A man once notorious as a leading Nazi figurehead who continues as a vocal white-rights activist is running for municipal office in Ontario’s cottage country, where he extolls the racial makeup of his township as “whiter than the driven snow.”
John Beattie, campaigning for deputy reeve in Minden Hills, leaves little hidden about his views on race.
“I’m happy here because it’s an all-white town,” he said in an interview. “There are a few new Canadians, and they go about their business, but it’s a majority white town.
“Different cultures, I can’t handle them. I can’t handle other cultures. I’m happy with my own kind.”
The 72-year-old described himself as “just a harmless old man stuck in the past.”
But that past, for many, is impossible to forget.
As leader and founder of the Canadian Nazi Party, Mr. Beattie made headlines in 1969 when he led a small march of young people through Toronto’s Allen Gardens, protesting the city denying him a permit to hold a public celebration of Hitler’s birthday. A scuffle with protesters left Mr. Beattie injured.
He again caused a stir, in 1989, when he hosted an outdoor white-pride concert that attracted neo-Nazi skinheads and members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, the military unit later disbanded after the brutal beating death of a Somali teenager during a humanitarian mission in Somalia. The party reportedly ended with a cross-burning.
In 2011, another planned outdoor party, to celebrate Canada Day, was called off after pressure from police and municipal officials.
Mr. Beattie’s candidacy is sad, said Bernie Farber, a human rights advocate and past chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).
“If people had any idea of who he was — and that he hasn’t really rejected any of his bizarre, racist thoughts — I’m not so sure they would even give him the time of day,” he said.
“The label of Nazi sticks to you forever and it is pretty clear that William John Beattie, while he may have left the public scene in the 1960s, never really left the anti-Semitic and racist scene.
“I can’t imagine the good citizens of Minden would want that kind of blight on their municipal record.”
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Canadian Nazi Party founder running for office in Ontario township | National Post
John Beattie, campaigning for deputy reeve in Minden Hills, leaves little hidden about his views on race.
“I’m happy here because it’s an all-white town,” he said in an interview. “There are a few new Canadians, and they go about their business, but it’s a majority white town.
“Different cultures, I can’t handle them. I can’t handle other cultures. I’m happy with my own kind.”
The 72-year-old described himself as “just a harmless old man stuck in the past.”
But that past, for many, is impossible to forget.
As leader and founder of the Canadian Nazi Party, Mr. Beattie made headlines in 1969 when he led a small march of young people through Toronto’s Allen Gardens, protesting the city denying him a permit to hold a public celebration of Hitler’s birthday. A scuffle with protesters left Mr. Beattie injured.
He again caused a stir, in 1989, when he hosted an outdoor white-pride concert that attracted neo-Nazi skinheads and members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, the military unit later disbanded after the brutal beating death of a Somali teenager during a humanitarian mission in Somalia. The party reportedly ended with a cross-burning.
In 2011, another planned outdoor party, to celebrate Canada Day, was called off after pressure from police and municipal officials.
Mr. Beattie’s candidacy is sad, said Bernie Farber, a human rights advocate and past chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).
“If people had any idea of who he was — and that he hasn’t really rejected any of his bizarre, racist thoughts — I’m not so sure they would even give him the time of day,” he said.
“The label of Nazi sticks to you forever and it is pretty clear that William John Beattie, while he may have left the public scene in the 1960s, never really left the anti-Semitic and racist scene.
“I can’t imagine the good citizens of Minden would want that kind of blight on their municipal record.”
more
Canadian Nazi Party founder running for office in Ontario township | National Post
