The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is a Canadian

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that monitors

hate groups A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. Accord ...

, far-right groups, and hate crimes in Canada. It was formed in 2018 in

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 ...

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 ...

and receives funding from the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. CAHN provides information to journalists and the media, researchers, law enforcement, policy makers, and

community organizations Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

. The organization is modelled after and supported by the American

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

(SPLC).

History

CAHN was formed in 2018 in

by more than fifteen journalists, community leaders, academics, and legal experts. In its first public statement in 2018, CAHN called for criminal charges to be brought against

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

IT consultant In management, information technology consulting (also called IT consulting, computer consultancy, business and technology services, computing consultancy, technology consulting, and IT advisory) is a field of activity which focuses on advising or ...

and

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

Gabriel Sohier Chaput, who goes by the pseudonym Charles Zeiger. In 2019, white nationalist

Kevin Goudreau Kevin Goudreau (born in 1975 or 1976) is a Canadian white nationalist and the chairman of the Canadian Nationalist Front. Activities Goudreau is the chairman of the Canadian Nationalist Front, previously known as the White Nationalist Front, a ...

was served with a

peace bond In Canadian law, a peace bond is an order from a criminal court that requires a person to keep the peace and be on good behaviour for a period of time. This essentially means that the person who signs a peace bond must not be charged with any ad ...

obliging his to stay away from CAHN staff, after he encourage violence towards staff. On November 1, 2020, Chris Vanderweide, known as 'Helmet Guy' for participating in violence at Hamilton Pride 2019, was arrested by the

York Regional Police The York Regional Police (YRP) are a law enforcement organization that serves over 1.1 million residents in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, York Region of Ontario, Canada, located north of Toronto. YRP was formed in 1971 from the poli ...

(YRP) and charged with uttering threats against CAHN chair

Bernie Farber Bernie M. Farber (born 1951) is a writer, commentator, and the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime. He was appointe ...

and CAHN executive director

Evan Balgord Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to "Ivan", " Ian", and "Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhôḥ ...

in a private

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

group. Before contacting the YRP, CAHN had contacted the

Hamilton Police Service The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) is the police service of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With 829 officers and 414 civilians employed under the service. It serves roughly Hamilton’s 545,000 residents. The Hamilton Police Service has ...

(HPS) about the threats, but HPS declined to investigate the threats due to their wording. Afterwards, Farber called for an internal investigation into the HPS and for

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Mayor

Fred Eisenberger Fred Eisenberger (born September 3, 1952) is a Canadian politician and former real estate agent who was the 57th mayor of Hamilton from 2014 to 2022. Eisenberger previously served as chair of the Hamilton Port Authority prior to his first elec ...

to look into why the threats were not further investigated. In response,

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Jerome Stewart Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

said that "The matter is before the court system in

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

and as such Hamilton Police will not provide any further comments at this time". In the

aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an Americ ...

of the

2021 United States Capitol Attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...

, a team from CAHN was attempting to identify three people seen at the riot, one of whom was holding a

Canadian flag The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...

. On April 15, 2021, CAHN filed a complaint with the

Law Society of Ontario The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...

against

criminal lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

Colin A. Browne for reciting the oath of the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence: * * * It has ...

organization in a video posted on

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

. In a September 9, 2021 ''

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

'' interview, CAHN deputy director Elizabeth Simons described people "at the heart of"

COVID-19 protests in Canada The COVID-19 protests in Canada are protests that began in April 2020, with protests in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa against the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent measures. National Britis ...

, including "anti-lockdown, anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests", as part of a "far-right", "anti-democratic", and "pro-insurrectionist" movement who hold extreme views on a number of issues. In February 2022, CAHN chair

posted a photo to Twitter claiming to have an anti-semitic pamphlet that was allegedly being handed out during the

Freedom Convoy A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy (french: Convoi de la liberté, links=no) by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created t ...

. The photo was proved to be a hoax by

Quillette ''Quillette'' () is an online magazine founded by Australian journalist Claire Lehmann. The magazine primarily focuses on science, technology, news, culture, and politics. It also has a podcast, hosted by Jon Kay. ''Quillette'' was created in ...

associate editor

Jonathan Kay Jonathan Hillel Kay (born 1968) is a Canadian journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of ''The Walrus'' (2014–2017), and is a senior editor of ''Quillette''. He was previously comment pages editor, columnist, and blogger for the Toronto-based Ca ...

. The pamphlet originated in a Twitter post two weeks earlier from someone in Miami, Florida. In late June 2022, the CAHN published an online booklet with the goal of educating teachers, students, and parents on how to identify and confront forms of hate in school and online. In October 2022, the

Government of Saskatchewan The Government of Saskatchewan (french: Gouvernement de la Saskatchewan) refers to the provincial government of the province of Saskatchewan. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "g ...

said that it would discourage teachers from using an anti-hate toolkit created by the CAHN, adding that "The toolkit does not meet criteria such as being high quality, free from bias as reasonably possible, and having appropriate and significant

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

context". In 2019, human rights lawyer and CAHN Board Member

Richard Warman Richard Warman is an Ottawa-based lawyer who is active in human rights law. Warman worked for the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) from July 2002 until March 2004. He is best known as the primary instigator of actions related to Internet ...

, sued Jonathan Kay and

Barbara Kay Barbara Kay (born 1943) is a columnist for the Canadian newspaper ''National Post''. She also writes a weekly column for '' The Post Millennial'' and a monthly column for '' Epoch Times''. Kay announced on July 24, 2020, that she was leaving the ...

in Small Claims Court for libel in response to the two journalists linking CAHN to "violent ANTIFA". In a judgement released on November 10, 2022 the claim was dismissed. In its reasoning the judge noted that based on "the evidence disclosed...CAHN did in fact assist Antifa and that the movement has been violent." The judge went on to condemn Warman noting that "he has used litigation to silence or intimidate those he sees as his critics, or who oppose his methods of prosecuting hate groups."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Organizations established in 2018 Anti-fascist organizations Anti-racist organizations in Canada 2018 establishments in Ontario Southern Poverty Law Center