Charles Brandle Crate (1916–1992) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

fascist who was the leader of the

Canadian Union of Fascists The Canadian Fascist Party was a fascist political party based in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in the 1930s. The formative core of the party was a splinter group from the Canadian Nationalist Party that found the principles of corpor ...

. He later served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

and eventually became a teacher.

Early years

Crate was born and grew up in northern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, moving into a working-class district of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1927. The poverty and unemployment brought by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

turned the young Crate into a radical, in his youth sympathizing with the then populist fascist movement of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Career

Crate was editor of ''The Thunderbolt'' 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 749,6 ...

, Manitoba, in which he blamed the conditions of the time on Jews, the Roman Catholic Church and the

Masonic Order Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. During the war, Chuck Crate joined the

where he worked in Postal Service and as a gunner. He was based in Scotland where he met his future wife. Crate worked for many years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a gold miner and Mine Mill and Smelter Worker shop steward and union organizer where he secured equal pay for Native Indian workers in the mines. During this time he met Charles Lovell and began a lifelong interest in Canadian English lexicography and

Canadiana Canadiana is a term used to describe things (e.g., books, historical documents, and artifacts), ideas, or activities that concern or are distinctive of Canada, its people, and/or its culture, especially works of literature and other cultural pro ...

literature which later led to the publication of '' A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles.'' Crate worked in and for numerous unions until he retired and became a member of the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

party. In

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, he was instrumental in starting the (Indian) Friendship Center as well a public library and started a local newspaper called the Northern Star. He was supportive of Canadian Indigenous peoples and worked personally and legally to support their rights. He represented the hereditary Dogrib chief Michel Siki in a groundbreaking case in support of Aboriginal Hunting Rights, until the level of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. Crate later became a teacher and taught and lived in numerous small Canadian towns and on the

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

reserve. He taught mainly Business English, Literature and Social Studies, which he augmented by his research and teaching of Native Indian history. He donated some of his collection of old Canadiana literature and Dictionaries to the libraries in each small town he lived in. Crate was known for his defence of those who kept views considered to be 'inflammatory'. Among the more controversial aspect of this was speaking out in defence of

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

immigrants who either expressed inflammatory views of

or possibly had been accused of war crimes.

Death

He died in 1992 at the age of 76 and is survived by two daughters and a son born to his second wife which he willed to be named Hitler.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crate, Chuck Canadian fascists 1916 births 1992 deaths Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II