On January 29, 2017, a gunman entered the Islamic Cultural Center in Ste-Foy and opened fire. The mosque has been targeted by racist and anti-immigrant vandalism in the past; in 2016, during Ramadan, a pig’s head was left at the front door with a card saying “bonne appétit.”
By the time the January 29 attack was over, Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Abdelkrim Hassane, and Azzedine Soufiane were dead and nineteen others were injured, some seriously. AlexandreBissonette, a student at the Université de Laval known for trolling refugee support and feminist websites, and for his support for Donald Trump and Marine LePen, would be charged with six counts of murder. He would not be charged with a commission of a hate crime or with terrorism.
The anti-Muslim January 29 attack would set in motion a series of events that would lead to the most significant escalation and advance of the far right in Quebec in living memory. Far from retreating in the face of the violence their views encourage, individuals in various nationalist, secularist, and racist milieus would respond to the mosque massacre by asserting themselves more and more aggressively. Feeling—correctly—that they were at a crossroads, they rose to the challenge. During the previous two years, despite the rise of anti-immigrant racist groups, the Montreal left had prevented the farright from marching or demonstrating publicly, or had confronted them with some success (e.g., failed Pegida demonstrations in St-Michel and Villeray; blocking JDL mobilizations and events in Montreal; preventing the anti-immigrant, racist Marche du Silence; actively confronting Marine LePen’s visit to Montreal). In 2017, that position of force was challenged.
What follows is a timeline of the year since the mosque massacre. The dynamics and processes described here are far from spent; this is not a finished story.
January 29–30
As they arrive on the scene of the attack, police see a Muslim man attempting to perform first aid on one of the victims. Even though he was one of the intended targetsof the attack, they place him under arrest. They also physically manhandle a number of other survivors. This is the origin of a story, soon trumpeted by the Islamophobic TVA news network, that the attack had been carried out by a Muslim Moroccan-Canadian immigrant. This untrue story goes international; it took several days for Fox News—the right-wing American television network—to delete tweets and apologize for misidentifying a Moroccan-Canadian as a suspect.
(https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so-far/article33826078/)
(https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/suspect-in-quebec-mosque-attack-quickly-depicted-as-a-moroccan-muslim-hes-a-white-nationalist/)
At the same time, alt-right social media accounts were used to spread other false stories about the perpetrators of the attack. While one story seemed to imply that members of the alt-right were claiming responsibility for the attack, another (far more widely spread) blamed the attack on two recently arrived Syrian refugees.
(https://heavy.com/news/2017/01/david-aurine-mathieu-fornier-quebec-city-mosque-suspects-gunmen-shooters-names-hoax-fake-reuters-twitter-account-troll-white-supremacists/)
All these reports were proven false, yet even now, one year later, they are sometimes cited by far-right activists in Quebec as evidence that the mosque attack was a “false flag” attack.
January 30
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer referred to the mosque massacre, saying, “It’s a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant, and why the president is taking steps to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.” This appeared to be a reference to Trump’s ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
(https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/01/30/the-white-house-just-cited-the-quebec-mosque-attack-to-justify-trumps-policies.html)
Montreal police respond to a rise in hate crimes in the 48 hours after the attack, making one arrest and receiving 29 reports of hate incidents. Katy Latulippe, head of Soldiers of Odin, writes on the group’s private Facebook page, warning members to be circumspect about their feelings about the massacre: “Gang, I can understand that you’re in a certain way happy to see this kind of thing. Murder and violence are always unfortunate and I don’t approve of this kind of behaviour,” the post begins. “It will be VERY important from now on for you all to be careful about the way you express yourselves on these pages.”
(https://news.vice.com/story/members-of-far-right-quebec-group-cheered-on-the-quebec-city-mosque-terror-attack)
At the same time, across English Canada, anti-Muslim and right-wing social media pages alternate between celebrating the attack and discounting it as a false flag.
