From Boogaloo imagery to white power anthems, Shane Marshall is not shy about airing out his extreme beliefs online, even while participating in the federal election.
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
The riding director for a People’s Party of Canada candidate in the upcoming election has a social media presence where he regularly trades in violent and racist language and imagery.
Often draped in a ski mask and waving a blackened, camouflage version of Canada’s Red Ensign flag -- a symbol of a pre-multicultural Canada -- Shane Marshall has walked the streets of Toronto and Ottawa as part of numerous anti-COVID restriction protests. In other distinct black and white images, he gleefully poses with known Canadian white nationalists.
A plumber by trade, and for the second time since 2019, he’s boasting about being the riding director for Elgin-Middlesex-London in southern Ontario. The PPC candidate for the riding in the upcoming election is Chelsea Hillier -- the daughter of independent member of Ontario’s provincial parliament and founder of the No More Lockdowns coalition Randy Hillier. The senior Hillier has previously come under fire for tweeting a fake meme about so-called white replacement, invoking the white nationalist Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
Election Canada’s database confirms that Shane Z. Marshall is registered as Chief Executive Officer for the riding association.
Running under a “Canada First” platform, Chelsea Hillier is using the bully pulpit to push similar narratives about “medical tyranny” as her father. Included in an approved campaign video are the accusations of the government implementing a “social credit system” and refusing to bow to the agenda the “global elite have planned for this country,” she states during a dramatic voice over narration.
Images from both the Canada First website and Chelsea Hillier's campaign Instagram.
Included among the images on Hillier’s official social media page is the candidate wearing a hat reading “Canada First.” Far from an echo of her simple campaign slogan, the apparel is part of the merchandise belonging to the white nationalist live streamer and CanCon equivalent to America's Nick Fuentes, Tyler Russell.
Posts to Russell’s Instagram show him voicing support for both the PPC and the younger Hillier through a meme of a screaming Alex Jones.
Post made to Tyler Russell's Instagram account.
Russell endorsing the PPC candidate is somewhat odd, as the streamer has frequently mocked the party according to chat logs obtained by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
“Don’t be fooled by the PPC, they’re completely incapable and the people there don’t give a fuck,” he wrote in a message to his small but loyal following. He added that PPC leader Maxime Bernier is “incapable of running a party, let alone a Twitter account,” and the PPC is primarily managed by Martin Massé -- the party’s communications manager.
Perhaps most dramatic is how closely Chelsea Hillier’s Instagram account has come to borrow from many of Shane Marshall’s alternate accounts.
It is not clear if Hillier is aware of the source of the apparel. Her campaign did not return requests for comment. But among references to the boogaloo, videos cut with songs from neo-Nazi organizations, and no shortage of memes, we find Russell pictured with Marshall.
Canada First host Tyler Russell (left), Shane Marshall (centre), and Plaid Army Streamer Dan Sleno (right).
Hillier’s PPC Instagram account borrows heavily from the many black and white photos of the Black Ensign placed in the hands of prominent anti-lockdown figures like Maxime Bernier, MP Derek Sloan, MPP Randy Hillier, and Adam Skelly. Marshall’s alternate accounts also include footage from Plaid Army streams discussing Marshall and his commitment to proselytizing on behalf of the collective.
Source: Instagram
Marshall has been found to be running at least three separate Instagram accounts, all of which push a similar type of material. This connection was determined based on the style of posts, the use of the same images often posted moments apart, and the use of hashtags unique to these accounts.
Marshall’s posts include music from Forgotten Rebels, a 1970’s Hamilton punk band that is best remembered for the controversy around the song “Bomb The Boats.” While the band’s singer would later claim it was written as a satire against racists, much like The Clash’s “White Riot,” it became an anthem for white supremacist groups.
Unlike their British counterparts, it is not hard to see why.
“I don’t want no foreign pricks to take my job away from me. My tax dollars paid their ransom, would they do the same for me? I don’t, I don’t want them in my home. I don’t want them around so let them drown. Bomb the boats and feed their fucking flesh to the fish,” the song says.
“They're commies, subhuman subversives, commies. They're human living curses”
Marshall has made multiple references to the neo-Nazi fraternity The Mannerbund. Little is known about The Mannerbund yet, beyond a series of podcasts and a choir-style song making the rounds in neo-Nazi spaces. The song, which makes explicit references to blood and violence in an attempt to reclaim a homeland from “foreigners,” has become an anthem in neo-Nazi spaces. The group’s podcasts openly promote neo-Nazi figures, including speeches by Turner Diaries author William Luther Pierce.
On Instagram, Marshall has posted videos that include the neo-Nazi anthem, one of which also references Plaid Army. In other posts, Marshall is seen replying to comments on his posts with the title of the neo-Nazi song, as though it is a battle cry.
Dubbing himself a “Guerrilla Journalism Network,” most of the coverage appears to be photos taken of his flag and sharing of violent and sometimes racist memes and images. Another account makes multiple veiled references to the “Boogaloo,” the name given to what adherents see as an inevitable civil war or societal collapse.
Marshall also has made various fascist and antisemitic posts across his accounts. After Maxime Bernier was arrested for violating public health orders, one of his more active social channels included video of the arrest alongside a meme showing the signature Groyper frog reading a fictional book titled “Mon Struggle” by the embattled leader, a reference to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” In another video meme, men are shown marching through the woods with the text, “Me and the boys on the way to Bohemian Grove after digging up ‘der Flammenwerfer’ to have ourselves a barbecue with our Hebrew friends.”
Screenshot taken from one of Shane Marshall's Instagram posts.
Posts to the Boogaloo-inspired account include both the photo of Chelsea Hillier in the Canada First hat and a video that shows a pile of yard signs from the NDP, Liberal, and Green parties. The visible candidate names indicate they likely came from the Toronto Centre riding.
Asking, “Do You Even Politically Extreme Bro?” in the caption, a voice in the audio claims to have taken “18 Justin Trudeau trading cards. Let’s get it, PPC all day.”
It is not clear if this is an original video taken by Marshall or reposted from elsewhere. Marshall did not respond to requests for comment.
Other images show a man wearing a skull mask pushing away a red Make America Great Again hat, with the caption “For everything there is a time.” The skull mask is considered by many to be an unofficial uniform of the neo-Nazi accelerationist movement.
Screenshot taken from one of Shane Marshall's Instagram posts.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network has reached out to Shane Marshall and Chelsea Hillier for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.
With files from Sébastien Roback.
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