Yo Warren Kinsella your friend Dr James Sears, the fat bastard Larry McCurry and all his other pals didn't care when I bitched about Canada Post stealing my mail 3 months ago EH?
Methinks Warren Kinsella, Andrew Scheer, Maxime Bernier, Lisa Rait Elizabeth May, Gerald Butts and many others MUST remember this email N'esy Pas?
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Premier of Ontario | Première ministre de l’Ontario <Premier@ontario.ca> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 02:13:29 +0000 Subject: Automatic reply: Warren Kinsella Is the Neo Nazi Brian Ruhe anymore ethical than a sneaky lawyer such as you ? Survey says? To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
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Kathleen Wynne Premier
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Je vous remercie de votre courriel. Votre avis est important pour moi et je vous suis reconnaissante d’avoir pris le temps de m’écrire.
Toutes les lettres et tous les courriels que je reçois sont lus attentivement, un par un. Sachez, cependant, qu’en raison du volume important de correspondance que je reçois et parce qu’il se peut que j’aie à consulter l’un de mes collègues du Conseil des ministres ou un fonctionnaire compétent en la matière, il pourrait s’écouler plusieurs jours avant que je puisse donner suite à votre courriel.
Meilleures salutations,
Kathleen Wynne Première ministre de l’Ontario
Veuillez ne pas répondre directement à ce courriel, car aucun courriel ne peut être reçu à cette adresse.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Brown, Patrick"<patrick.brown@pc.ola.org> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 02:09:12 +0000 Subject: Automatic reply: Warren Kinsella Is the Neo Nazi Brian Ruhe anymore ethical than a sneaky lawyer such as you ? Survey says? To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
Thank you very much for getting in touch. Due to the large volume of mail that I receive, please allow time for a response. If it is a pressing issue, please call my Queen’s Park office at 416-325-3855. Otherwise, I will respond as soon as possible.
Regards,
Patrick Brown, MPP Simcoe North Leader of the Official Opposition
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Minister, AG AG:EX"<AG.Minister@gov.bc.ca> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 02:09:24 +0000 Subject: Your Email has been received To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Green Party of Canada | Parti vert du Canada <info@greenparty.ca> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 02:09:33 +0000 Subject: Re: Warren Kinsella Is the Neo Nazi Brian Ruhe anymore ethical than a sneaky lawyer such as you ? Survey says? To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
-- Please reply above this line --
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "MinFinance / FinanceMin (FIN)"<fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 02:09:14 +0000 Subject: RE: Warren Kinsella Is the Neo Nazi Brian Ruhe anymore ethical than a sneaky lawyer such as you ? Survey says? To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
The Department of Finance acknowledges receipt of your electronic correspondence. Please be assured that we appreciate receiving your comments.
Le ministère des Finances accuse réception de votre correspondance électronique. Soyez assuré(e) que nous apprécions recevoir vos commentaires.