(http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.ca/2017/01/shooting-at-mosque-in-quebec-city.html)
In Montreal, thousands of people brave the intense cold to gather at the Place de la Gare-Jean-Talon in solidarity with the victims of the mosque massacre. Powerful interventions by members of the Muslim community make connections between the Quebec’s colonial history, the blood on the hands of the media and politicians who have shamelessly promoted Islamophobia, the ongoing racism here, the oppression of women and queers, and much more.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/dossiers/attentat-a-quebec/201701/30/01-5064609-une-maree-humaine-a-montreal-en-solidarite-pour-les-victimes-de-quebec.php)
Earlier that day, in an action that had been planned before the attack, hundreds of people outraged and sorrowed by the horrifying intensification of Islamophobic violence on both sides of the border shut down the U.S. consulate. The ad-hoc group demanded the immediate opening of the US-Canadian border, an end to the safe third country agreement and designated country of origin list, and an ongoing, comprehensive regularization program for undocumented people already in Canada (for more information on these demands see www.solidarityacrossborders.org). (https://mtlcounter-info.org/fermeture-du-consulat-americain-et-appellent-a-poursuivre-les-actions-directes-pour-mettre-fin-a-la-violence-raciste-dont-le-canada-est-complice/)
January 31
John Cardillo, a former NYPD officer and syndicated radio host, tweets that “When it’s revealed that the #QuebecShooting terrorists are Muslims, #Trump will have a tremendous spike in political capital. #MuslimBan” The tweet is “liked” by over 2,000 people, including Donald Trump Jr.
February 1
Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier, a leading figure with the FTQ-Construction union and associate of a number of far-right groups, states that while he is “extremely sad about the innocent victims of the dramatic events in Quebec City,” there are “goddamned limits,” denouncing the (non-existent) possibility that the government might provide financial aid to the survivors of the attack.
(http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/02/01/attentat-de-quebec–rambo-gauthier-trouve-quil-y-a-des-osts-de-limites)
“Leftist” Robin Philpot, a long-time anglophone supporter of the Quebec independence movement and an apologist for racism, publishes “The New World Order Comes to Quebec” on the Centre for Research on Globalization’s left-wing conspiracy theory website; it is also re-posted on the American Counterpunch website. Philpot argues that the January 29th massacre was a result of global imperialism not of any particular problem with Islamophobia in Quebec. Indeed, covering up numerous mass-based Islamophobic mobilizations in Quebec, Philpot argues that the province cannot be Islamophobic because … there were large antiwar demonstrations here in 2003. This is an example of an old argument that there is no particular problem with racism in Quebec, and that any talk to the contrary is itself a form of anti-Quebec racism (“Quebec bashing”).
Antonio Padula, 45, of Kirkland, Quebec, accused of making anti-Muslim social media comments, is arrested and charged with promoting hatred and uttering threats online.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-police-kirkland-hate-speech-arrest-1.3961198)
Police will record a spike in both “hate incidents”and hate crimes in February.
(http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/518298/mosquee)
February 2
The Khadijah mosque in the Montreal neighbourhood of Pointe-St-Charles is vandalized; police arrest a 50-year-old man, who pleads not guilty to one count of public mischief. Anarchists paint a mural in solidarity across the street from the mosque.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/tout-le-monde-deteste-les-racistes/)
February 11
Forty people demonstrate outside trash radio station Radio X in Quebec City, to denounce the radio station’s role in the rise of Islamophobia in Quebec. Demonstrators accuse Radio X of having blood on its hands.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/02/quebec-rassemblement-radio-poubelles.html)
February 16
Federal Liberal MP Iqra Khalid, who tabled a private member’s bill (M-103) in December 2016 calling on the government to condemn and eliminate “Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination,” informs the House of Commons that she had received numerous death threats as a response to the bill.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/threats-hate-islamophobia-khalid-1.3986563)
February 18
It is revealed that former NDP/Bloc MP Claude Patry is the head of the Saguenay-Lac St Jean Clan 02 of La Meute.
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/former-ndpbloc-mp-a-leader-of-far-right-group-la-meute)
February 20
Media reports that the CCIQ has signed a contract with Harmonia funeral homes to establish a Muslim cemetery in the small town of St-Apollinaire, just outside of Quebec City. This would be the first Muslim cemetery in the province of Quebec outside of the city of Montreal.
(https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/un-cimetiere-musulman-a-saint-apollinaire-dc6d67b18b4cba8e384add216998852e)
Over the months to come, the project will become contentious, with Islamophobes organizing against it and the entire political establishment backing it; it will go to a highly restrictive referendum and be very narrowly defeated on July 16.
February 21
The Tawuba mosque on Ontario St., in Montreal, is vandalized; police arrest a 21-year-old man. This was not the first time the mosque had been targeted; a few years earlier, someone had tried to light a fire in the alleyway alongside the building, while in a separate incident, a window on the street side of the mosque had also been hit hard enough to be cracked.
