nazis and members of
Anti-Racist Action ended with a 19-year old ARA member being stabbed in
the stomach and jugular vein. Two neo-Nazis were charged in connection
with the attack: 22-year old Adrian Kaddie, charged with attempted
murder, and 19-year old Kristian Brandes, charged with aggravated
assault, possession of dangerous weapons and assault with a weapon.
Paul McGraw
was arrested in Toronto after fleeing assault charges in
Kitchener-Waterloo, where he had broken a woman’s arm with a bat.
During the incident he also attacked two other people and was charged
with break and enter and assault.
Chris Newhook assaulted two black women on a public bus in Toronto.
1996
17-year
old Michael Amann-Ewaschuk was fatally stabbed in the subway by 22-year
old Frank Chisholm during a confrontation over neo-Nazi symbols on the
bomber jacket of one of Amann-Ewaschuk’s friends. Amann-Ewaschuk was
identified by the Metro Hate Crimes Unit and several classmates as being
a racist skinhead, and before being killed he reportedly was planning
to attend a white power concert in London later that month. During the
concert, several bands dedicated songs to Amann-Ewaschuk, and George Burdi claimed
that a WP compilation CD would be released in his memory. During the
trial, a reporter had his nose broken after being attacked outside the
courthouse by several of Amann-Ewaschuk’s neo-Nazi friends. Chisholm,
who at the time of the murder was on probation for slashing a man with
an Exacto knife, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 9-year
sentence.
1997
Chris
Newhook was sentenced to three years in prison on ten charges including
assault, assault with a weapon, and issuing death threats to young
people.
Nirmal
Singh Gill, a 65-year old Sikh caretaker at the Guru Nanak Temple in
Surrey, was beaten to death in the temple parking lot by neo-Nazis Nathan
Leblanc, 27, Radoslaw Synderek, 24, Robert Kluch, 26, Daniel
Miloszewski, 22, and Lee Nikkel, 18. During the investigation, plans to
murder more Sikhs were uncovered, including what was referred to by the
assailants as “Plan B” – killing hundreds of Sikh school children.
Miloszewski told undercover agents that the group needed money to start a
racial holy war and that he wanted to kill thousands of non-whites.
While in prison, Nathan Leblanc wrote a letter to John William King, who had been convicted in the brutal racist slaying of James Byrd Jr., stating, “you should have been given a medal ... [the victim]
should have been left by the side of the road as an example to those
who would cause the destruction of our glorious white nation." Nikkel and Kluch were sentenced to 15 years in prison; Synderek, Miloszewski and LeBlanc received 12 years.
Neo-Nazis
Richard Stack and Steve Lavallee were arrested for an attack on two
anti-racists. Stack, Lavallee, and 4 of their friends waited outside a
Montreal bar and attacked the anti-racists as they left. The
anti-racists successfully repelled their attackers,
even breaking the arm of one of them, and were charged with disorderly
conduct. Stack and Lavallee were charged with assault. Outside the
courthouse during proceedings, bonehead Steve Legault, who had come to
support his friends, was filmed attempting to attack an anti-racist. One
week later, Steve Lavallee would also be charged in connection with a
series of planned attacks on Montreal bar patrons.
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| Steve Legault trying to attack an anti-racist outside the courthouse |
Paul McGraw was
charged with break and enter, assault, assault with a weapon and
possession of a dangerous weapon. McGraw, then 24, and 28-year old
Christopher Watt broke into an apartment and assaulted a man for a drug
debt, kicking him in the head, face and shoulders, and stabbing him in
the stomach with a butter knife. Charges were stayed after the victim
couldn’t be found. McGraw has a history of intimidating witnesses.
Four
planned attacks on patrons took place at the Montreal bars Blizzarts,
Biftek and Roy Bar, injuring an estimated 30 people. The attacks were
carried out by 8 members of the Vinland
Hammer Skins and Berzerker Boot Boys. Arrested in connection with the
attacks were Brant Smith, Claude Brunet, Daniel Brunet, Sylvain Quiron,
Mathieu Dubois, Jonathan Cote, Steve Lavallee and Alain Letarte,. When
police made the arrests, they uncovered caches of knives, switchblades,
mace, pepper spray, assault rifles, telescopic sights and silencers. The
arrests resulted in 240 separate charges. Although charges were only
laid for 4 attacks, other attacks by neo-Nazis had taken place at
various Montreal bars for over a year, and typically involved rushing
the bar and attacking people from behind using weapons like pepperspray,
baseball bats, crowbars and batons.
1998
Calgary, AB - White supremacist is charged in commando-style raid on bank
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| Paraphernalia found in Patrick Ryan's home |
31-year old Darnell Bass, a Sergeant in the Canadian Airborne Regiment, and 30-year old Patrick Steven Ryan, a white supremacist, dressed
up as security guards and staged an armed heist on a Brinks armored car
at the CIBC branch of a Calgary mall in an attempt to steal $400 000.
The robbery, which ultimately failed, involved the use of tear gas and a
hail of almost 90 gunshots, and has been described as “the most violent hold up in Calgary history.” Bass
and Ryan had been childhood friends in Saskatchewan, who met when they
were both members of the Royal Regina Rifles cadet corps. Bass would go
on to serve 7 years as a combat soldier in the CAR before it was
disbanded in 1995 due to the inquiry into the Somalia Affair and
accusations of rampant racism in the unit. Ryan, who was a former
Brinks employee, was alleged to have been the mastermind of the plot.
