Kenneth "Ken" McVay (born 1940), 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 o ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

dual citizen, is an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

against

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

. He is the founder of the

Nizkor Project The Nizkor Project ( he, נִזְכּוֹר, "we will remember") is an Internet-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada which is dedicated to countering Holocaust denial. About the project The website was founded by Ken McVay as a central ...

, one of the first

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipe ...

s against Holocaust denial. An active participant on the

newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinc ...

''alt.revisionism'', McVay describes himself as a person who found himself moved to action by the efforts of Holocaust deniers on the newsgroup to promote "evidence" that he found to be poorly presented and claims that were vague at best. He also opposed the idea of censoring and suppressing the deniers, as authorities and experts on

hate group 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. Accordin ...

s often did. A former active-duty

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

and retired service station manager, McVay found that he had an ample amount of spare time to dedicate to researching and transcribing historical documents, so that they could be made available online to counter the arguments of the deniers. In various interviews, he has stated his belief that of the many reasons for the deniers to oppose him and despise him, one of the most frustrating to them is the fact that their arguments have been so thoroughly debunked by a man who is not

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ish and has never professed to be a world-class scholar. McVay's efforts in combatting Holocaust denial with speech and documentation instead of censorship won him praise among many activists, and in 1995 he was awarded the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premie ...

by the Province of British Columbia.

References

External links

The Nizkor Project
(managed by B'nai B'rith Canada)
Order of British Columbia 1995 Recipients

Canadian activists American activists American anti-fascists Canadian anti-fascists Members of the Order of British Columbia Holocaust denial Usenet people United States Marines American emigrants to Canada 1940s births Living people {{activist-stub