March 1
In Montreal, Concordia University, McGill University’s CKUT radio station, and several other media outlets receive a letter threatening bomb attacks against Muslim students. Concordia University evacuates three buildings. Concordia’s Muslim Student Association, which was in the midst of an Islam Awareness Week, calls on police to investigate the incident as a hate crime. Hisham Saadi was arrested the next day and charged with inciting terrorism fears, mischief, and transmitting death threats in connection with the bomb threats.
March 4
The one-person group known as the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens called for a Canada-wide day of Islamophobic demonstrations. Ostensibly the rallies were against Bill M-103—a private member’s bill tabled in December 2016, which called on the government to condemn and eliminate “Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination.” The CCCC portrayed M-103 as an attack on free speech, and officially the March 4th rallies were “for free speech, against sharia law and against globalization.” Internal guidelines specifically told people not to bring white power or openly racist signs (which of course didn’t stop them from shouting “race traitor” at us as they arrived in Montreal, or giving Nazi salutes).
Georges Hallak, the Montreal-based Islamophobe behind the CCCC, seems to have adopted a “throw it at the wall and see if it sticks” approach, setting up Facebook events across Canada for pickets, and then posting asking if anybody local could bottom-line the effort. Not only did this meet with some success in English Canada—local racists in many cities did join in and show up (though they were generally outnumbered and drowned out by anti-racists)—in Quebec the effort was taken up by the province’s far-right groups, providing for the first coordinated and united far-right “coming out” in the province.
Radical forces in Montreal—generally spearheaded by anarchists and Maoists—had consistently shut down every single known far-right public gathering for the preceding 20 years, and these forces were prepared to do so again. Despite the very cold temperatures (-20 C), about the same numbers came out as at the multiple antifascist mobilizations in 2016 (a few hundred), and some people were prepared to act. However, whereas in 2016 there were at most a dozen racists at any of these events, this time there were over 100, with a competent and imposing security detail of their own coordinating with police. La Meute, the Soldiers of Odin, Storm Alliance, and the Front Patriotique du Québec were all on hand. Individuals who would later come to prominence—for instance, Maxime Morin[aka DMS], Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald, “Sue Elle” [Sue Charbonneau], and “guindon87” [Louise Duval]—were also present.
In Quebec City, things were worse. The far-right mobilized over 100 people; most of those who showed up were middle aged or older, and probably not the type who would have been up to a physical confrontation. However, a smaller contingent associated with the fascist group Atalante was also present—though they kept their distance from the main march—and at a certain point it looked like they were spoiling for a fight.
In Saguenay, roughly 100 racists marched, with half as many anti-racists turning out. In smaller numbers, similar forces opposed each other in the cities of Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke.
(https://itsgoingdown.org/quebec-frontlines-fight-islamophobia/)
(https://www.facebook.com/notes/jaggi-singh/assessment-report-back-from-anti-racist-counter-demonstration-montreal/10154137348981946/)
March 7
A small rally is held at McGill University in Montreal against Islamophobia, in response to the recent bomb threats directed at Muslim students.
March 13
A CROP opinion poll shows a majority of Canadians have “fears” about immigration.
(http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/special/2017/03/sondage-crop/canadiens-tolerance-religion-immigrants-identite-culture/)
March 23
Bill M-103 is passed by the Canadian Parliament. The motion was proposed by Iqra Khalid, a first-time MP representing a Mississauga, Ontario riding. In addition to condemning Islamophobia, the resolution asks the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to study the issue of “eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia,” and calls on the federal government collect data on hate crimes for further study. M-103 changed no existing laws nor did it create any new laws. Nonetheless, a poll released that same day by Angus Reid found that 42 per cent of Canadians opposed the bill; 29 per cent supported it and 29 per cent were not sure.
(http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/mps-certain-to-pass-m-103-thursday-but-new-poll-says-canadians-would-vote-down-anti-islamophobia-motion)
March 25
A day of anti-racist workshops held by the Resist Trump Network at Concordia University is targeted by the Soldiers of Odin and the CCCC. Anti-racists in Montreal had been warned that a disruption was planned and had prepared accordingly. A couple of dozen members of SOO gathered on the corner of Ste-Catherine and Guy, while 200 antifascists waited for them in front of the Hall Building on de Maisonneuve St. When Georges Hallak of the CCCC arrived in a van, he was quickly accosted, and then arrested by police as he swung his hockey stick at antiracists—he was later released uncharged. Police were particularly aggressive with the antifascists present, breaking the teeth of one student journalist and sending one comrade to hospital with his arm broken in two places. Afterwards, one of the SOO racists was engaged in forceful dialogue as he left the nearby McDonald’s where he had been hiding.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/lantifascisme-lemporte-a-montreal-manger-une-volee-avec-votre-joyeux-festin/)
A solidarity dinner at the Khadijah mosquein the Montreal neighbourhood of Pointe-St-Charles,which had been the target of an Islamophobic attack on February 2nd,is attended by several hundred supporters, the majority of them from the immediate neighbourhood.