Two months earlier, Ryan’s girlfriend, a Brinks guard, had helped him steal $134 000 from a CIBC branch in
exchange for promising her money to pay for breast implants. After the
second robbery, Ryan immediately fled to Europe, allegedly leaving
behind instructions to Bass to kill his (ex-) girlfriend if he was
imprisoned. A police raid on his apartment uncovered a host of neo-Nazi
literature and paraphernalia, including an Aryan Nations flag, a David
Irving book, and a number of white supremacist films. He was eventually
caught by French police and extradited to Canada, where Bass testified
against him. Bass blamed his own involvement in the robbery on the
disbandment of the CAR and the end of his military career. He pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to commit an armed robbery and received a 7-year
sentence. Ryan, who had originally been charged with robbery and
attempted murder, was convicted on robbery and weapons charges, ordered
to pay Brinks $74 000, and sentenced to 8 years in prison, ultimately
serving less than half of that.
1999
Paul McGraw
was charged with conspiracy to commit assault, conspiracy to commit
extortion and obstructing justice. McGraw had tried to arrange for an
inmate to be beaten after he allegedly identified him as the owner of a
sawed-off shotgun that police had discovered in McGraw’s car in 1997. He
also attempted to have the inmate falsely identified as a sex offender so he would be assaulted in prison. The conspiracy to commit extortion charges were laid against McGraw and his girlfriend for trying to enlist a man to settle a drug debt through intimidation.
The plans were discovered after police wiretapped McGraw’s phone on an
unrelated matter in which they feared he might try to intimidate
witnesses in an ongoing murder investigation.
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| Source: Kitchener-Waterloo ARA |
2000
 |
| Dwayne Finlayson |
Dwayne Finlayson, who was an organizer for the Heritage Front in
Prince Edward Island, and fellow neo-Nazi Jonathan Petrie attacked two
Japanese women and one Canadian woman of Japanese ancestry in downtown
Charlottetown. They
smashed pizza into the face of one woman, shouted racist insults and
physically attacked a bystander who tried to intervene. Charges
of inciting hatred were dropped in exchange for Finlayson, who has a
history of violent offenses, pleading guilty to assault and causing a
disturbance. He received four months in prison and 24 months probation.
Petrie also pleaded guilty to assault and causing a disturbance, and was
additionally charged with failing to appear for his sentencing. Dwayne is the cousin of Carl Finlayson who committed suicide in 2010 and had previously been involved with the Heritage Front in PEI and the Brotherhood of Klans in Regina.
Chris Newhook beat an aboriginal man who asked him for a cigarette.
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| Sacha Montreuil |
Montreal, QC – Christian Thomas is beaten to death by neo-Nazis
39-year
old Christian Thomas was beaten into a coma as he was leaving the bar
Chez Helene in Montreal, and later died from massive head trauma.
Charged in connection with his death were neo-Nazis Sacha Montreuil, 26, Adam Guerbuez, 25,
and Frederic Morin, 22. Also at the bar that night were fellow
neo-Nazis Mathieu Carriere, Jonathan Cote, Isabel Forget, Steve Lavallee
and Stephen LePage (Cote and Lavallee had previously been convicted in a
series of Montreal bar attacks in 1998 and were not supposed to be in a
bar). Though witnesses claimed that up to 10 people were involved in
the attack, only Montreuil was charged with murder, with Guerbuez and
Morin being charged with assault and the remainder of the Nazis
testifying as witnesses against Montreuil. Guerbuez and Morin were
ultimately acquitted. Sacha Montreuil was convicted of manslaughter.
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| Victim Aylin Otano-Garcia |
Two
15 year old boys were charged with first degree murder after they
bludgeoned to death 15-year old Aylin Otano-Garcia, a classmate they had
lured to a secluded sandspit. Otano-Garcia had immigrated to Canada
from Cuba when she was 6 years old. The teen responsible for planning
the murder was fascinated by Adolf Hitler, made reference to his “racist, Nazi beliefs”
and said that he killed Otano-Garcia because he didn’t like immigrants.
He received a 7 year sentence, while the other youth received 10 years.
 |
| Donna Marie Upson |
22-year old Donna Marie Upson, a KKK and Aryan Nations
member who was also known as “Baby Hitler”, was sentenced to two years
in prison for threatening to kill Elias Mutales, a black pastor. Upson
was also convicted of threatening to kill black people and threatening
to destroy property at the Victoria Road United Baptist Church. Upson
reportedly had 5 previous convictions for racially motivated crimes,
including assault with a weapon and uttering threats, and had ignored a
previous court order to receive anger management counseling. On appeal,
her sentence was reduced to 13 months.
 |
| Victim Christelle Lavigne-Gagnon |
15-year
old Christelle Lavigne-Gagnon was stabbed to death on the street by her
ex-boyfriend, 20-year old neo-Nazi Richard Germain. Germain had been
harassing and threatening Lavigne-Gagnon for months. After the murder,
he attempted to kill himself twice by slitting his wrists and jumping
into a river. While in detention awaiting trial. he attempted to hang
himself in his cell, landing in a coma for several days. Jean-Sebastian Pressault,
then head of the Laval KKK, came to the trial to show his support for Germain, stating, “he’s our buddy and we respect him like this”. Germain was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 11 years.
 |
| Richard Germain |
2001
An
arrest warrant was issued for Donna Marie Upson, aka “Baby Hitler”
after she failed to appear in court on charges of assaulting two prison
workers at Springhill Prison in Nova Scotia. The assaults occurred while
Upson was incarcerated for threatening to kill a black pastor. She was
arrested and then released after promising to return to court to face
the charges.