On 10/20/17, David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com> wrote: > Methinks NOT because he blocks free speech within his YouTube channel > for the benefit of his neo nazi buddies such as Paul Fromm > > On the bright you evil people deserve each other > > Enjoy Ya Bastards > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ZfqOzFdTM > > Free speech critic of abortion bubble zone silenced at Ontario legislature > 102 views > Brian Ruhe > Published on Oct 20, 2017 > Paul Fromm is the Director, Canadian Association for Free Expression > (CAFE) since 1983, at: http://cafe.nfshost.com/. > > This is a FAIR USE of Planned Parenthood photo from Dawn Laguens in > Twitter. > > Paul Fromm is also the Director of the Canada First Immigration Reform > Committee at: http://canadafirst.nfshost.com/ > > Winner of the George Orwell Free Speech Award, 1994. > > Co-host of "The Trump Phenomenon" Radio Show on RBN (week nights, 9:00 p.m. > EST) > > You can join Paul's email list by contacting him at paul@paulfromm.com . > > To encourage peace and prevent war, the Brian Ruhe channel bravely > raises awareness about the Rothschild, Zionist, Talmudist powers. If > you love this content, love that it’s free for everyone, please donate > monthly at https://www.hatreon.net/BrianRuhe > > or use PayPal at https://www.paypal.com with my email address > brian@brianruhe.ca to help me become fan-funded because YouTube has > demonetized 1400 of my videos. Thanks for watching my back! > > My websites are: http://www.brianruhe.cahttp://www.thulesociety.com > . Join me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/BrianRuhe . > > If you enjoyed this video please click “Like”, Subscribe and Share! > Please promote my channel and copy my videos onto your own YouTube > channel or link them to your social media connections and email lists > to spread the message! > > All donations are greatfully appreciated! Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank > you!! > > My books, "Freeing the Buddha" and "A SHORT WALK ON AN ANCIENT PATH - > A Buddhist Exploration of Meditation, Karma and Rebirth" are available > in book or ebook form at Amazon.com > . > 6 Comments > > Ezra Pound > 13 minutes ago > https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/canada-21-year-old-muslim-man-savagely-beats-75-year-old-woman-in-random-assault-most-severe-beating-ive-seen > > For some reason, the Canadian Press missed this story....gee I wonder why? > > David Amos BLOCKED > 43 minutes ago > Amazing things never cease. For once I agree with a couple neo nazis > when it comes to abortion. Furthermore Fromm does have a legitimate > reason to sue the snobby lawyer for libel just like i should sue his > old buddy Arty Baby Topham N'esy Pas?. > > TheJadeFist > 3 hours ago > So prison time if you flip off an abortion clinic... > > Ezra Pound > 4 hours ago > Sue him for libel > > Birdland 1 > 5 hours ago > yep (((Stalinism))) > 1 > > rene levesque > 6 hours ago > Sieg Heil ya Bashar > 2 > > CallMeNumber8 > 6 hours ago > Oh yeah more subs. I keep spreading the word 😍 about Brian Ruhe. The > best channel! Everyone should research zionist agenda. World will be > free one day if we all wake at least one person to the zionist virus. > Once we free from them. That's it. We will begin our lifes and world > will metaphorically start spinning. Happy days to come. Imagine if we > never even had been occupied by the evil zionist pedophiles and > rapists? Why do they love hurting the innocent so much? >
Lisa and Warren Kinsella lead Daisy Group, a Toronto-based consulting firm. Documents shown to CBC News reveal Daisy Group produced a project to "seek and destroy" Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada for a client that a source tells CBC News is the Conservative Party of Canada. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Warren Kinsella's Daisy Group consulting firm was behind a social media campaign to put the People's Party of Canada on the defensive and keep leader Maxime Bernier out of the federal leaders' debates, according to documents provided to CBC News.
The documents outline the work done by several employees of Daisy on behalf of an unnamed client. A source with knowledge of the project told CBC News that client was the Conservative Party of Canada.
The plan was first reported Friday night by the Globe and Mail.
According to a source with knowledge of the project, who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named, the objective of the plan, dubbed "Project Cactus," was to make the Conservative Party look more attractive to voters by highlighting PPC candidates' and supporters' xenophobic statements on social media.
The source added that Daisy employed four full-time staffers on Project Cactus at one time. Kinsella is a lawyer, anti-racism activist and former Liberal strategist who has been a vocal critic of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May faced criticism from her own supporters in July when it was reported that Kinsella had been hired for her party. May told The Star that Kinsella's involvement, to set up a quick-response communications unit, was short-lived.
When asked Friday for comment about his work on the anti-Bernier project, Kinsella issued a short statement.
"We don't ever discuss client matters," Kinsella said in an email. "We are always proud, however, to be fighting racism and intolerance."
Simon Jefferies, a spokesperson for the Conservative Party of Canada, told CBC News, "We do not comment on vendors or suppliers we may or may not be using."
'Seek and destroy'
Documents seen by CBC News outline a plan to "seek and destroy" the PPC and prevent Bernier from getting into the leader's debates.