March 26
“March for Equality” held as part of the Semaine d’actions contre le racisme in Montreal. Far-right individuals, possibly Soldiers of Odin, are spotted doing surveillance.
April
All eyes are on how Marine Le Pen and her Front National will do in the French presidential elections. There are meetings of French citizens in Montreal, to organize support for Le Pen. Polls show that 12 per cent of French citizens living in North America intend to vote for Le Pen. To show his support, Alexandre Cormier-Denis, a member of the PQ and the founder of the far-right Horizon Québec Actuel, meets with Le Pen when she visits Montréal and gushes about her charisma in subsequent interviews.
(http://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/227a71b4-2141-4ddd-ac03-1e64d9605e1e__7C___0.html)
April 21
The personal private Facebook page of FTQ-Construction leader Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier is described as a “nursery” of radical Islamophobia. Gauthier had joined the small Citoyens au Pouvoir du Québec political party in December of 2016.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/facebook-group-tied-to-bernard-rambo-gauthier-called-nursery-of-radical-islamophobia-1.4079226)
April 23
The “Un Peuple Se Leve Contre le PLQ” demonstration called by the Front Patriotique du Québec is attended by over 100 people. The group marches with an imposing security contingent led by Robert Proulx and including Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald and armed with clubs. A number of tactical mistakes and a lack of coordination mute the antifascist response, and the march meets little real opposition.
Late April
In a two-week period, Jeff Fillionis fired from Énergie 98.9 FM, a Bell Media affiliate, after ridiculing a father whose son committed suicide, and André Arthur announces his retirement from CHOI 98.1 Radio X after sparking outrage with disrespectful comments following the death of Jean Lapierre, a popular political commentator and a former federal cabinet minister. Both Fillion and Arthur were known for their generally right-wing, and specifically Islamophobic, views, however this is not why they lost their jobs.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/the-end-of-radio-poubelle-1.3561392)
May
Alexandre Cormier-Denis runs for the Parti Indépendantiste in the by-election in Montreal’s Gouin riding. Cormier-Denis was one of three PQ members to meet with Marine Le Pen of France’s Front National when she visited Montreal in 2016.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/201606/24/01-4995259-trois-militants-pequistes-recus-par-le-front-national.php)
He received less than 100 votes in the by-election—but garnered a lot of attention with his controversial racist statements and posters. While most of the media stories about Cormier-Denis were the result of these stunts, his more important ties are to Horizon Québec Actuel (which he helped found in 2016) and Nomos TV (which he founded in January 2017). Despite the support he receives from open racists and his own extremist views, Cormier-Denis remains a member in good standing of the Parti Québécois.
(http://infoman.radio-canada.ca/article/2017/05/19/avoir-du-front/)
May 1
Soldiers of Odin Quebec splits from Soldiers of Odin Canada, after SOO Canada’s Bill Daniels denounces the “racist agenda” of SOO founders in Finland, saying his branch is no longer associated with them. Soldiers of Odin Quebec’s president Dave Tregget had already stepped down for the same reason in December 2016, and the reins had been picked up by his former second in command Katy Latulippe.
(http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/soldiers-of-odin-splinter-in-canada-over-racist-agenda-of-far-right-groups-leadership-in-finland)
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-far-right-soldiers-of-odin-1.3896175)
May 9
Mathieu Bock-Côté and Djemila Benhabib are part of a panel on freedom of the press organized by Benhabib’s group Citoyens pour l’égalité et la laïcité; one of the organizers of the event, Farid Salem, arranges for members of La Meute to provide security at the event.
(https://ricochet.media/fr/1883/le-colloque-benhabib-et-la-meute)
May 13
First serving of Food Against Fascism, a project to provide healthy multi-course meals to people in the Montreal downtown core, at the corner of Mackay and de Maisonneuve, every Saturday afternoon, beginning at 2:00 p.m., along with antifascist reading material and people willing to talk (and argue) about politics.