One
month after being released from a Nova Scotia prison on charges of
assault and failure to appear, Donna Marie Upson was arrested and denied
bail in New Brunswick after an attempted arson at a homeless shelter.
Upson had been refused a bed at the shelter, after which she was seen
trying to set fire to the exterior of the building.
James
Frederick Hanley, 19, and Matthew Charles Duncan, burned a cross on the
lawn of a black family in Moncton. Hanley had a history of making
derogatory comments about black people and had previously been suspended
from school for possessing hate literature. Duncan had racist tattoos
and had previously assaulted a friend after he refused to return a Nazi salute and proclaim “Heil Hitler”.
Both men were charged with willful promotion of hatred and received
four months in jail. Hanley additionally received three years of
probation and an order to undergo sensitivity therapy.
James Scott Richardson, operator of the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team website and a member of the Tri-City Skins, was charged with making death threats against Jews and Muslims. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the CECT stated in their internet newsletter, “B’nai
B’rith offices, Mossad temples and any Jew [or] arab Temple, building,
house and cars. There are no innocent Jews especially in a time of
war.” . The website also contained other hateful messages about Jews and non-whites. Lawyer Richard Warman filed a human rights complaint against Richardson and Alexan Kulbashian, a
co-operator of the website. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found
that the two websites encouraged violence against immigrants and visible
minorities and fined Richardson and Kulbashian penalties totaling $13
000.
Neo-Nazi
Steve Legault pleaded guilty to attacking an anti-racist at the
courthouse during proceedings against his friends in the beating death of Christian Thomas. Legault had also attempted to attack an anti-racist in a separate case outside the Montreal courthouse in 1998.
About
10 neo-Nazis gathered on the corner of Queen and Lansdowne in Toronto,
after which a fight broke out between them and others on the corner. The
neo-Nazis ran into the nearby Green Dolphin bar, hurling racist abuse
at patrons and shooting random people with pepperspray. They then fled
before being arrested by police.
2002
Neo-Nazi
Christopher Broughton attacked a gay woman in London, Ontario. The
23-year old woman was standing outside holding hands with her female
partner when Broughton hurled homophobic epithets at them, told the
women to perform a sex act on him, punched the victim, grabbed her by
her ponytail and threw her on the ground, then kicked her in the head.
Broughton served 3 years for the assault. He had previously accumulated
14 convictions for violent offences and served two years in prison for a
2000 offense.
 |
| Daniel Laverdiere |
26-year
old Evens Marseille, who is Haitian, was stabbed and beaten by two
neo-Nazis outside the Montreal bar Champlain. Daniel Laverdiere, 23,
and Remi Chabot-Brideault, 21, had taunted Marseille with Nazi salutes
as he sat inside the bar. When he left, the pair followed him and
Laverdiere stabbed Marseille in the stomach while Chabot-Brideault
punched him in the face. Both men then gave Nazi salutes and ran away.
Laverdiere had been on probation for mischief at the time of the attack,
and was described in court as a “hard-core neo-Nazi extremist”.
Chabot-Brideault was given a one year conditional sentence which he
served at home, and was forbidden from associating with “skinheads” for
three years. Laverdiere was sentenced to 4 years for aggravated assault,
and was ordered by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal to pay Marseille
$35 000 in moral damages and $10 000 in punitive damages. Laverdiere is a
member of the Vinland Front Skinheads, whose members came to the trial
to support him.
 |
| Vinland Front Skinheads at the courthouse |
2004
En-route to a rally in support of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, Tomasz Winnicki and
three others was stopped by police, who found throwing knives, a bow
and arrows, and body armour in the car they were driving. Winnicki was
charged with carrying a concealed weapon, having weapons at a public
meeting and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. He pleaded
guilty in 2006 and received a conditional discharge with 6 months of
probation.
Chris
Newhook attacked a man with a piece of plywood and threw him through a
plate-glass window during an argument over rent. He served two years for
assault with a weapon.
2005
Wolfgang Droege, founding leader of the Heritage Front, was
shot to death by a mentally ill man named Keith Deroux. Droege had
been Deroux’s cocaine dealer. Deroux stated that he believed Droege was
sending him messages through his computer and that he had hired bikers
to watch him. In 2006 he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was
sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Over
a period of several weeks, Chinese students at the University of New
Brunswick were targeted in a series of racially motivated attacks.
Students were screamed at and told to go back to China, had lit
fireworks thrown at them and were pelted with eggs. One couple was
assaulted with a cup of ice.
Neo-Nazi
Christopher Garvey, 25, and his friend, 27-year old Russell McMahen,
were charged with assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats and
forcible entry after attacking victim Daniel Schwass. Schwass had
attended a party earlier that night where he had narrowly escaped
getting into a fight with Garvey and McMahen. After he returned home,
the two men showed up at his apartment, forced their way inside, and
began kicking him in the head and face with their combat boots, which
was reported by Schwass’ roommate to have looked like “a game of soccer and his head was like a soccer ball." One
man attempted to drag Schwass out of the apartment, and when his
roommate intervened, Garvey threatened to hurt him too. Blood matching
the victim was found on the boots of the assailants, and it took three
men two hours to clean up the trail of blood left outside the front
door. Garvey and McMahen pleaded not guilty. The victim moved to B.C.
and did not show up to court proceedings.
