William John Beattie (known as John Beattie) (born 1941/1942) is 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 ...

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 ...

who was the founder and former leader of the

Canadian Nazi Party The Canadian National Socialist Party, commonly known as the Canadian Nazi Party, existed from 1965 to 1978. It was led by William John Beattie, and was based in Toronto. It succeeded a separate, short-lived group also known as the Canadian Nazi ...

. The establishment of the Canadian Nazi Party, re-named the National Socialist Party in 1967, marked a re-emergence of organized

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 ...

activity in Canada that had been dormant since the days of Adrian Arcand.

The Canadian Nazi Party leader

Beattie organized a number of rallies in Toronto in the mid-1960s, although few actual Canadian Nazi Party members attended, and none of the rallies resulted in much support for Beattie's cause. One of these rallies on May 30, 1965, resulted in a violent encounter with Jewish activists who disrupted Beattie's rally at

Allan Gardens Allan Gardens is a conservatory and urban park located in the Garden District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The property includes a playground, off-leash dog park, and a conservatory with six green houses. The park originated from lands donated ...

. Beattie later found himself in legal trouble as a result of his rallies, and an exposé article was written in Canadian newsmagazine

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...

by private investigator John Garrity, who had been hired by the

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...

to infiltrate Beattie's movement.Interview
''Maclean's'', October 1, 1966. As a result of a daubing swastikas on the gateposts of prominent Jewish leaders in Toronto, Beattie was sent to prison for six months having been convicted of public mischief.NOW Toronto -

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 ...

br>"Nazi Nobody"
September 11–17, 2014. In a 1966 ''

Playboy Magazine ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' interview,

American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National ...

founder

George Lincoln Rockwell George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...

referred to Beattie as leading, "a tremendous and successful movement" in Canada. After changing the group's name to the National Socialist Party, Beattie created a recorded telephone message line. Among the messages recorded was one that claimed, "that blacks were being manipulated by Jew-communists."

Activities after the Canadian Nazi Party

Beattie disbanded the National Socialist Party in 1978. Soon after he and John Ross Taylor co-founded the short-lived British People's League. In both 1988 and 1989, Beattie organized "Aryan Fest" parties on his property in Minden, Ontario.

Ernst Zündel's Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing

Beattie was to be a key witness for Paul Fromm during the

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (french: Tribunal canadien des droits de la personne, link=no) is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and i ...

concerning

Holocaust denier 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: * ...

Ernst Zündel Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature.

in 2000. Fromm's organization, the

Canadian Association for Free Expression The Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) is one of a number of groups run by neo-Nazi and white supremacist Paul Fromm. Established in 1981, CAFE states that it is committed to the promotion and defense of total freedom of speech, and p ...

, had intervenor status during the hearings. Fromm claimed that Beattie would testify that the Canadian Nazi Party had been a front created by the

as a means to enact Section 319 of the

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

: :"Beattie will reveal that he was a dupe and a patsy, that everything from his group's name to its major activities was suggested or quarterbacked by persons acting as agents for or reporting to the Canadian Jewish Congress. Uncannily, at the very time that the Canadian Nazi Party was being built up and just as quickly destroyed a government committee was holding hearings to propose anti-hate legislation. The Cohen Committee made significant mention of the threat posed by John Beattie. The Canadian Jewish Congress, which largely created the short-lived Canadian Nazi Party, had, since the 1930s been lobbying for restrictions on freedom of speech. :"Beattie will reveal how an agent for the Canadian Jewish Congress lured him into a technical breach of the law, which landed the now unemployed, penniless Nazi leader in prison for six months. Beattie will also expose the fact that the same agent proposed legal maneuvers icthat were calculated to frighten and cause distress among Jews, thus heightening the "

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

" menace, which was used as the argument for the 1971 "hate law" (Section 319 of the

) and the subsequent section 13.1 (telephonic communication of hate) of the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

, where truth is no defence.""The two faces of Paul Fromm"
telusplanet.net, December 14, 2000. When it came time for his testimony however, Beattie was unavailable. Although Fromm later claimed that Beattie's absence was as a result of a scheduling conflict, it appears that Beattie was upset by the wording of the press release that referred to him as a "dupe" and "patsy."

Current activities

Beattie, who has since worked as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

, has re-created the British People's League, which claims to promote and protect "our ancient cultural traditions, as a powerful lobby force."British People's League
/ref> Whilst he did host a show for a small time o
WTFR
He is no longer active in broadcasting. Beattie ran for local office in 2014, as a candidate for deputy reeve of

Minden Hills Minden Hills is a township in and the county seat of Haliburton County, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgam of the townships of Snowdon, Lutterworth, Anson, Hindon and Minden. It is usually referred to as Minden, after its largest community. The to ...

, Ontario.

Notes

External links