May 15
On André Pitre’s [aka Stu Pitt] YouTube show, La Meute announces that it will be making itself available anywhere in Quebec to stand up against “threats to freedom of speech.”Pitre and La Meute make it clear that what is meant is any intervention by antifascists, feminists, or anti-racists to protest or disrupt racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic events. It is obvious that this announcement is the result of Pitre requesting that La Meute play this role (the declaration was filmed in his living room).
May 17
Twenty-two people sign a petition demanding a referendum on the project to establish a Muslim cemetery in St-Apollinaire, automatically triggering a referendum under Quebec law. Only 62 people, however, will have the right to vote in the referendum, based on how close they live to the area that would become the cemetery. The referendum is to be held on July 16.
(https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/le-cimetiere-musulman-a-saint-apollinairesoumis-a-un-referendum-d622d398f39fe8365d2690b0846eb08d)
May 21
Dave Tregget and a dozen other members of Storm Alliance (the group Tregget founded after leaving the SOO in December 2016) gather at Roxham Road in Hemingford, to “monitor” an irregular border crossing point used by numerous refugees since Trump’s election in November 2016.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/roxham-road-quebec-far-right-ultranationalist-1.4121969)
May 22
Transphobic threats and harassment force cartoonist Sophie Labelle, author of the Assigned Male comic series, to cancel a planned appearance at Venus Envy feminist sex shop in Halifax and go into hiding.
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/cartoonist-sophie-labelle-in-hiding-after-transphobic-threats-escalate)
May 27
Clan 15 of La Meute hold their “BBQ Party of the Year” in Sainte-Sophie, Quebec (in the Laurentians). Guy Boulianne and André Pitre are present, as is an antifascist mole. Photos and an account of the shindig are released by antifascists two weeks later.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/06/en-exclusivitepetite-visite-au-bbq-de.html)
May 28
In a lackluster demonstration in Montréal, approximately 50 people march in an anti-PLQ demonstration called by the Front Patriotique de Québec. Caught off guard antifascists fail to mobilize, sending only a couple of observers, who are promptly mini-kettled by several bicycle cops.
May 30
It is reported that the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence is considering setting up a Quebec City office, citing the surge in right-wing extremism in the area. Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume opposes the project, claiming that Quebec City does not have a problem of far-right radicalism.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/deradicalization-centre-wants-to-expand-to-quebec-city-to-fight-far-right-extremism-1.4136645)
The CPRLV, a para-governmental organization set up in 2015 in Montreal to monitor not only the far right but also the far left and others, already has two full-time employees serving Quebec City. It will be denounced by radical antifascists as effectively an agent of state propaganda before the year is out.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/fr/2017/11/23/maxime-fiset-et-son-centre-de-prevention-de-la-radicalisation-ne-nous-representent-pas/)
Summer
There is a sharp increase in refugee claimants crossing the border irregularly. Thousands of mostly Haitian claimants flee the toxic climate in the U.S., out of fear of being deported by the Trump Administration. Many will end up crossing at Roxham Road, in the small border town of Hemmingford, Quebec. At the height of the arrivals, the Quebec and Canadian governments will arrange for refugees to be housed inside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, and will set up a refugee camp for processing at the nearby border town of Lacolle (the first refugee camp ever set up in Canada). This will spark the predictable racist reactions from the far right; for the second time in 2017, there will be a spike in hate crimes. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) reports that the response to the large number of new arrivals in Montreal was an even larger wave of hate crimes than followed the massacre at the Ste-Foy mosque in January.In August 2017, Montreal police received 42 reports of hate crimes—most of them taking place on social media—compared to 31 in February. In total, approximately 250 hate crimes were reported in Montreal last year, an average of 20 per month.
June
The neofascist group Atalante opens a private identitarian boxing club in Quebec City.
(http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/08/23/le-club-de-boxe-identitaire-ouvert-depuis-juin-a-quebec)
June 16
Launch of left-wing magazine À Babord in Chicoutimi. La Meute had to cancel plans to disrupt the event when an antifascist mole leaked them online.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/06/humiliee-au-saguenay-la-meute-cherche.html)
Enraged at the existence of a mole in their ranks, members a secret La Meute group engage in a number of macho death and rape threats, all of which is subsequently also exposed by the mole.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/06/une-taupe-dans-la-meute-leur-violence.html)
Fliers from La Meute are posted on a mosque in Chicoutimi as well as on nearby cars.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/07/saguenay-la-meute-derape-encore-et-ses.html)
June 17
A number ofright-wing and far-right nationalist groups and individuals plan to meet at the College de Maisonneuve in Montreal for a day-long conference organized by the Mouvementrépublicain du Québec, in collaboration with La Meute. Following media reports and the announcement that the Mouvementétudiantrévolutionnaire would be organizing a demonstration to “block the far right,” the college cancelled its contract with Editions Dédicaces (publishing house of Guy Boulianne, leader of the MRQ).The conference was instead held in St Lazare, just outside Montreal, in a barn at an equestrian centre owned by Sophie Robichaud.