2006
Stephen
Long, a 22-year old white supremacist who belonged to the racist Hammer
Heads gang, was killed by Christopher Broughton, 29, of Hamilton, who
was hoping to be accepted into the gang. While sleeping, Long was
attacked by Broughton with a baseball bat belonging to Vaughn Newman which
was called a “nigger stick” by its owner and engraved with white power
symbols. The murder may have been in retaliation for an incident earlier
that night when Long had slapped Broughton in the face and called him
an embarrassment. Another white supremacist, Richard Howlett, was also
attacked with a bat but managed to escape. Broughton had previous
assault charges, including a conviction for a hate crime against a gay
woman in 2003. Before his death, Long’s parents had approached the
Ottawa hate crimes unit for help with getting Long out of what his
father referred to as the “vortex of hatred,” also stating, "I
find it an incredible irony that he is murdered by someone in a group
he identified with and someone he thought was a friend in that group.” In 2008, Broughton was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2006, Jean-Sebastian Pressault had
been charged with willfully promoting hatred through a racist website
he operated. While out on bail, he threatened to kill the judge
presiding over his case if he was given an exemplary sentence. Police
searched his home and discovered a loaded gun. He was charged with
threatening the judge and with procuring a firearm.
 |
| Nathan Fry (below) |
19-year
old Nathan Richard Fry was convicted on 5 counts of first degree murder
and one count of attempted murder after he killed a Congolese family
and another woman in a fire. Fry used 25 litres of gasoline and a
blowtorch to set fire to the family’s residence, killing Adela Etibako,
39, and her children, 12-year old Edita, 9-year old Benedicta, and
8-year old Stephane, who were witnessed screaming for help from an
upper-floor window but were too scared to jump out. 19-year old Bolingo,
one of the other children in the house, escaped the fire with serious
burns, but his girlfriend, 17-year old Ashley Singh, was killed. Fry set
the fire because he believed Bolingo had ratted him out for a stabbing
that they both faced charges for. Fry reportedly had been interested in Nazism for many years, called himself “Hitler,” and had a swastika tattoo on his shoulder.
He told an undercover police officer that while he was in prison for
the stabbing incident, he had joined a skinhead gang to get back at
Bolingo and because white supremacists had “fought the niggers and won.” In reference to the arson, Fry also told an undercover officer, “somebody burned down the little nigger’s home and burned up the whole nigger bunch,” and smiled as he stated that Bolingo has been burned so badly that “he even turned white for the first time.” Fry received life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
In September of 2006, Kyle McKee and Dallas Price of the Aryan Guard were
charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon or
imitation for a dangerous purpose, in connection with a brawl where one
victim was stabbed and another was hit with a wooden club.
Kyle McKee was arrested on assault and hate crimes charges after a North African cab driver was attacked. Later, he claimed
that he was not responsible for the attack but was rather taking the
fall for a friend who had almost taken an attempted murder charge for
McKee the previous year. The case was eventually dismissed, which McKee
bragged about as follows: “they
had said that I had assaulted this black cab driver from north Africa.
so one year later I have trial and had it thrown out of court today. The
reason being was that they couldn't make a positive ID on the person
because apparently every one there were all dressed in combat boots with
white laces black flight jackets and all had shaved heads. So let this
be a lesson to everyone that wonders why on earth all us skinheads dress
so similarly. this is another great reason. Lol”
Robert Reitmeier of Western European Bloodlines and formerly the Aryan Guard,
was charged with attempted murder in connection with an incident in
which a man in his 40s was beaten into a coma and suffered skull and
facial fractures. Charges against Reitmeier were later stayed.
Neo-Nazi drug dealer Paul William McGraw
beat a 27-year old man who was also a drug dealer, leaving him with
brain injuries. He was later convicted of aggravated assault and
sentenced to 15 months. Three other people were also charged in relation
to the incident. McGraw was described in news reports as the leader of a
violent gang known as “The Family”.
18-year old Renaud Emard, known as necro99 on Stormfront,
was arrested on weapons charges after being investigated for making
racist threats on the internet and posting pictures of himself posing
with guns. A police raid of his home uncovered 20 firearms and other
weapons, hate literature, an “ethnic cleansing” manual, and a ‘hit list’
featuring the names of schoolmates. He pleaded guilty to possession of a
prohibited weapon (brass knuckles) and five counts of careless storage
of firearms. After undergoing therapy, Emard received a conditional
discharge and one year probation, and has no criminal record.
2007
20
year old Jason Belfiglio was charged with mischief after three windows
at a Jewish daycare centre in Toronto were smashed, which was witnessed
by a TTC bus driver. Belfiglio claimed to not be a neo-Nazi, despite
the fact that he was arrested near the crime scene wearing a neo-Nazi t-shirt (a
Celtic cross intertwined with a swastika). He was give a 90-day
conditional sentence, 3 years of probation, 100 hours of community
service and ordered to make restitution and stay away neo-Nazis.
Four
Chinese University students were attacked with baseball bats and wooden
sticks in Saint John. Days later, two more Chinese students were
attacked in the same manner. Within weeks, a bus stop was spray painted
with the words, “Gooks go home.” The assaults took place in the
same neighborhood where in 2005 Chinese students had been attacked with
eggs, ice and fireworks. 3 neo-Nazi teenagers were charged in
connection with the 2007 assaults – Jonathan Clifford Martin, 19, and
two minors aged 17 and 15. A white couple who had been walking in the
same neighborhood were almost attacked from behind by the trio,
who were carrying steel pipes. They apologized, stating that they were
doing random beatings on Chinese people and thought the couple was
Asian. Martin was charged for the bus shelter vandalism and for
possession of a knife for a purpose dangerous to the public peace. The
minor youth, who cannot be named, were charged with assault and
possession of a dangerous weapon. The 15-year old is still heavily
involved in the white power scene.
