Railing against women, immigration, and Christians, one man in BC has woven a complicated international web of companies, identities, and titles.
Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
The landing page for NORSKK is awash in pectorals and outdoor portraits. Drawing from a collection of stock images and original photographic work, the site boasts about restoring manhood, training a new class of warrior, and returning to Nordic “Viking” tradition.
This site is the keystone in a network of interconnected pages claiming to be, among other things, an outfitter and organization of paid mercenaries that appears on paper as the work of one Canadian resident and a collection of other founders from around the globe.
The promotional language is decidedly militaristic.
“Úlfhéðnar Hirðir are active combat-ready and special-forces-level units, composed of 12 to 18 men, led by two Hirðarhöfðingjar (Unit Commanders), who are always Úfhéðnar,” a page boasts of the fighting force. “The Hirðarhöfðingjar are responsible for the leadership, training and readiness of their Hirð, and ultimately, Hirðir under their command.”
Calls to contact numbers result in no answer. Instead, the multilingual phone directory plays Nordic music before offering the option to leave a message.
NORSKK’s collection of corporate entities claims to oversee field training programs in locations like Afghanistan, British Columbia, and Norway (their professed centre of operations), and others. The name itself, NORSKK, means Norwegian, just with an extra “K” smacked onto the end.
Through these outposts, camps, and programs, this paramilitary organization says it trains its members in the style of the old Norse plunderers who would go “Viking,” or raiding, to neighbouring countries until the Christianization of Scandinavia in the 11th century. Using superior naval technology and a culture built around concepts of honour to push their peoples into combat, unafraid of death in pursuit of wealth, glory, and Odin’s hall -- Valhalla.
NORSKK’s Hirðmaðr division is built a little differently than the Vikings of old. According to its description, it is no longer drawing from the ranks of former special forces. After recruits complete the $245 online entrance course they gain access to the duty Viking (a trained warrior available to answer questions and calls), the Google Currents channel (a type of internal business chat platform), and are given the opportunity to advance up the tiers until eventually achieving the status of ultimate warrior -- the Hirðmaðr -- all for a series of nominal fees.
The details of these levels are, of course, kept secret to those who have not forked over the required sum, but a few publicly available videos show aspects of the training regime. Becoming the ultimate warrior may look like doing bodyweight exercises on top of rocks in some type of primitive boxer-briefs, but there remains a multitude of locked videos on the company’s Vimeo.
Other footage includes men skinning and gutting wild game, the building of woodland shelters, footage from small Scandinavian towns, as well as a variety of recycled news clips and documentary footage.
The current owner’s other projects include e-books, attempts to found a small country off the coast of British Columbia, a copyright battle with an American heathen group, complaints against society’s “vaginal superiority,” and rampant misogyny that is not unique in its tone, but rather its flavour.
“Women are responsible for replacing the concept of merit, which built western civilization, with vaginal selection, essentially selecting people based on vagina, colour of said (outer) vagina, or even clinical retardation,” one article on the site reads. “Anything really, except merit. They have also implemented a trophy culture where everyone is special and everyone gets a trophy for merely breathing.”
Other sections extolling the philosophy of the group include multiple anti-trans statements, as well as disparaging statements about immigrants.
“Another factor is immigration. Of course, the left will tell you that all cultures are equal. They are not. When a dude from Africa who managed to shit in a well you built him a day prior breeds with a British land whale, or when a goat fucker breeds with a Swedish cow, you cannot expect miracles as a result. Barbarism meeting ret*rdation doesn’t work too well.”
Photo of Christopher Fragassi-Bjornsen.
The company’s founder appears to be a French national living in BC named Christopher Fragassi-Bjornsen, also known as Christopher Fragassi. While Fragassi-Bjornsen was listed as the director of NORSKK in Canadian business filings, the title now belongs to someone named Christopher Thorolf Bjørnsen who told the Canadian Anti-Hate Network he lives in Norway.
Fragassi-Bjornsen is reported to make frequent trips back and forth between Norway and Canada.
When asked if the current company head and Fragassi-Bjornsen were one and the same, Thorolf Bjornsen responded with a series of selectively redacted identity documents bearing his name. Follow-up questions were halted after the inquiring email account was blocked. NORSKK claims the former director left the organization, a fact outlined in an email chain posted to the company’s own site between the man and a National Post reporter in 2017.
In 2019, the heathen organization Forn Siðr of America was drawn into a copyright battle over their name with a Norwegian group using the name, Forn Siðr. The Norwegian entity is part of NORSKK’s network. Forn Siðr, meaning “old way,” was the name given to the old Norse religion after its followers encountered Christianity. In a release detailing Forn Siðr of America’s side of the saga, the group names Fragassi-Bjornsen as leading the action against them. This appears to be the last public mention connecting that name to NORSKK.
Forn Siðr of America did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication. We will update accordingly.
In what has become a typical response, the American organization was the subject of a blog post, as well as articles on another site affiliated with this network.
“Despite their name suggesting a connection to Norse culture and ancestral traditions,” a blog post written under the name Þór Þórðarson said on the issue, “the purpose of the group has no connection whatsoever with our culture, advocating instead transgenderism, the empowerment of “minorities” (which are no longer minorities in many locations), feminism, safe spaces, as well as discrimination, hate and violent extremism against anyone not embracing their views, including us Norsemen, whose culture they are stealing.”
It does appear as though the company was successful in having Forn Siðr of America’s social media accounts temporarily suspended, but they have since been restored. Their statement indicates this is because none of the copyright claims against them were successful.
