The Western Guard Party, founded in 1972 as the Western Guard, was a

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

group based 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 ...

, Canada. It evolved out of the far-right

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

Edmund Burke Society :''This organization is unrelated to the conservative debating society of the same name associated with the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Virginia, and the London School of Economics.'' In Canada, the Edmund Burke Society was a ...

that had been founded in 1967 by

Don Andrews Donald Clarke Andrews (born April 20, 1942 as Vilim Zlomislić) is a Canadian white supremacist. He is also the leader of the unregistered neo-Nazi Nationalist Party of Canada and a perennial candidate for mayor of Toronto, Ontario. Early yea ...

, Paul Fromm, Leigh Smith and

Al Overfield Alan Overfield was born a First Nations person on Manitoulin Island and is considered to have been a Canadian white supremacist. He was a founding member of the Edmund Burke Society, established by Paul Fromm, Don Andrews, and Leigh Smith. He was ...

. In 1971, the EBS had taken over

Social Credit Party of Ontario The Social Credit Party of Ontario (SCPO) (also known as the Ontario Social Credit League, Social Credit Association of Ontario and the Union of Electors) was a minor political party at the provincial level in the Canadian province of Ontario fro ...

. Fromm was elected as party president and EBS installed members to the party's executive. However, in 1972, the

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

declared Western Guard membership incompatible with Social Credit and expelled the group. Andrews became the dominant figure in the EBS, and relaunched it as the Western Guard, narrowing the group's focus to racism,

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

. Fromm left the group later in 1972 as the Western Guard descended into violent activity. In 1975, Andrews was charged with offences ranging from plotting arson, possession of weapons and explosives, and mischief, and was sentenced to two years in jail. Although Western Guard did plot to bomb a visiting Israeli soccer team, Don Andrews was not convicted of this crime. In order to fulfill his bail conditions, Andrews separated himself from the Western Guard. Veteran

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

John Ross Taylor John Ross Taylor (1913 – November 6, 1994) was a Canadian fascist political activist and party leader prominent in white nationalist circles. Early life and family Born into a well-known Toronto, Ontario family, the son of lawyer Oscar Taylor ...

became the group's leader in 1976. Taylor changed the name of the group to Western Guard Party. The group's membership declined under his idiosyncratic leadership. Many members, including

Wolfgang Droege Wolfgang Walter Droege (or Dröge) (25 September 1949 – 13 April 2005) was a German-born Canadian white supremacist, neo-Nazi and founding leader of the Heritage Front. Biography Early life Droege was born in Forchheim, Germany. His parents ...

, left to join the

Nationalist Party of Canada The Nationalist Party of Canada is an unregistered far-right political party in Canada that was founded in 1977 by white supremacist Don Andrews. The party describes itself as white nationalist, and is known for its antisemitic and racist pub ...

which had been founded by Andrews when he was released from prison in 1978. In 1979, Taylor was charged with hate speech for the Western Guard's telephonic messages and was brought before the

Canadian Human Rights Commission The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' to investigate and to try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the pro ...

. He was ultimately imprisoned for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

when he continued the Guard's racist answering machine messages. The group became an essentially one-person party in the 1980s, and was defunct by the middle of the decade. Despite calling itself a party, the Western Guard never registered as a federal or provincial political party and is not known to have ever nominated candidates for office under its name.

In popular culture

* Bruce Cockburn's "Free to Be" refers to the Western Guard Party: "On the skid row of the spirit / Hear the ranting of the Western Guard". Cockburn cites them as the inspiration for writing the song.

References

External links

Smith et al. v. Western Guard Party

Canadian Human Rights Reporter: Communication of Hate Messages by Telephone Prohibited

{{Hate in Canada, state=collapsed Neo-Nazi organizations 1972 establishments in Ontario Neo-Nazism in Canada

In popular culture

See also

References

External links