Two
weeks after two violent attacks on Chinese students in the city, a
threatening telephone message was left for Saint John city councilor
Jay-Young Chang, who is of Korean origin. The message included racial
slurs, threats to harm Chang with a weapon and threats to kill him.
Aryan Guard supporter Layton Bertsch was arrested for throwing a bottle at an activist during an anti-racist demonstration in October.
After a 3-hour standoff with police, neo-Nazi Paul William McGraw
was arrested in connection with a series of violent offenses that took
place in Guelph. McGraw and two women were charged with assault,
kidnapping, sexual assault and forcible confinement in relation to an
incident that involved 7 male and female victims. McGraw was also
charged in relation to a separate assault which took place in Orillia
days before his arrest. The charges in that incident included assault,
assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement and uttering death
threats. In 2009, McGraw was sentenced to 14 years in prison, which he
appealed in 2011. His appeal was denied and he is eligible for parole in 2016.
19-year
old neo-Nazi Tony Laviolette was sentenced to 30 months for eight
charges including sexual assault, uttering threats, two counts of arson
and break and enter. Laviolette was found guilty of having sex with a
13-year old girl and threatening to kill her if she saw anyone else. He
was also sentenced for setting fire to a building and a vacant home, and
for three break and enters including one at a skating rink which
Laviolette vandalized with a swastika and racial slurs.
2008
A
Molotov cocktail was thrown at the home of Anti-Racist Action members
Bonny Collins and Jason Devine while their four children slept inside.
The firebomb missed a window but burned a fence and patio furniture. No
one was injured and no one was charged in the incident, but Collins and
Devine believe they were targeted for their anti-racist activism by
affiliates of the Aryan Guard. About a month later at an Aryan Guard rally, John Marleau taunted Collins about the firebombing, stating, “How’s your house, Bonnie? Is it nice and toasty in there? How’s Jason and the kids?”
 |
| Julien LeClerc |
Neo-Nazi
Julien-Alexandre LeClerc, 20, and a minor youth, attacked several
people in a series of racially motivated assaults in Montreal. The pair
first confronted a group of seven young men of Arab origin, directing
racist insults at them. Two men were stabbed, one requiring multiple
blood transfusions and 50 stitches in his head. The assailants fled in a
cab, then hurled racist slurs at the Haitian cab driver, punched him,
and smashed his windshield. They then attacked a second cab driver who
was of Arab origin. The minor was sentenced to two years in closed
custody for aggravated assault, assault and possession of a weapon for a
purpose dangerous to public peace. LeClerc was convicted of the same charges.
 |
| Jensen-Huot |
While entering his car after celebrating a 29th
wedding anniversary with his wife, 77-year old Hans Alberts was
attacked and stabbed to death by 23-year old Haldane Alexander
Jensen-Huot. Jensen-Huot then fled and boarded a Greyhound Bus headed
for Montreal, but was arrested during a stop in Regina and charged with
second degree murder (later upgraded to first degree murder). He was
described by detectives as “an angry individual who definitely has some
issues,” and assaulted three officers at the Edmonton Remand Centre,
injuring one of them. Jensen-Huot had a history of mental problems and
violence. In 2006, he was convicted of assault causing bodily harm on
his father, and served 60 days of a 3-month sentence. In Facebook exchanges between
Jensen-Huot and a friend, he described selling crack, being on
anti-psychotics, and beating up his mother. He repeatedly talked of
“going postal” and made reference to the Kimveer Gill
shootings. A few months before the murder, police were called to his
workplace after he said he wanted to break the record of the Virginia Tech shooter and shoot 33 people. He
showed interest in the Aryan Brotherhood, claiming to have met a member
in jail, and self-identified as a National Socialist and Satanist. One
hour before committing the murder, he posted videos on Facebook which
included documentaries about the Aryan Brotherhood and a U.S. white
supremacist on death row. Jensen-Huot was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 13.5 years.
26-year old Asako Okazaki was attacked by a 17-year old Aryan Guard member, R.N. R.N.
made disparaging comments about Asians before following Okazaki as she
left a bar and drop-kicking her in the back of the head with steel toed
boots. After she had been knocked to the ground he continued to kick
her. He was charged with assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily
harm and three counts of breaching probation from previous convictions. A
former friend who witnessed the attack testified in court that the “Aryan Guard is going to want to kick my head in. There are some people trying to find out where I live.” R.N.
served 230 days in jail before being released on a 500-day Intensive
Support and Supervision order. While in jail, he had been disciplined
for possession of hate propaganda and for a comment made to an Asian
staffer.
Robert Reitmeier was shot in the stomach by Roland Warawa in his Calgary apartment, apparently after he kicked Warawa out for smoking crack. Days later Warawa was involved in another
shooting that left a bystander blind in both eyes. Reitmeier didn’t
report the incident or seek medical attention until several hours after
the shooting, claiming that he didn’t realize he had been shot. Warawa
was charged with attempted murder, pointing a firearm, possession of a
weapon dangerous to the public peace and knowledge of unauthorized
possession.