Speakers at the “Rassemblement pour le biencommun et l’intérêtsupérieur du Québec” include: Alexandre Cormier-Denis (PartiIndépendantiste, Horizon Québec Actuel), André Pitre [aka Stu Pitt]; (gauchedroitistan), Gilles Noel (Partid’Unité National), Hans Mercier (Parti 51), Jean-Louis Pérez-Martel (an anti-Muslim and anti-“globalist” conspiracy theorist associated with Vigile.net), Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel (a University of Ottawa doctoral student and author of the book Le nouveau triangle amoureux: gauche, islam et multiculturalisme), and Richard Le Hir, Daniel St-Hilaire, and Jean-Jacques Nantel, all of whom have long been involved in the more mainstream nationalist movement (PQ, BQ, Cap surl’Indépendance, Vigile.net). Representatives from a variety of other groups, including the Front Patriotique du Québec and theFédération des Québécois de Souche were also in attendance.Security at the conference is provided by La Meute.D’autres participants venaient de divers groupes, y compris le Parti des Citoyens, le Front Patriotique du Québec, et la Fédération des Québécois de Souche.
June 24
A video of a float at the Fête nationale [St-Jean Baptiste Day] parade carrying white performers and being pushed by black youth receives wide attention and criticism.
July 1
Approximately 60 people,including members of the “Templar Knights” and La Meute, heed a call by the anti-immigrant Storm Alliance to gather at the border at the small town of Hemmingford, Quebec, to “monitor” irregular crossings and intimidate refugees. Their anti-immigrant protest was met with a boisterous counter-protest organized by the Montreal group Solidarity Across Borders,which stopped them from achieving their goal of gathering directly at the crossing point.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-aslyum-seekers-crossing-roxham-road-canada-day-1.4187469)
At the same time, in Montreal, the Front Patriotique du Québec holds an anti-Canada Day march, the Marche Pour La République du Québec, attended by a few dozen individuals. Soldier of Odin member Philippe Gendron and a number of other boneheads are spotted in attendance.
Meanwhile, a very small anti-capitalist demonstration held by the CLAC is heckled by Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald and others from his local Alt-Right crew.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/08/17/anti-immigrant-group-la-meute-with-links-to-charlottesville-neo-nazi-protest-attempting-to-demonstrate-in-quebec-city-this-sunday/)
July 3
A short racist YouTube video shot at Parc Safari (a zoo just 5 minutes from where the July 1 Storm Alliance rally had taken place) on July 2nd goes viral.The video “exposes” the fact that a group of Muslims were allowed to have an outing to the zoo, and to make use of a sound system for their prayers. While this would normally be an anodine event, the video sparks numerous complaints about Muslims taking up too much space and “imposing” their religion on others.
The video was uploaded by “guindon87,” an account that specializes in anti-Muslim videos, including footage shot by members of far-right groups in Quebec. Other videos uploaded by “guindon87” defend the recent Fête national parade against accusations of racism [see June 24], include two videos devoted to denouncing in racist terms a local activist, and more in a similar vein, including one in which she calls for the murder of anti-fascist militants.
The Parc Safari video was uploaded to Facebook by Audrey Tremblay and went viral.By Wednesday, July 5th, it had over 1500 shares and 500 comments. In the comments, one finds not only the most vile racism, but also links posted to far-right groups such as La Meute, whose members avidly promoted the video. “Sue Elle” [real name: Sue Charbonneau], a La Meute member from Montreal, posted the video to the Mouvement républicain du Québec and Front Patriotique du Québec web pages, along with a model protest letter to the zoo, encouraging people to protest the fact that Muslims had been allowed to pray in public. At the same time, André Pitre[aka “Stu Pitt”] used his YouTube channel to tie the Muslims who were at the zoo that day to the Muslim Brotherhood,claiming that they want to set up a global caliphate, and asserting that a key part of “conquest” by Muslims is to humiliate subject populations. According to Pitre, who claims to be nothing more than an ardent free speech advocate,broadcasting Muslim prayer on the sound system was all a matter of “invaders” humiliating their “victims”!