The project was designed with three phases, according to the documents. The first involved research and branding in March and April. The second was identified as a "launch phase" known as "seek and destroy," running from April 16th through to June 30, the start of the pre-writ period when new restrictions kicked in for third-party advertising.
The third phase, to run "July 1st 2019 to TBD" was called the "full steam ahead phase," where the team would "push Maxime Bernier and the PCC off their messages – forcing them, instead, to defend instances of hate speech and sympathy for racism."
Portions of a WhatsApp Chatroom set up by Daisy for Project Cactus and shared with CBC News show Daisy employees workshopping tweets critical of PPC candidates or supporters before asking Kinsella's approval. The tweets were then published on STAMP Out Hate, a Twitter account set up April 24, 2019 for an existing anti-racism nonprofit run by Daisy.
Part of the plan involved setting up a Twitter account related to an anti-hate initiative connected to Daisy, known as Standing Together Against Misogyny and Prejudice, or STAMP. (Twitter)
In the documents seen by CBC, drafted prior to the launch, STAMP is described as a screen for the project and its client.
"Daisy will create an arms-length organization that cannot be linked to the client or any participating organization. This organization will run a proxy war room public relations campaign that allows real Canadians to shine a light on the prejudice and hate that is associated with the PPC," a Daisy consultant writes.
Anti-PPC tweets dried up after June 29
Tweets for the STAMP Twitter account that were workshopped in the chatroom and later tweeted out by the account are still visible online.
The STAMP Out Hate account lambasted the PPC, its candidates and its supporters right up until June 29, a day before new election rules regarding third party advertisers came into effect. The account has since stopped attacking Bernier's party but has continued to tweet anti-racists messages.
There is no indication whether any further work was done after June 29.
An anti-PPC tweet sent out by the STAMP account on June 29, the final day before new third-party advertising rules kicked in. (Twitter)
The emails outlining the plan for Project Cactus say "Daisy will work to ensure this campaign is not named as a third party." Later, in the Whatsapp chat provided to CBC News, a Daisy Group employee asks when the date for third-party spending rules kick in.
Another employee replies, "June 30" and the first employee responds, "great thanks!" CBC News reached out to multiple employees involved in the chat but either did not receive a response or were told they would not comment.
In a statement to CBC News on Friday, the executive director of the PPC said "It hardly comes as a surprise that the Conservative Party of Canada would be behind such disgraceful and cowardly tactics."
"As our Leader Maxime Bernier stated when he left the CPC and repeated on numerous occasions since then, they are 'morally and intellectually corrupt.' And today, this story proves it without a doubt," Johanne Mennie said in an email.
People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier pictured with Hamilton white nationalist Paul Fromm
Coun. Brad Clark ‘outraged that some political leaders are willing to embrace’ groups that promote hatred.
News Aug 01, 2019 by Teviah Moro Paul Fromm, left, a Hamilton-based white nationalist, poses with Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada, during a recent rally. A party spokesperson said Bernier had no idea who he was with. - Facebook
Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada, has been photographed with Hamilton-based white nationalist Paul Fromm during a recent rally.
Fromm is the director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) and the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee.
In a July 26 Facebook post, he writes the People's Party of Canada's "immigration platform finally offers us a start at regaining control of our borders ..." as part of a caption for a photograph of him with Bernier.
People's Party of Canada executive director Johanne Mennie didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday, but told HuffPost Canada Bernier "had no idea who this individual was."
Brad Clark, a Hamilton city councillor and former Ontario Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, suggested Thursday that he didn't accept that explanation.
"I think it's incumbent on every politician to be aware of what's going on in our community and not in any way, shape or form, give validity or veracity to these groups," Clark told The Spectator during an anti-hate forum at McMaster University's continuing education campus in Jackson Square.
Fromm was stripped of his Ontario teaching licence in 2007 for unprofessional conduct outside the classroom because he embraced views and beliefs contrary to multiculturalism and tolerance, and participated in white supremacist groups and events.
