Heritage Front: the frontline of racism in Canada

In the age of globalism and multiculturalism, many nations are struggling to maintain their identity and culture. Canada is no different. We are struggling with the notion of a bilingual nation, struggling to make peace with the First Nations people, and trying to find a balance between nationalism and multiculturalism.

For some individuals the answer to these problems is obvious: racism. Internationally, there has been a recent resurgence of neo-Nazi, white supremacist hate groups. In Canada, one of the leading groups is the Heritage Front which formed in Toronto in the early 90s and is becoming increasingly active. The group suggests setting limits on non-European immigration, supports the denial and questioning of the holocaust in Nazi Germany, and actively promotes white nationhood and segregation.

The Peak interviewed two individuals from opposite ends of the race spectrum. Alan Dutton, representative for the Canadian Anti-Racism Education and Research Society speaks out against the Heritage Front while Wolfgang Droege, head of the Heritage Front, presents his point of view.

The Canadian Anti-Racism Education and Research Society was formed in 1984 and has become more active in the last seven years. It has moved from cross-cultural training to direct front line anti-racism. The organization tracks and monitors hate groups and exposes people who are recruiting kids and spreading hatred. The group just exposed the local head of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), Brian Taylor, about a month ago in the lower mainland.

Alan Dutton describes his relationship with the Heritage Front as an antagonistic one. He says they are recruiting kids and are very violent. "From the view of the intelligence community, in the view of the government, this is a violent group and it has been monitored and there is a report on its activities," says Dutton. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had three taskings to investigate the Heritage Front because they felt it was a threat to national security.

Undeniably, members of the group have a history of violence. Wolfgang Droege, also head of the KKK in BC at one time, was jailed in the U.S. for conspiracy, possession of arms, and trafficking in cocaine. He was also just released from jail in Canada for assault. George Burdi, another member, was arrested for assaulting an anti-Nazi activist and there have been other reported incidents involving Heritage Front members.

Dutton believes that the group poses a threat in B.C. They are violent and preach intolerance. Dutton says, "If you've listened to their message it starts off saying that they are not racist and then by the second or third sentence they start talking about whites being superior and whites, Europeans, not having the same rights as other people and that gives them some kind of basis for mobilizing people against minorities."

When asked if he felt the Front has a right to freedom of speech Dutton replied, "As long as it doesn't infringe on other peoples rights. I think they have the right to say whatever they want as long as they don't advocate killing people because of the colour of their skin or sexual orientation." He then stated that he believes they had taken such action.

Dutton also says he has videotapes of Heritage Front meetings at which they sieg hail, talk about removing non- white people from North America, talk about racial superiority, and refer to groups of non-European people as being like rats. "We have the evidence and they can't refute that. They can try and pretend. It's quite clear that they are using freedom of expression as a cover for their activities and their activities are to recruit young people into hate groups and to establish a white only country and that is just absolutely wrong. We oppose that, and if they advocate genocide or they advocate hurting people because of the colour of their skin then we certainly oppose that. We certainly opposed them having access to telephones and the mail system or any means which they might use to transmit hate."

"They are trying to cloak their activities with this veneer of respectability but nobody is buying it because there is a history of violence associated with that group and a history of preaching hate. We have the videotapes."

While Droege claims that the Heritage Front's major form of recruitment is its website, Dutton disagrees. "The real recruitment is face to face and the major form for young people, 13, 14, 15 year olds, is racist rock music. These guys who are involved in the hate movement they may rent a house close to a school, give parties,

invite people over and then they begin to require that people read the materials that they give out, the hate propaganda, in order to come back to the house to the next party. So they'll have a question session as a means of straining people. People that don't read the material don't get to come back."

He says the stages progress from the initial meetings, dances and other activities to the requirement for reading materials. The recruitment culminates with the third level, which might be gun practice sessions in the bush, becoming friends with the leaders, gaining some responsibility in the movement such as handing out flyers, and then making a commitment. Dutton says, "The fourth stage is generally one of getting them to commit some criminal activity or some fraction of the law so that they can use it against them. It's a slope from gradual indoctrination through to almost cult-like [activities]."

Dutton and the Canadian Anti-Racism Research Education Society are active in trying to combat racism. "Awareness is one kind of activity that we are engaged in," he says, "but we also are involved in organizing communities against hate and some of those methods include getting people to record incidences of racism and record presence of hate propaganda to report it. We support the victims of racism. We try to track the individuals that are members of the group and expose them to public scrutiny. We will tell people what they are doing and people can make their own minds up whether it is valid or legitimate or not."

Wolfgang Droege, head of the Heritage Front, says the group has always had a presence in BC. "The reason why a group emerges is," he says, "is because there's always people who have a similar point of view, but usually a group emerges when there is enough of an infrastructure, people willing to come forward. Other than that you generally have people who believe in the cause without the public or the media being aware of it."

The Heritage Front's main mandate is to curb immigration. "We view the present trends as being destructive to our race," says Droege. "As you know with today's present immigration eventually we will become the minority. It's only a matter of time."

"The problem is do we want to live in a world or in a society in which we are being dominated by someone else? Eventually of course that means political control. You could say multiculturalism has been the downfall of every civilization."

When prompted for an example Droege explains that Rome fell because there were no Romans left and the same occurred with other civilizations such as the Aryan race in India.

