The Canadian Nationalist Party (french: Parti Nationaliste Canadien) was a
far-right,
white nationalist
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...
political party in Canada
This article lists political parties in Canada.
Federal parties
In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...
. It was registered with
Elections Canada
Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...
from 2019 to 2022.
History
The Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP) was founded on June 1, 2017, by Travis Patron.
On August 9, 2017, coinciding with the
Unite the Right rally
The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
in
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, the CNP organized the Toronto Nationalist Rally at the
University of Toronto's St. George campus. The event's Facebook page described the rally as an opportunity to "discuss the nationalist movement in Canada," and to protest Canada's immigration policy.
A counter-protest was organized in response to the rally,
and the University of Toronto denied the party the opportunity to organize on campus grounds.
In November 2017, party leader Travis Patron announced his intent to officially register the CNP as a federal political party and field candidates for the
2019 federal election. On November 26, Patron started a cross-country tour in Toronto.
During the tour, the party's meeting at the Belgian Club in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
,
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
, was cancelled following protests. The club's treasurer subsequently resigned, and the organization voluntarily withdrew from
Folklorama, the city's multicultural festival. In early September 2018, Patron reached out to
People's Party of Canada
The People's Party of Canada (french: Parti populaire du Canada, PPC) is a right-wing populist federal political party in Canada. The party was formed by Maxime Bernier in September 2018, shortly after his resignation from the Conservative P ...
leader
Maxime Bernier
Maxime Bernier (born January 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who is the founder and leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC). Formerly a member of the Conservative Party, Bernier left the caucus in 2018 to form the PPC. He was the membe ...
"to see if there would be any interest in possibly co-operating with the Canadian Nationalist Party."
Bernier declined any further discussions with Patron.
In June 2019, CNP members were among several far-right groups protesting against
Pride parades
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events som ...
alongside
Yellow Vest demonstrators in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
,
and
Pegida in
downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Str ...
.
Both protests resulted in violence against counter-protesters, with the latter demonstration resulting in a violent altercation between
anti-fascist counter-protesters inside the
Eaton Centre. The
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
launched a
hate crime investigation against Patron after
Ottawa-based human rights lawyer
Richard Warman filed a formal criminal complaint about a video Patron uploaded to
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
warning of a "parasitic tribe" controlling Canadian institutions and calling for their permanent removal from Canada.
During the investigation, the RCMP pursued
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
violations against the CNP for using RCMP trademarks without permission. On August 23, 2019, the party lost their registered virtual office location in the
Toronto Star Building after Telsec revoked their services.
Elections Canada
Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...
informed the CNP on August 29, 2019, that it was eligible for registration as a federal political party.
The CNP was subsequently registered two weeks later on September 15.
Patron ran under the party banner during the
2019 federal election in
Souris—Moose Mountain
Souris—Moose Mountain is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988.
Geography
This electoral district is located in Southeast Saskatchewan, encompassing the ...
, the
electoral district containing his hometown of
Redvers Redvers may refer to:
Places
* Redvers, Saskatchewan, a town in Canada
People
* Redvers (given name), including a list of people with the name
* Kelvin Redvers, First Nations filmmaker
* Redvers family
See also
* Redvers Airport, an abandoned air ...
in Saskatchewan. The party also fielded candidates in
Lac-Saint-Louis
Lac-Saint-Louis is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Its population was 108,579 at the 2016 Canadian Census.
Geography
The district includes the Cities of ...
and
Scarborough—Guildwood
Scarborough—Guildwood is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004.
It was created in 2003 from parts of Scarborough East, Scarborough Southwest and S ...
. The party did not win any seats and finished last out of 21 parties, garnering only 281 votes.
Shortly after the 2019 election, Patron was charged with aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and breach of probation, after attacking two women in
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...
, who were sent to hospital for their injuries. On August 23, 2022, Patron was sentenced concurrently to 18-months in jail for two counts of assault causing bodily harm; however, because Patron received time served credit for the amount of time he spent in custody, the sentence was considered served.
A complaint was filed with the RCMP against Patron by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center on July 15, 2020.
In their complaint they claim that a post on the party's Facebook page constitutes hate speech.
The RCMP had investigated the party in 2019 for a similar claim. Patron was arrested by the RCMP and charged with wilful promotion of hate on February 17, 2021, in connection to the complaint.
Gus Stefanis assumed leadership of the party on August 27, 2021.
The CNP was deregistered by Elections Canada on March 31, 2022, due to its failure to maintain an active party membership of at least 250.
On October 20, 2022, Patron was sentenced to one year in jail for willfully promoting hatred against Jewish people and ordered to refrain from posting about them for a year after the sentence ends.
Ideology and policies
The CNP has been described as
far-right,
white nationalist
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...
,
and
right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establ ...
. Its stated purpose is "to improve the social and economic conditions of an
ethnocentric
Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead o ...
Canada" by maintaining the demographic majority status of
European Canadians.
The party proposes discontinuing public funding for
pride parades
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events som ...
,
restricting abortion access, establishing a mandatory national curriculum based on "European and Christian values", and repealing the
Canadian Multiculturalism Act
The ''Canadian Multiculturalism Act'' (french: Loi sur le multiculturalisme canadien) is a law of Canada, passed in 1988, that aims to preserve and enhance cultural diversity, i.e. multiculturalism, in Canada.
Background
On 8 October 1971, Pr ...
.
Election results
References
External links
*
{{Hate in Canada
Anti-abortion organizations in Canada
Anti-globalization political parties
Anti-Islam political parties
Ethnocentrism
Far-right politics in Canada
Federal political parties in Canada
Monarchist parties
National conservative parties
Nationalist parties in Canada
Anti-Islam sentiment in Canada
Organizations that oppose LGBT rights in Canada
Political parties established in 2017
Political parties disestablished in 2022
Right-wing populism in Canada
Right-wing populist parties
Social conservative parties
White nationalism in Canada
White nationalist parties