Bernier, who split from the federal Conservatives to launch his far-right People's Party of Canada (PPC) last year, has courted controversy for public appearances with questionable far-right actors in the past.
Before Fromm, the Quebec politician had already been photographed with members of the Northern Guard, an alleged hate group, in Calgary, the CBC reported. At that time, Bernier also said he didn't know who they were.
Bernier also confirmed to the Globe and Mail in September 2018 he'd spoken to Travis Patron, the leader of the fringe anti-immigration Canadian Nationalist Party. He said he wouldn't speak to Patron again.
Patron's group, which hopes to register enough members to become a party, notes the organization's goals are to "improve the social and economic conditions of an ethnocentric Canada."
Fromm, who ran unsuccessfully for Hamilton mayor in the last election, delivered racist pamphlets to people's doors in a neighbourhood around the former Henderson Hospital on the Mountain during an Ebola scare in 2001.
The PPC's platform laments a "growing trend to dilute national sovereignty" and a "globalist vision" for Canada under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It also rejects Canada's participation in a United Nations agreement on the migration, a wedge issue for far-right groups.
In February, the party's candidates failed to win seats in three federal byelections. They garnered less than two per cent of the vote in an Ontario riding, two per cent in a race in Quebec and 29 per cent in a British Columbia riding.
"When we internalize those ideas, they're dangerous ones. We don't have an opportunity to access the kind of discourse that helps us with those problems. But what we get is Maxime Bernier, who's blaming immigrants, or who's blaming political correctness for problems relating to how we function as a society."
Clark said he's concerned "recognizable hate groups" are seeking legitimacy in the political sphere. "And I am outraged that some political leaders are willing to embrace those groups just for the initial votes, and later trying to denounce hatred against identifiable groups. You can't have it both ways."
The Stoney Creek councillor was one of roughly 100 people who attended a No Hate in the Hammer campaign launch organized by the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, Hamilton Roundable Against Poverty and the John Howard Society .
The issue of hate in Hamilton came to the forefront at a June 15 Pride celebration, when several people were injured in a violent clash between protesters and counter-protesters. (Youtube/Scotsmanstuart)
This story is part of Exposing Hate, an ongoing series examining the nature of hate in Canada: how it manifests, spreads and thrives and how Canadian institutions, law enforcement and individuals are dealing with it.
It's a bright Saturday morning on the Hamilton city hall forecourt, and the crowd is split down the middle. Members of the yellow vest movement and far-right groups stand on one side. Rainbow flag wavers with signs displaying slogans like "Diversity is strength" are on the other.
"You all hang with Nazis," a man with the rainbow flag bearers shouts at a woman standing with the yellow vests. "When you hang out with Nazis, you become one."
"We want to see Canada free and great again the way it used to be," the woman hollers back. "Jesus is the Lord over Canada."
This could be any Saturday morning in any city in Canada before too long, says Tina Fetner, a McMaster University researcher who studies social movements.
"It's very important for Hamilton to be a cautionary tale for other cities," Fetner said. "I'm very certain that this is going to be knocking at the door of other cities across Canada. This is something that is a larger phenomenon than Hamilton. It's happening all over Western Europe and North America."
WATCH | The rhetoric gets ugly during a confrontation at one of the Saturday rallies that have been become a weekly occurrence outside Hamilton city hall:
A heated exchange breaks out at a rally outside Hamilton city hall that was attended by white nationalist Paul Fromm. 0:29
She and others see Hamilton, where confrontations like this have been escalating for months, as an example of what not to do to when dealing with the tension and violence that have accompanied such demonstrations.
Members of the yellow vest movement — which started in France to oppose rising fuel prices but expanded to include far-right grievances over issues such as immigration and accommodation of minorities — gathered weekly in front of city hall for six months before city council voted in June to look at how to handle the demonstrations.