"With any of these civilizations, generally what happened is the people that founded them in the end virtually were no longer present. What I am saying is that what we have is a country which was founded by Europeans and not by Indians; by Europeans because before whites came to North America there was no such thing as Canada, or the United States, or any of these countries which now exist in North America. It was a concept of nationhood which was really unique to Europeans, and so we formed this nation and its institutions, and that's why we have these institutions in this country, because that's how we want to live. But eventually, like I said, if present trends persist we will be the minority and with it there will be a different mindset."

He continues: "I mean race is not just a matter of looking different, it's also a mindset involved. For instance, you take ideas of minority rights, human rights, just basic human rights. You name me one country in the world that has the same human rights that exist in this country or any European country. It just doesn't happen. In places in the Arab world they don't even allow driver's licenses for women. In Japan, which is the most advanced of all non-white societies and similar to ours in many respects, a woman is not regarded as equal." Droege believes that if multiculturalism takes over and whites became a minority that rights such as those of women will be dismantled.

In his view, one of the downfalls of white society has been its role as a colonial master because once it granted freedom to people such as Africans and Indians, they followed them back to the homelands and now there are large numbers of those people in those countries.

Droege thinks the reason for the current amount of tolerance in the US and some European countries is because of positive economic times. However, he says that economically we have been on a decline for the past decade and this decline will only increase with more and more non-Europeans in Canada. "There is no society on the face of this world which can or which will last, or which won't self-destruct because of multiculturalism. There is no country in the world where people can live side by side in harmony."

He believes that the difference between Europeans is not so great that it can't be overcome, but the difference between Japanese or Chinese, for example, is too great. "I think the gap between them is too vast. I don't think they will be overcome, especially seeing that they also preach multiculturalism."

While Droege doesn't advocate sending all non-white Canadians out of the country, he does believe that there needs to be limits on non-white immigration. "At the very least, whites should be given a choice where they can determine their own immigration policies, where they can say, okay, we don't want anybody here. We want to live among ourselves."

He says Canadians have never had a chance to vote on the immigration policy of this country, and there's never been a referendum to determine what the racial make-up of this country should be. Droege thinks this should have taken place in the 1960s, when the government of Lester Pearson allowed immigration from non-European countries.

"What I resent is that for instance, I live in an area and people who are different from me [are moving] move into the area. That's happening a lot in Toronto and I'm sure it happens the same in Vancouver and any larger city. People move into the area, and [before long] the area has lost its original character because no longer is it white or European, it's all of a sudden Chinese or Black or East Indian or whatever, and whites are moving out."

In defense of his position Droege says, "We are all in a sense racists. That's because what a racist means is someone who prefers his own kind. That's what the actual definition is. It's not because you hate somebody. If you hate without a reason you are a bigot. A racist, he is someone who takes race into account in making decision and he is also someone who prefers his own. I would say the vast majority fit into that. It's not just whites, it's also non-whites."

With increased immigration, Droege thinks that "Eventually what will happen is a place like Vancouver will become so predominantly Chinese that whites really won't feel comfortable." Droege says whites will simply retreat, "In the 1960s they brought about the civil rights legislation which meant of course that blacks received equal treatment, voting rights and so on. But what happened is whites fled to the suburbs and now they are fleeing to more outlying areas yet again, because we will not live side by side with people which we don't feel comfortable with."

On the topic of the holocaust, Droege argues that there should be open debate. "I would say that there are enough people in the world today who question the holocaust, in fact intellectuals, so let's have a debate on it. Debate the issue. Don't just take somebody to court, which they've been doing in Europe and North America, and say you can't dispute it, you can't question it, you can't have experts in a court room questioning the numbers or what happened. It just has to be accepted as fact. That's what all the courts have been doing in Canada and Germany and in France, they have taken judicial notice. In fact in most of the countries in Europe you go to jail for questioning the holocaust and instead of debating it or being allowed to call witnesses to dispute it. You could, for instance, say that the world is flat and you wouldn't go to jail for it, which is the same, but yet you can deny the holocaust and go to jail for it. I say let it be debated publicly."

Droege proceeded to cite several examples of intellectuals who have brought forth debate about the holocaust. He says that whole idea that the holocaust is highly exaggerated came from a communist who was incarcerated by Germans in the 1950s and put on a train. According to this man's experience the camps were not run very well and there was a great deal of illness and the odd person got shot, but he saw no evidence of mass exterminations. Droege also says this gentleman is responsible for putting forth the notion that certain people are profiting from this alleged holocaust.

When asked who, Droege said the Jews and the state of Israel. "The state of Israel has so far been paid $55 billion dollars by the German state and they annually get about $4 billion a year from the United States mainly because of the alleged need for them to be supported because of all of the things that have happened to them."

Keeping all this in mind, Droege ends our conversation by talking about the difficulties the Heritage Front has in trying to organize. He blames this on government pressure. "For instance, you're a bureaucrat and you say 'I support the Heritage Front,' how long do you think you'll last in a job? Not very long."

For the time being, the Heritage Front remains active mainly on an underground level. The group distributes a monthly publication, has several telephone hotlines, and maintains a website. Droege's closing words were in reference to this site: "I think we get a lot more hits than virtually any other group. Our opposition would never get as many hits as we would. I checked the human rights commission after they'd been up for 13 months and they only had 1200 hits in all that period. That's pathetic. We get more than that in a single day."

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