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/07/05/a-few-things-to-ponder-regarding-the-racist-panic-surrounding-safarigate/)
July 13
Pegida Québec encourages its supporters to join La Meute.
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159060078280223&set=a.10155427478220223.1073741831.665530222&type=3)
July 14
A package containing a defaced Qur’an and a note suggesting Muslims use a hog farm for their cemetery is delivered to the mosque where six men were shot and killed in January. The anonymous package arrived at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City via Canada Post two days before residents in nearby Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec, are to vote in a referendum on a Muslim cemetery in their town.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-mosque-hate-package-1.4211778)
July 16
Quebec City’s Muslim community had been in discussions with the Harmonia funeral home in Saint-Apollinaire to buy land to establish their own cemetery since September 2016. (There are no Muslim cemeteries in the province outside the greater Montreal area.) A referendum is held to determine if a Muslim cemetery will be permitted in the town; of the 62 people eligible to vote, 19 voted against, 16 voted for, and 27 abstained, defeating the cemetery project. La Meute spokesperson Sylvain Brouillette [aka “Maikan”] has a business in St-Apollinaire, and La Meute member Sunny Letourneau was the key figure in the “no” camp, which was far more active than the “yes” camp in the municipality of 6,000. The degree of La Meute’s involvement in the “no” side only becomes publicly known after the referendum vote.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/201707/16/01-5116706-le-projet-de-cimetiere-musulman-a-saint-apollinaire-a-ete-rejete.php)
(http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1044057/cimetiere-musulman-saint-apollinaire-referendum-opposants)
(https://ricochet.media/fr/1899/limplication-de-la-meute-dans-le-camp-du-non-a-saint-apollinaire)
July 18
In the wake of the failed St-Apollinaire cemetery project, Quebec City mayor RégisLabeaume warns La Meute and other far-right groups that they are being watched and that any illegal actions on their part will not be tolerated.
(http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/07/18/cimetiere-musulman-a-saint-apollinaire-labeaume-conseille-a-la-meute-de-se-tenir-tranquille)
This is a bit of a joke, coming from the mayor of a city where far-right organizing and activities have been tolerated for years.
July 20
A sign reading “Saguenay Ville Blanche” is erected in the Saguenay.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/08/affichage-haineux-saguenay-la-meute-est_3.html)
Over the next week, two similar signs will be put up. This is part of a campaign that has been going on in the area for some years.
(https://www.lequotidien.com/actualites/pancartes-racistes-a-saguenay-0cbea0ae0cbfd1aba220a50ec04ae9a2)
July 22
Alexandre Louis Fallara, 21 years old, is brought to court under article article 810.2 (3) of the criminal code, which stipulates that someone can be detained and given conditions of release even though they are not accused of a crime. While Fallara is described as belonging a “far-left” group in the media, accounts of his political positions suggest a third or fourth position perspective.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/actualites-judiciaires/201707/21/01-5118395-conditions-severes-pour-un-montrealais-soupconne-de-terrorisme.php)
July 23
Eric Proulx, a member of La Meute’s governing council, demands that the Laiterie LaBaie dairy be boycotted, because it allegedly sells halal and kosher milk.(https://www.facebook.com/xavier.camus.9/posts/10159078489775223)
July 24
The Front Patriotique du Québec holds an underwhelming gathering outside Montreal’s City Hall to commemorate the 50th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s famous “Vive le Québec Libre!” speech. Less than thirty people attend.
July 25
A sign reading “La Baie Ville Blanche Hallal Out” is put up outside the La Baie dairy that Eric Proulx of La Meute had targeted two days earlier with claims it sold halal and kosher milk. Similar white supremacist signs had been put up in recent years in the Saguenay area, most recently the week prior when two signs reading “Saguenay Ville Blanche”were erected.
(https://www.lequotidien.com/actualites/une-pancarte-haineuse-a-la-laiterie-de-la-baie-93ee905e5122ff2587349ef2a1d8c120)
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/08/affichage-haineux-saguenay-la-meute-est_3.html)
July 29
Students in Support of Free Speech, an English Canadian campus group that works to defend transphobic, racist, and otherwise oppressive speech on campus attempts to hold an organizing meeting in Montreal. Some free speech engaged in by antifascists outside the bar chosen for the gathering has the would-be SSFS organizers on the run, and they spend the evening hiding in a nearby police station, while antifascists gathered in the bar debate the few people who turn out, one of whom, feeling misled, ends up joining the antifascists gathered outside.