At their height, the protests have included as many as 40 people. They've drawn members of better-known far-right groups such as Soldiers of Odin, Wolves of Odin and Proud Boys to the Ontario city of 530,000 people 70 kilometres southwest of Toronto. Some weekends, only a half dozen regulars assemble. Self-described white nationalist Paul Fromm has been spotted at the protests.
Hamilton had Canada's highest per-capita rate of hate crimes for the last three out of five years, according to Statistics Canada. There were 17.1 hate incidents per 100,000 people, with those incidents ranging from graffiti to assault.
So far this year, there have been 76 hate crimes or incidents, which is four per cent less than this time last year, according to the city's hate crimes unit. Of those, 73 were classified as "incidents," meaning the crimes displayed some hate or bias, but police haven't determined if that was a motivating factor. In the other three, police have determined that hate was a motivating factor.
WATCH | Tensions escalate into violence at the Pride festival in Hamilton this June:
Counter-protesters in pink face masks who identified as anarchists get in a scuffle with some of the people who came to disrupt the June 15 Pride celebrations in Hamilton. (Scotsmanstuart/YouTube) 0:16
It's hard to know why Hamilton's statistics are so high, but the answer might partially lie in the definition of hate crime itself.
Police departments across the country use varying definitions of "hate crime," and officers use that definition to determine which crimes to include in the statistics.
Hamilton Police Service's definition is comprehensive, calling a hate crime an offence that "was motivated solely, or in part, because of bias or prejudice." Other police services, such as the Quebec provincial police, have no definition at all.
For some Hamilton residents, hate toward minorities and marginalized groups is, in the words of LGBTQ resident and activist Graham Crawford, "a civic crisis."
Tensions escalate at gay pride festival
Shouting matches between activists denouncing hate and advocating immigrant rights and supporters of the People's Party of Canada, which wants to reduce immigration to Canada, escalated on Sept. 29 when a violent scuffle broke out in a crowd of about 100 at a talk by the party's leader, Maxime Bernier.
Cameron Kroetsch, who sat on the Pride Hamilton board of directors, says police took too long to respond to the violence at the June Pride celebration. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)
But that confrontation paled in comparison to the one that occurred on June 15 at the Pride festival.
A group crashed the festival in Hamilton's sprawling Gage Park with homophobic slogans displayed on signs and broadcast through a loud speaker. A number of people in pink masks identifying themselves as anarchists manoeuvered a portable barrier to block them. Punching, shoving and hitting broke out between the two groups. Several people were injured.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who didn't attend the Pride celebration, tweeted his disappointment with that happened the next day. He released a formal statement more than a week later.
It came too late and read like he "wrote it six months ago and put it in a drawer," said Crawford, who last year received the city's "citizen of the year" honour.
The response from the city's police department and its chief, Eric Girt, inspired more distrust.
WATCH | Hamilton police hold back protesters trying to stop supporters of the People's Party of Canada going to hear the party's leader, Maxime Bernier, last month:
A peaceful protest outside an event for Maxime Bernier turned violent Sunday evening as supporters of the People's Party of Canada began to arrive and enter the venue. 0:36
Cameron Kroetsch, a member of the Pride Hamilton board of directors, said police took too long to intervene in the fracas, even though Pride volunteers had told police in advance where the group with signs would likely appear.
By the end of it, they arrested three counter-protesters and, 10 days after the incident, one anti-Pride protester. The first Pride-related arrest was a transgender anarchist police said was part of the Pride violence but who a parole board later ruled wasn't in the park that day.
"Police are focusing on the wrong people," Crawford said.
Girt further angered his critics when he said police would have "deployed differently" at Pride if the festival had invited police to patrol there rather than urging uniformed officers to stay on the perimeter.
"This is not the way to build trust or to repair the damage you've done," Kroetsch tweeted.
In a later radio interview, Girt was asked about the police relationship with the LGBTQ community, and he referenced working together to address the problem of people having sex in public washrooms. He also said police are obligated to uphold the constitutional right to freedom of expression, and made seemingly unrelated references to the decriminalization of anal sex. He later apologized.