William Grosvenor was ordered to pay civil rights lawyer Richard Warman $50
000 in damages for defamation and assault. For two years, Grosvenor
made internet posts calling for Warman’s murder while providing photos
of him, his home address and Google maps showing how to get to his
house. The death threats included posts referring to Warman as a “Dead Jew walking” (although Warman is not actually Jewish), and statements such as, "I AM GOD AND I HAVE A RUGER P-90 AND IT'S BULLETS HAVE YOUR NAME ON THEM FAGBOY WARMAN”. Grosvenor had previous charges for assault.
2009
A Russian memorabilia store in Toronto was targeted with arson, vandalism and graffiti by neo-Nazis Richard Martin and Andrew Benson. A Soviet Union flag that was hanging in a window was set on fire, and pictures of Martin committing the act were postedon his Facebook profile.
Nazi graffiti was painted on a window, a window was smashed and some
shop collectibles were broken. The shopkeeper, who lived in the back of
the store, expressed fear for his safety, stating, “It’s kind of escalated. What’s next? A grenade in my window?” It is unclear if charges were ever laid.
 |
| Richard Martin put photos of himself committing the arson on Facebook |
Jay
Phillips, who is half black, was attacked by three men hurling racial
epithets in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. During the
attack, which was caught on video, Phillips reported that the men yelled “they were going to lynch me and kill me and my whole family and this is a white town and get the f--- out of here.” Pictures later surfaced of
two of the accused at a cross burning, and with other racist imagery
such as nooses and racist drawings. Adam Huber, Robert Rogers and David
White were all convicted of assault, with only Huber serving time in
jail (one day). White was sentenced under hate crime provisions and was
ordered to undergo counseling and community service.
22-year
old Lacey Dawn Snyder and 23-year old Dylan Alfred Trommel were charged
in a racist attack on 32-year old Congolese student Valentin Masepode.
The victim was in a convenience store when Snyder and Trommel confronted
him with racist comments, including repeatedly calling him a “nigger”
and telling him, “This is our country nigger.” After a customer
told them to leave him alone, the pair left the store and gestured to
Masepode to come outside. When he refused, they came back inside and
Snyder said, “I have something for you nigger,” before blasting
his face with bear spray, which was caught on the store’s surveillance
video. Trommel, who at the time had a swastika tattooed on his back,
claimed that he harassed the victim because he was intoxicated. Snyder sent an e-mail to the Edmonton Sun complaining
about the press coverage of the incident, stating that she was too
intoxicated to remember what happened the night of the attack and
writing, “But who’s to care about my feelings on the whole issue right? I’m just the big mean attacker who hates blacks!”
Trommel pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and was sentenced to 60
days in jail. Snyder pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and assault
with a weapon and was sentenced to 6 months in jail and counseling. She
also faced charges for impaired driving and drug charges
for an incident that occurred a year after the attack which has been
called one of the largest-ever busts of the “date-rape drug” (GBH) in Alberta.
Fort St. John, BC - Man Convicted in 1999 Bombing
Peter Anthony Houston, 32, was convicted
of building a potentially deadly pipe bomb that was planted in a
highway restroom in northeastern B.C. in 1999. The bomb was left at a
rest stop on Highway 29 between Fort St. John and Hudson's Hope, B.C.
Packed with black powder and rocket fuel, it was set up to explode when
the washroom door was opened, but it failed to detonate. Houston was
eventually arrested and charged with attempted murder and intent to
cause an explosion, but the case was never made public and took years to
go to trial. Houston was known to have been involved in the Canadian racist movement.
Calgary, AB – ARA members’ home is attacked
The
home of ARA Calgary members Bonnie Collins and Jason Devine was
attacked. A cinderblock was thrown through their living room window, and
a smaller projectile was thrown through the bedroom of their three
sleeping children. The front door was spray-painted with “C-18” and a swastika.
Nanaimo, B.C. – Jeff Hughes is shot and killed by police
Jeff Hughes, a white supremacist who had been involved in the Canadian branch of the Northwest Imperative,
was shot to death by police after they arrived at his apartment in
response to a noise complaint. Several years earlier, Hughes has also
been visited by the RCMP in response to hate propaganda he had been
distributing. RCMP testified that Hughes had been shot after he
threatened officers and came out of his apartment holding a weapon
(later determined to be a flare gun) and pointed it at an officer.
Hughes reportedly had a history of violence, including assault and bomb
threats. As of 2011, a coroner’s inquest into his death is ongoing.
 |
| Kyle McKee being captured in Winnipeg |
Tyler Sturrup of Western European Bloodlines,
and Carolyne Kwatiek, who is also a white nationalist, were targeted by
two homemade pipe bombs that were left outside Sturrup’s home and
detonated in a parking lot. Aryan Guard affiliate John Marleau, who had dated Kwatiek before her relationship with Sturrup, was initially arrested but later released. Warrants were issued for Aryan Guard founder Kyle McKee
and a 17-year old male neo-Nazi on charges of attempted murder,
possessing, making or controlling explosives and possession of a weapon
for a dangerous purpose. Both of the accused attempted to escape the
charges by skipping town. They were stopped by police in Regina where
they managed to evade arrest but were later arrested in Winnipeg.
Attempted murder charges against McKee were later withdrawn. He pleaded
guilty to possessing explosive devices that were found in his apartment
(which he claimed were for a white pride celebration and not connected
to the bombing), and to fleeing police. Charges against the minor were
also dropped.