Nearly none of the claims about training elite forces are verifiable, and no evidence exists of combat operations or government contracts being awarded. The only substantive mention outside its own website were news reports of one member of NORSKK gaining permission to grow a beard in the US Military.
The interconnected companies and their various business dealings were first reported on during a complaint to the human rights commission of British Columbia and then the Yukon.
Bethany Paquette, a job applicant with a degree from the BC’s Trinity Western University, was turned down due to her apparent lack of qualifications. The position had nothing to do with Paquette’s faith. The company’s response, however, included multiple attacks against her religion, misogyny, and assertions the Norse followers of their company hold her religion in contempt.
In addition to these personal attacks, the email also includes criticism of the Christian university’s anti-LGBTQ2+ policies. While criticism of anti-equity policies may be valid in good faith, his criticism was in fact thinly veiled misogyny.
“We believe that a man ending up with another man is probably the best thing that could happen to him,” another email reportedly read. “But we do not force these views onto other people, and we are completely fine if a guy decides to emasculate himself by marrying a BC woman.”
One email from the company grew more indignant after Paquette signed a letter with the phrase “God bless.”
“God Bless is very offensive to me, and yet another sign of your attempts to impose your religious views on me,” it said. “I do not want to be blessed by some guy who was conceived by a whore, outside of marriage, and whom has been the very reason for the most horrendous abuses and human rights violations in the history of the human race. If I was to meet the guy, I’d actually f*ck him.”
One of the employees from the Christan hiring drama includes Olaf Amundsen. His emails to Paquette contained the initial discriminatory comments, but he and the rest of the company refused to speak with the media. Social profiles existed for the man, and while the picture seemed like that of a rugged Norse outdoorsman, our research indicates that it is in fact that of a male model, Gwilym Pugh.
Even foreign press picked up the story, with one outlet calling the company, registered as Amaruk Corp., a “castle in the air.”
Christopher G. Fragassi was listed as the company’s attorney on certain documents, registering the trademarked logo.
A search of the Law Society of British Columbia revealed no person practicing law under that name, nor other mentions of his legal work. This fits with a pattern of Fragassi-Bjornsen changing job titles according to his needs. He also held the title of Amaruk’s “technical director” in Canada for a time.
The complaint would eventually wind up in front of the BC and Yukon human rights tribunals, and while its principal subject claimed to be in Norway, the BC commission notes that this did not appear to be true.
The earliest project that Fragassi-Bjornsen can be connected to appears to be a company called Norealis Media Inc. Like NORSKK it was a sprawling body connected to other entities, including what would grow into the current outdoor empire.
Most interestingly, MALE CORPS lists Norealis Media as its agent and appears to be one of few sites to generate a meaningful product. A now-defunct, exclusively male site that featured a variety of different muscle-bound models in various stages of undress alongside pornographic content.
The origins of the man are somewhat of a mystery. People familiar with him say he is a French national, with the National Post reporting he was once a volunteer at the French consulate. Most of his history seems to centre around activity in or near Sooke, British Columbia.
It was sometime after his involvement with the MALE CORPS that Fragassi-Bjornsen transitioned into outdoor work, or at least the appearance of it. Though testimonials do exist on various online forums, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has been unable to contact any individual that has undergone training through the various business entities. Despite this, the company had associations with legitimate organizations, though many had reportedly lapsed by the time of the Amaruk scandal.
Reporting cites wilderness guides never laying eyes on any Amaruk’s employees on the trails, as well as advertisements to take tourists to Baffin Island well out of season. The CBC also found other women who reported advertisements of lucrative job opportunities, which only resulted in insults. Most of these positions with Amaruk required a certification course offered by another company -- also connected to Fragassi-Bjornsen.
Moving from softcore pornography to outdoor adventure, Fragassi-Bjornsen is only listed as a photographer for his first foray into the wilds. Like the ones that would follow, while promising large-scale fun and frivolity led by the steady hand of experienced field guides, there is little indication as to who these people are or where they originated, their experience, or photos of the adventure themselves. Courses offered all took place online. This is a theme that remains to this very day in the existing projects under his name. Wild promises tales of expansive experience, few definitive details capable of helping anyone find a solution.
In a section on the website titled “Fuckery,” alongside a “Shit List” of mostly BC businesses that have irked the owner, NORSKK addresses accusations that Amaruk or its current operations are fraudulent by encouraging people to call 911 and report them to the police.
“Some people think that the earth is flat. Others think we are a scam. Some people are either just completely clinically ret*rded, and others have been so feminized that their intellectual processes (or lack thereof) are based on emotions rather than facts and logic.”
The latest Viking venture appears to be the chance to take a longboat to the stars. The newest in a series of sites is the Stjarna, a single page that offers signatories the chance to try and glimpse the Bifröst from outside the earth.
“Following the retreat of the great inland ice sheets in 10,000 BCE, a few of us brave men, drawn to the North, travelled to the coastal areas of western Scandinavia known as Norðvegr (Norway),” the site reads. “From there, we followed the path of giants 10,000 years prior, adapted to the harshest environments on earth and ultimately settled the world.
“This genetic drive to explore will now be taking us to the stars, selecting and training the best warriors among us, so we may eventually colonize the new worlds that await.”
The purpose of this initiative is not clear. A request to join only asks for a limited amount of personal information. How or when the new wave of Vikings will take to the stars is left, like so many other things when peeling back the layer of NORSKK, a mystery.
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