Distrust between minorities and law enforcement
The city has been dogged by other headlines that point to the presence of hate groups. The public learned in the spring that Marc Lemire, who has ties to a white supremacist organization, had worked in the city's IT department since 2005. (Lemire is no longer with the city.)
There's a perceived tone deafness among authority figures that's enraged people, Fetner said.
"I think that if you don't nip it in the bud with a very serious and clear statement of values, and then back that up by bringing people out into a large counter-protest to make it very clear that hate is not welcome in your town, then you may risk being a place where people gather like Hamilton has become."
Recent rallies in front of Hamilton city hall have brought clashes between yellow vest supporters and their opponents, which includes anti-fascists in black masks. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)
Kiel Hughes, 29, is black and LGBTQ. He says he started feeling the strain within the city in earnest in December 2016, one month after the election of Donald Trump as president in the U.S. Hughes left his Hamilton home for work one morning, he said, and found "n--ger die" written in the snow on his car.
"I just dropped everything that was in my hands and took a moment to try and collect myself," he said. When he got to work, he showed a coworker a photo and "her face was like she saw a ghost. She just grabbed me and hugged me."
Hughes reported the incident to police and flagged authorities again when he received a threatening message online. But he says he wouldn't go to police now. The targets of hate, he said, are often the focus of police.
"When you follow the news, you hear of this trans woman arrested, this gay person arrested, but you're never hearing about the other side getting arrested," Hughes said. "So I don't want to go down there and be the black one that's been arrested."
Police, he said, will "always look at my reaction but never the action that got my reaction." Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman says she's sorry to hear Hughes wouldn't feel safe reporting a hate crime to police.
Hate has been growing online, says Tina Fetner, a sociologist at McMaster University. But lately, "pockets of physical organizations cropping up, like people coming together around protest sites and occasional rallies." (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)
"Hamilton Police take hate crime seriously, and we would always encourage any person to report such incidents to police in order to initiate an investigation," she said in an email.
"We've made a concerted effort to reach out to our diverse communities to ensure citizens know where and how to report hate crimes/incidents, particularly where physical violence is involved."
Still, CBC News spoke to more than a dozen visible minority and LGBTQ residents in Hamilton, and they echoed Hughes's sentiments.
"What we constantly get from the mayor, and from the chief, is defensiveness, instead of 'Wow, people are really angry at me. What's happening here? What do I need to change about my behaviour?'" said Lyla Miklos, former chair of the city's LGBTQ advisory committee.
"It's all this, 'It's your fault because you're mad at me' kind of thing, and it's very frustrating to sit and watch."
Residents have started counter-protesting in front of city hall with pro-diversity, immigration and LGBTQ signs. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)
Not everyone feels the tension. Debanjan Borthakur, a McMaster University graduate student who is also a person of colour, was at the Gandhi Peace Festival at city hall last Saturday. He said he hasn't noticed an escalation of hate in Hamilton.
"That's my experience," he said. "Others may have a different experience."
The mayor spoke at that event, acknowledging the criticism of him and the police and telling the crowd he is "firmly denouncing all those that spew hate, no matter who they are."
"I know in my heart that this is a welcoming and diverse city," he said.
Balancing right to protest and protection for all
The city is looking at how to stop the Saturday protests. Earlier this year, council voted to improve its security cameras and collect data from demonstrations, and the city hired a new security investigator to analyze that information. Council will also review its trespassing bylaw this month.
Eisenberger said he's looking at getting a court injunction but that the city has to balance the constitutional right to freedom of expression with calls to shut down the protests.
Kiel Hughes says he's been victim of a hate crime, but wouldn't report another one. He worries police would scrutinize his reaction to the crime, not the crime itself. (CBC)
"We're doing everything we can, including looking at an injunction on the forecourt, that might prevent these groups from forming there," he said outside a police services board meeting this month. "I think that's a high hurdle, but we're exploring those opportunities."