2010
John Marleau, who is affiliated with the Aryan Guard/Blood & Honour,
was arrested after attacking a non-white operator on the Calgary
C-train. Someone in the train had pressed the emergency button,
prompting the driver to come into the car where Marleau lunged at him
with a knife. The driver locked himself into the cab while Marleau fled
and was later apprehended by police, who he also threatened with a
knife. He was subsequently tasered, arrested and charged with three
counts of assault with a weapon, and one count each of possession of a
weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and causing a disturbance.
Daniel Atkey, who is linked to Volksfront Canada and the Creativity movement and goes by the moniker CanadianSkin88 on Stormfront,
was given 9 months probation for domestic assault and ordered to submit
a DNA sample. On a separate charge of domestic assault, he agreed to
abide by a 12-month peace bond in lieu of sentencing.
A
cross was burned on the lawn of interracial couple Michelle Lyon and
Shayne Howe, who is black. Howe reported hearing someone shout, “Die, nigger, die,” before
his daughter saw a 2-metre cross burning on the family’s lawn with a
noose hanging from it. Charged in the crime were brothers Nathan
Rehberg, 20, and Justin Rehberg, 19, who are distant cousins of Lyon.
On charges of inciting hatred and criminal harassment, Nathan received 6
months, while Justin received two. Both brothers were given 30 months
probation, ordered to do 50 hours of community service, undergo
substance abuse counseling, submit DNA samples, and refrain from owning
firearms for 10 years.
After
spending half of his life in prison and accumulating roughly 50
criminal convictions including several for racist attacks on minorities,
Chris Newhook was declared a dangerous offender and imprisoned
indefinitely. Newhook is a long-time white supremacist and was one of
the first members of the Heritage Front. During his dangerous-offender hearing, Newhook yelled at the crown prosecutor, “I hate your fucking guts. I wish I could cut your fucking head off with a rusty hacksaw blade.”
Edmonton, AB – Dave Burns murders Garth Radon before killing himself
Dave
Burns shot and killed his co-worker Garth Radons before killing
himself. A second co-worker was also shot and critically injured, but
survived. Burns had been suspended from work for making racist remarks
and posting a sexually explicit photo on a staff bulletin board in order
to taunt a South Asian employee. He was known as “The Nazi” around the
office, and staff described him as a white supremacist and someone who
didn’t get along with visible minorities. 36 years earlier, Burns had
fatally stabbed an 18-year old boy and served 4 years for manslaughter.
He had also made the news in 1994 when he reported that his firearms collection and 1300 rounds of ammunition had been stolen from his house.
Calgary, AB – William Miettinen is charged with assault with a weapon
 |
| Willis |
William Kaiser Miettinen, aka “Willis”,
was charged with assault with a weapon after he assaulted a camera man
with a skateboard during an anti-racist demonstration. During court
proceedings, Miettinen attempted to distance himself from the neo-Nazis
who attended the demonstration, stating, “I am not a skinhead,” and "I was not part of that (neo-Nazi) demonstration," despite the fact that during the rally he had ripped his shirt open to display white supremacist tattoos.
Two weeks after activists held an anti-Nazi rally in
B.C.’s Lower Mainland, the family home of an organizer was targeted by a
bomb set remotely with a long fuse. The bomb caused a fire that damaged
the home’s exterior, but no one was injured. The RCMP bomb squad and
Abbotsford Police Major Crime Unit were called in to investigate. While
the investigation is ongoing, some speculate that the home was targeted
by neo-Nazis, as the organizer’s name and photo had been widely
circulated in news coverage of the rally.
An arrest warrant was issued for Aryan Guard affiliate Mitch Fancey after he attempted to escape charges of uttering threats.
 |
| Richard Martin |
23-year old Richard Martin and
38-year old Shane Gill were arrested for threatening a woman and an 11
year old girl for being black. Martin, who lived near the victims, had
been harassing them for weeks. The first incident occurred when the
woman saw Martin standing outside making gunshot sounds and shooting
gestures at her house. Days later, Martin and another man stood near
her bedroom window singing racist songs and yelling, “Go back to Africa.”
The last incident occurred as the woman was walking with her friend’s
11-year old daughter and was confronted by Martin and Gill. Martin made
gunshot sounds and the sign of a gun in her direction. As the victims
turned and began to flee back to the woman’s home, Gill and Martin
chanted, “We hate niggers.” They followed the victims home and
Gill pounded on the door. Martin was sentenced to 9 months in jail and 3
years of probation, and Gill received 6 months in jail and 3 years of
probation. They were ordered to submit DNA samples and to refrain from
possessing weapons, ammunition and explosives for 15 years.
The
home of Anti-Racist Action members Bonnie Collins and Jason Devine was
invaded by five masked men armed with bats and hammers. Devine was
beaten on the head, back and arms, sustaining serious back injuries. A
friend who was in the home had his arm broken. A few months later, Kyle McKee would be charged with uttering threats after he asked Devine if he’d like another visit to his home.
An 18-year old girl was beaten at a party by 3 members and affiliates of Aryan Guard/Blood & Honour Calgary, leaving her with broken teeth. Kyle McKee would
later be charged as one of the assailants and ordered to pay part of
her dental bill. The two other alleged assailants were males in their
late twenties and thirties.
