DIGITAL FREEDOM: THE CANADIAN RIGHT WING ON THE INTERNET A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Guelph by SEAN P. HIER In partial fulfillment of revirements for the degree of Master of Arts December, 1997 @ Sean Hier, 1997 NationaI Library Bibliothique nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retauis ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts f?om it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT DIGITAL FREEDOM: THE CANADIAN RIGHT WING ON THE INTERNET Sean P. Hier Advisor: University of Guelph, 1997 Professor Stanley Barrett This thesis is an investigation of the Canadian right wing, with a particular focus on how right wing groups are utilizing the internet for advertising and recruitment. An investigation of the Freedom-Site, a Web site based in Toronto, was undertaken over a period of approximately four months. Data are presented primarily on six organizations found on the Freedom-Site, as well as on several rnembers of the right wing. It is argued that the internet not only enables right wing organizations to reach thousands of people and maintain contacts with other groups on an international scale, but that the anonymity the internet affords its users presents a danger of otherwise average citizens becoming more susceptible to the beliefs and views of the right wing in times of social and economic change. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research for this thesis, formally and informally, stretched over a period of approximately 17 months. 1 would like to thank Dr. Tanya Basok for her early assistance which introduced me to the Canadian right wing and Vince Bollozos for his critical and enlightening outlook on the Canadian far right. Further, 1 extend my gratitude to my parents, whose complete support for my academic career -past and future- has been insurmountable. And 1 thank Cindy Mutch, who has always been a source of support and motivation, and will undoubtedly continue to remain so throughout the years ahead. Directly, I would like to thank Dr. Frans Schryer for his many cornments on an early draft of the study, as well as for his continued assistance throughout my academic program, and Dr. Ed Hedican for his participation on my cornmittee. And finally, 1 owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Stan Barrett for his many efforts to see this project corne to fruition. Dr. Barrett's writings on fascism and the Canadian right wing, in addition to his many other works, have provided inspiration for this project, as well as for my future academic endeavors. Without Dr. Barrett's continued assistance, support, motivation and the occasional athletic distraction- despite his tender bones and chronological deficiency- the goals of this project would not have been realized. CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION Conceptualization/3 Theoretical Framework/lZ Arguments/l7 Methodology/23 2 THE HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN RIGHT WING (1865-1989) Canadian KKK: Phase 1/31 Fascism in the 1930s/41 The Resurgence of Canadian Fascism/47 Canadian KKK: Phase 11/56 Skinheads /6l Other Canadian Activity/67 3 CANADIAN PATRIOTS NETWORK Origin/74 Beliefs and Activities: Official Position/76 Beliefs and Activities: Unofficial Position/78 Censorship/88 4 THE HERITAGE FRONT Origin/94 Beliefs and Goals/lOl Phase 1: 1989-94/105 CSIS Affair/ili Phase II : 1996-Present/122 5 OTHERS ON THE FREEDOM-SITE: LOCKHART, FROMM AND CHRISTIE Lockhart/l28 Fromm/13 3 Christie/l45 6 A 12 YEAR DEBATE: THE BATTLE OVER EREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Keegstra and Zundel/lS4 Ross and Fromm/l62 Final Verdicts/l68 The Zundel-Site/l69 7 WIDER ANALYSIS Understanding Racism/l77 Anti-Sernitism/l9O Explaining Racism/l94 Explaining the Right Wing/203 8 COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK Austria: The Freedom Party/208 France: The Front National/212 Germany: Violence/216 9 DISCUSSION REFERENCES iii 1 INTRODUCTION Suppose that you were part of a small group of people who were aware of an insidious social disease which had plagued Canadian society and degraded the Canadian social landscape from a once great nation to a country filled with crime-prone immigrants, homosexuals who spread AIDS, white citizens who were ashamed of their racial heritage and white women who refused to give their wombs to white men, thus condemning the white race to extinction in the name of feminism. To what length would you go to expose your knowledge, to liberate others from these detrimental forces? Would you jeopardize your job, your family, your friends and your life to educate your people, white people, of the dangers of race-mixing and multiculturalism? If so, you are not alone. In a pursuit for "freedom," several, if not al1 of the members of the right wing presented in this study believe that they are one of only a small number of individuals who have escaped the liberal forces of indoctrination in Canada; indoctrinating forces which have spawned foreign aid programs, high immigration levels, employment equity and affirmative action, and as a result threaten the viability of the greatest people to every inhabit the earth: Euro-Canadians, whites- an endangered race! As bizarre as the previous passage might seem, its authenticity concerning the worldview of the members of Canada's right wing is genuine. However, far from these sentiments remaining in the realrn of the racists' minds, these same viewpoints are today being presented publicly on the internet. Queries such as "Nazi" or "White Power" on any search engine will produce links to dozens of right wing Web sites around the world, instantaneously. Included in these sites are those run by White Aryan Resistance (WAR) ,I the Aryan Nations,? the Ku Klux Klanr3 British ~ationalists'and France's Front National.' The right wing in Canada has been exemplified over the last forty years by men such as Ernst Zundel, Jim Keegstra, Don Andrews, John Ross Taylor, Terry Long, Paul Fromm and James Alexander McQuirter. Many of these men are still lingering around today, but there is a new group of individuals rising to the top of Canada's right wing network. Comprising the most recent generation of Canada's racist right are men such as Jeurgan Newman, George Burdi, Gerry Lincoln and Marc Lemire. With the emergence of a new generation of right wing leaders, so too has there emerged a new form of right wing propagande. Ar least four major right wing Web sites are run out ~f Canada, offering links to at least a dozen organizations around the country. Since 1994 Canadian right wing organizacions have been using the internet to espouse racist attitudes and beliefs. Recently, this phenomenon has drawn the attention of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, as well as nurnerous "watchdog" organizations including the Nizkor B'nai and http://www.resist.com/ http://www.stormfront.wat.com/storrnfrotlan.htrnl http://www.k-k-k.coml hrtp;//www.ngwwmall.com/ j http://w.front-net. fi/page/d.html ci ci http://www.nizkor.otg/index.html http://wwwbnaibritfi.cal HateWatch.* With few exceptions, the internet equips the right wing with an uncensored medium where they are able to espouse their views freely and openly without reprisal. This study is an investigation of the Freeiom-Siter9 a right wing Web site based in Toronto. The Freedom-Site is run by the Canadian Patriots Network and currently hosts five organizations: the Heritage Front, the Euro-Christian Defense League, the Canadian Association for Free Expression, Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform and the Canadian Free Speech League. In the remainder of this chapter 1 will present a conceptualization for the study, as well as rny theoretical position, arguments and methodology. Chapter two offers a review of the history of right wing activity in Canada and the following three chapters will examine the Freedom-Site. The final four chapters will explore the debate concerning freedom of expression in Canada, as well as present a theoretical discussion of racism, the right wing and the right wing presence on the internet. Conceptualization I will begin by addressing three issues of contention. First, is Canada racially tolerant? There appears to be a widely held belief among Canadians that the country has been relatively free of racism. Henry and Tator (1994:2) argue that white Canadians tend to dismiss the large body of evidence documenting racial prejudice and differen~ialtreatment while "fundamental racial inequality persists and continues to affect the lives and life chances of people of colour in Canada." LaRocque (1989), writing on Canadian native people, argues that this tendency equates to a denial mechanism on the part of [white] society that racism exists to a significant degree in Canada. And although attitudinal surveys suggest that Canada has become more racially tolerant since World War II, as Buchignani (1983) points out, this is of little comfort to natives, immigrants, and other disadvantaged persons who continue to express very serious concerns about racial prejudice and discrimination in Canada.