Justin Long, a spokesperson for the Hamilton yellow vest group, told CBC News the group has switched to protesting at other spots around the city. That's to escape "attacks by Antifa," he said, using a term for the militant far-left protesters who often clash with far-right and white nationalist groups at demonstrations.
Groups like Soldiers of Odin and Proud Boys are there "for security," Long said.
The Soldiers of Odin have been described as "an anti-refugee vigilante group" by the Anti-Defamation League and have organized neighbourhood patrols in Quebec City and elsewhere claiming to protect locals from Muslim immigrants.
The Proud Boys say they're a fraternal organization that practises "Western chauvinism" but has appeared at far-right and white nationalist rallies in the U.S., including at the deadly August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Va. Last year, accounts and pages affiliated with the group were banned by Instagram and Facebook for violating their policies on hate speech and organizations.
'I know in my heart that (Hamilton) is a welcoming and diverse city,' says Mayor Fred Eisenberger. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)
Long said the yellow vest group will keep protesting until Canada walks back its participation in a United Nations immigration pact. That pact outlines 23 points for treating migrants humanely and efficiently. But Long said it's evidence the government isn't listening to people.
"We're going to be protesting and raising awareness until we get some accountability from our government," he said.
'Dialogue is ongoing,' says mayor
Eisenberger has attended a weekly counter-protest against the yellow vest group, and some councillors have shown up several times. The mayor appointed two volunteers to advise him on LGBTQ issues, although one has since stepped down.
"We've had a number of meetings with the queer and trans community on an ongoing basis, so that dialogue continues," Eisenberger said.
"We've had meetings with the broader community, with the Muslim, the black, the Jewish, all the targets of hate in our community, and that dialogue is ongoing."
Eisenberger disputes that the city and police have been slow responding or let hate flourish.
Justin Long, third from left, has been protesting with the yellow vests in Hamilton since December. He says his group isn't racist or homophobic, just concerned about a United Nations migration pact. (Laura Howells/CBC)
"That's not who I am," he said. "That's not what I've done. And they can continue to share that narrative, but that's not what I believe."
The Ontario Office of the Independent Police Review Director is investigating a complaint regarding police conduct on the day of the Pride festival. Girt is also investigating three internal complaints. Eisenberger, who chairs the police services board, says officers are doing "a terrific job" dealing with the protests.
"These [issues] are not unique to Hamilton," he said. "They're happening, you know, not only here but across the country."
When asked about community mistrust, Girt said he wants to "move the dialogue forward." Police had one meeting with members of the LGBTQ community and plan to have more.
"We understand the hurt to this community," he told CBC News outside a police services board meeting. "It's a reason I apologized for the comments [on the radio]. I'm not looking to hurt the community anymore. We want to move in a positive direction."
Hate in Hamilton, says Graham Crawford, is "a civic crisis." (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)
Statistics Canada numbers show an upward trend when it comes to reported hate crimes in Canada. There were 1,798 hate-motivated crimes last year, for example, compared to 1,295 in 2014.
'These are complex issues'
While hate appears to be growing online, said Fetner, there are also "pockets of physical organizations cropping up, like people coming together around protest sites and occasional rallies."
"It's going to be really important to figure out a clear way to talk about freedom of speech rights, but at the same time still hold to your values."
Asked what his advice would be to other cities, Eisenberger told CBC News that "communication and dialogue is critical."
"The yellow vests claim that I'm not supporting them, and they have issues, and the anarchists are saying similar things," he said.
"These are complex issues, and they don't have any easy answers. And we're going to do everything we can to try and ensure that we continue to provide a safe community."
This story is part of an ongoing series examining the nature of hate in Canada: how it manifests, spreads and thrives and how Canadian institutions, law enforcement and individuals are dealing with it.
Samantha Craggs is a CBC News reporter based in Hamilton, Ont. She has a particular interest in politics and social justice stories, and tweets live from Hamilton city hall. Follow her on Twitter at @SamCraggsCBC, or email her at samantha.craggs@cbc.ca