2011
 |
| Victim Mark Mariani |
Western European Bloodline members Robert David Reitmeier, 24, and Tyler William Sturrup,
26, were charged with second degree murder in the 2010 death of 47-year
old Mark Mariani. Mariani, who was ill and frail from Chrohn’s
disease, was attacked and beaten to death in an alley. Although a
swastika was found spray-painted at the crime scene,
police believe the murder was a random attack that was unrelated to
Reitmeier and Sturrup’s white supremacist affiliations. They believed
there was a third attacker who is still being sought, and are also seeking two men who may be witnesses. A preliminary hearing for the accused will take place in May 2012.
 |
| Tyler Sturrup and Robert Reitmeier |
 |
| B&H flyers that were distributed before attacks |
Several people were physically assaulted and over 10 people were verbally abused by a group of four neo-Nazis. Jason Anthony Anderson, 32, Keith Virgil Decu, 32, James Andrew Brooks, 25, and David Roger Goodman, 18, are affiliates of Blood and Honour Calgary. After distributing flyers for a Blood & Honour march that was scheduled to take place in Calgary, the men went to a bar where they sang
racist songs, talked about hangings, and yelled racist and homophobic
insults at patrons. They went to a second bar where they made racist
comments to a 25 year old man before punching him several times. At a
third bar, a bouncer was punched after refusing to let them in, a
20-year old woman who was with a black friend was punched in the face
repeatedly and a 23-year old man was kicked and punched after coming to
her defense. As the men left the scene, they yelled out “white power!”
All four were charged with assault, criminal harassment, mischief and
causing a disturbance. Brooks was also charged with assault with a
weapon and possession of a weapon, and Goodman was additionally charged
with uttering threats. Goodman was sentenced to 15 months, a year of
probation and ordered to get counseling for a drinking problem. Brooks
was sentenced to 13 months. Anderson and Decu are scheduled to appear in
court in November and April.
 |
| James Brooks and Jason Anderson |
Kyle McKee of the Aryan Guard/Blood & Honour Calgary, pleaded guilty to uttering threats and possession of a dangerous weapon in relation to an incident involving ARA member Jason Devine. McKee, clad in a ski mask and holding a baseball bat, had pulled up to Devine in his vehicle and yelled, “Hey Jason, what's going on? What are you doing?” and asked him, "Do you want to say hello or goodnight? while beating the bat menacingly against the car, and "Do you want another visit? Do you want another visit at your home?" A few months earlier, Devine had been the victim of a home invasion in which he and a friend were seriously injured.
McKee received a 60-day sentence and was ordered to provide a DNA
sample. He also pleaded guilty to assault for being part of an attack on an 18-year old girl at a party in 2010, and was ordered to pay part of her dental bill for broken teeth.
Prince George, BC - Peter Anthony Houston Convicted of Possessing Explosives
Peter Houston, having been convicted in 2009 of
building a potentially deadly pipe bomb which was planted in a highway
restroom in 1999, was found guilty of being in possession of an
explosive substance without lawful excuse and possession of a weapon
contrary to an order, sentenced to 247 days in jail and received a
lifetime prohibition on the possession of firearms.
A
white supremacist gang called “True White Boy” was reported to have
been involved in a series of assaults in Kitchener. 19-year old Matthew
Armstrong was charged with assault after an incident in which he
elbowed, punched and kicked a man in the head because he thought the
victim had spread rumours about another True White Boy member. Police
investigating a break-in also found seven members of the gang in an
apartment with a cache of weapons including a machete and knives,
bandanas and drugs.
Two men
were charged with sexual assault after being accused of raping an inmate
in prison. The victim said that at the time, he wanted to join Western European Bloodline and
had Nazi symbols cut into his hair before being placed in a cell with
two men who were not white and subsequently harassed him. He reported
being sexually assaulted by both men after waking up in the middle of
the night with a towel over his head and a weapon pointed at his neck.
The two defendants claim that any sexual activity between them and their
accuser was consensual. A doctor testified that the alleged victim’s
injuries were consistent with being raped. Samar Sigar, 20, and Ali Sanghar, 31, are charged with sexual assault with a weapon.
28-year old Ian Michael Butz, a neo-Nazi,
and his brother, 26-year old Jason Avery Butz, were charged with two
armed robberies at gas stations in Peace River, Alberta. A shotgun and
camouflage clothing were used in the robberies. The pair were
apprehended when an off-duty Canadian Border Services Agency officer
found them walking along the highway. They are charged with two counts
each of armed robbery.
Vancouver, BC - Blood & Honour Associate Convicted of Bodily Assault
Jan Arron Korinth, a Hammerskin and associate of the Shawn Macdonald led
Blood & Honour faction who was one of the early founders of the
Aryan Guard in Calgary, was convicted of assault causing bodily harm. He
received 12 months probation.
Vancouver, BC - Members of Blood & Honour Arrested, Accused of Serious Assaults.
Shawn Macdonald, Alastair Miller, and Rob de Chazal are arrested for a
series of assaults in Vancouver between 2008 and 2011. MacDonald was
charged with three counts of assault for allegedly attacking two men
and one woman, RCMP said. Chazal was charged with aggravated assault for
allegedly setting a man of Filipino descent on fire. and with assault
causing bodily harm in connection with an incident in which he
attacked a man who was black. Race was a factor in each attack.
2012
Surrey, BC - Blood & Honour associate killed during home invasion
Jan (January) Korinth was found dead as a result of a stab wound he received during a home invasion.
Korinth was a friend of Shawn Macdonald
who, along with Rob de Chazal and Alastair Miller, were charged in
December 2011 with carrying out a series of assaults against minorities
in Vancouver. There is no indication that Korinth's death was related to
his activities with Blood & Honour, though it does appear that he
was engaged in a criminal act.
Sources Include:
Kinsella, Warren. Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network. Revised Edition. Harper Collins: Toronto. 2001.
