The 33 people standing together outside the Toronto Exhibition Place, chanting slogans, claim to be made up of members of multiple groups from Southern Ontario.
Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Screen capture from videos released to Telegram.
In the shadow of Prince's Gates in downtown Toronto, more than two dozen masked figures stand in a line. Dressed in all black, videos released by the demonstrators show them chanting as they held banners scrawled with white nationalist slogans.
This has been the latest in a series of protests and demonstrations by separate groups that share a white nationalist ideology.
Taking place on Saturday, May 3, at least 33 people gathered at the grounds entrance. Holding three large banners made of canvas and stencil-painted lettering, the signs read “remigration saves our nation.” “mass deportations now,” and “D.E.I. is how nations die.”
Teasing the action in several short clips, one of the groups participating released a video of the event, including a speech delivered over a megaphone, stating that “the importation of foreign blood and foreign culture has diluted our nation and dispossessed our people.”
Screen capture from videos released to Telegram.
The demonstration at Exhibition Place is similar to a demonstration held in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 23, 2024, outside of Jackson Square mall, a busy space. During this action, at least 17 men gathered holding what appears to be the same “mass deportations now” sign.
During the most recent demonstration, another video shows the gathering chanting.
“Shiloh Hendrix,” one man shouts off camera.
“Did nothing wrong,” the rest of the men call back.
Hendrix is a Minnesota woman who allegedly called a five-year-old Black child the n-word at a playground. She has, at time of writing, crowdfunded over $700,000 in support as a result.
Social media posts on the encrypted social media app Telegram and Elon Musk’s X indicate that the protest was a collaboration of a handful of neo-Nazi organizations from not only Ontario, but Quebec and Manitoba as well.
According to social media posts the protest was made up of members of the neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups Nationalist 13 out of Hamilton, Toronto Fitness Club, Frontenac Active Club from Montreal as well as “contingents” from the Manitoba Active Club and another group from Victoria.
Nationalist 13 was founded roughly three years ago by former members of the Steel City Proud Boys.They had been ejected from Proud Boys Canada for their adherence to national socialism before the Proud Boys were designated as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada in 2021.
The group frequently networks and collaborates with other fascist and far-right organizations. This includes an August 2024 meeting in Goderich, Ontario, that included two US-based white nationalist groups: the Great Lakes Active Club and the Wisconsin Active Club.
Image of the groups that gathered at Nick Bennett’s residence. Many images from Nationalist-13 use the Totenkopf—a skull worn by Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS)—to hide its members' faces. Source: Telegram
Frontenac Active Club is a neo-Nazi, white only workout club primarily focused on the Greater Montreal region. Several of their members were exposed in an article by Montréal Antifasciste, along with the group’s activism and networking efforts since its founding in Spring 2023.
The Toronto Fitness Club, according to statements made by its members online, is an organization run by an individual who goes by the name McLeafin. His real first name is Spencer, though his last name is not known. He previously led the Toronto chapter of the White Lives Matter protest network.
On Tuesday, May 6, Toronto Fitness Club released an edited video showing the demonstration, which is shown beginning with a visit to Toronto’s Holodomor Memorial, where they laid flowers.
The Holodomor refers to the man-made Ukrainian famine, orchestrated by Joseph Stalin, that occurred from 1932 to 1933. Millions of Ukrainians died in the genocide. Many far-right organizations fixate on the event as a way to signal their opposition to communism.
Screen capture from videos released to Telegram.
The Manitoba Active Club is a white supremacist organization run by a man named Logan Murphy. Murphy was exposed by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network after his name was found in the metadata of propaganda videos released by the club.
No details are offered about the Victoria group. Social media shares include a link to a Telegram page with one follower and no posts, created May 6.
Since the protest, the reception has been fairly split among the far-right. Most members of the extreme right are in support of the action, including Alex Vriend, a significant figure in the white nationalist Diagolon network. Vriend, along with other influential individuals in Diagolon, have been working to launch their own organization, the Second Sons Canada.
Vriend offered his support for Nationalist 13 over his various social media accounts. This includes defending them against what has been a common accusation that they are federal agents meant to embarrass nationalist and anti-immigration movements.
Despite the fact that the identities of the organizers of these groups have been exposed by activists and media, they often deal with accusations of being or working for law enforcement.
Not exclusive to far-right spaces, this is a practice often referred to as “fedjacketing.”
The accusers include Rebel News co-founder and CEO Ezra Levant and numerous other pundits and commenters.
Fedjacking is a fairly common practice among the spectrum of ideologies that make up the far-right. Often used to attempt to discredit other groups or individuals, there are no indications that the long-time activists participating in Saturday’s Exhibition Place demonstration are members of law enforcement.
Police do investigate these groups when they believe the participants have broken the law. Two Active Club Canada members, including Toronto man Kristoffer Nippak, were arrested for their alleged involvement with the Atomwaffen Division and the Terrorgram Collective.
Rob McKee, a pastor at a controversial Ottawa church, claimed that an officer with the city’s police force invited him to “numerous” protests.
While the parties accept the final results, baseless claims of a stolen election began to circulate before the polls even opened.
All of the incumbents identified on a list by Canada’s anti-abortion lobby, Campaign Life Coalition, were reelected during the campaign. A handful of new candidates also managed to take their ridings.