July 31
Montreal Antifasciste exposes Louise Duval, who is close to the Front Patriotique du Québec, as the person behind the Islamophobic “guindon87” YouTube page. Several of the videos are quickly taken down or set to private.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/07/31/who-is-guindon87/)
August
André Pitre, the far-right vlogger, goes on a La Meute sponsored speaking tour of Quebec, with La Meute also providing security. Pitre’s appearance in Rimouski fails to go ahead, when Mayor Marc Parent steps in to cancel the group’s reservation of municipally owned Centre Communautaire Nazareth.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/la-meute-human-rights-complaint-rimouski-1.4231704)
August 4
Following the rejection of a Muslim cemetery by the town of St-Apollinaire, Quebec City agrees to sell land to the CCIQ to establish a Muslim cemetery.
Stéphane Gagne, a self-styled Quebec redneck from Trois-Rivières, produces a racist vlog that goes viral. In the months to come Gagne will adopt the persona of “General Lee,” proposing a “Quebec confederacy”; he will flirt with La Meute, but will end up rejecting the group as “not serious,” preferring the Storm Alliance and the Three Percenters.
August 6
Independent racist activist “Sue Elle,” along with Soldiers of Odin members Philippe Gendron and David LeBlanc, attempts to organize a demonstration outside the Olympic Stadium, where refugees are being housed following the spike in irregular border crossings from the United States. A call for an anti-racist counter-mobilization by the migrant justice group Solidarity Across Borders forces the racists to cancel—bonehead Philippe Gendron announces the cancellation in an angry video on August 5th, in which he denies that the intent had ever been to oppose the refugees and blames the Montreal left and George Soros (pronounced Sor-O, for full moronic effect!) for making it unsafe for him to show up. Several hundred anti-racists gather at the stadium on the day in question, including many from the Haitian community. A few racists are spotted in the area, but the day passes without incident.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/08/07/august-6-2017-epic-racist-fail-in-montreal/)
The car belonging to Mohamed Labidi, president of the CCIQ, is firebombed. This attack will not be made public by the police for several weeks. Two individuals will be arrested on September 15.
August 9
Media reports that the Canadian Army is building a refugee camp in Lacolle, twenty minutes drive from Hemmingford, as refugees from the United States continue to cross in large numbers at Roxham Road.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-announcement-asylum-seekers-1.4240038)
François Legault, leader of the Coalition avenirQuébec (CAQ), denounces “illegal immigration” saying the influx of refugees must be stopped.
(http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/08/09/legault-veut-stopper-la-vague-des-migrants-haitiens-en-provenance-des-etats-unis)
August 10
La Meute calls for a demonstration on August 20 in Quebec City in support of the RCMP in the context of the influx of refugees fleeing Trump’s America.
August 11
“Feminist” racist Lise Payette, former PQ Minister for the Status of Women under René Levesque and a long-time newspaper columnist,whose writings were collected in a book published by the left-wing Lux éditeur, takes to Facebook to denounce the “invasion” taking place, in reference to the influx of refugees from the Unites States. Her statement is shared over 6,000 times on the social media platform. Payette’s racist rabble rousing goes back thirty years, yet she is still considered “progressive” by some.
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159173267240223&set=a.10155427478220223.1073741831.665530222)
August 12
Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier of the Citoyens au Pouvoir au Québec political party admits he is a member of the La Meute Facebook group, and that his beliefs are “aligned” with those of the group. He reiterates his opposition to “mass immigration.”
(https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/rambo-gauthier-doesn-t-deny-ties-to-la-meute-1.3543015)
The nine months that Gauthier had led the CPQ have been marked by a continuing slide towards the far right.
(https://ricochet.media/fr/1914/des-appuis-politiques-pour-la-meute-)
August 13
One day after antifascist demonstrator Heather Heyer was murdered by a fascist in Charlottesville, Virgina, over 200 people march through the streets of Montreal in a solidarity rally.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/200-attend-montreal-solidarity-rally-against-white-nationalists-in-charlottesville-1.4245911)
The Charlottesville clashes that weekend would be a watershed moment in the development of the U.S. far right. Two membersof Montreal’s far right would soon be identified as having been present in Charlottesville: Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald of La Meute (whose membership was promptly suspended—although he continues to show up and be welcomed at La Meute events) and Vincent Mercure-Bélanger, who had previously been barred from UQAM for threatening female students.
(http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/at-least-two-quebecers-attended-white-supremacist-rally-in-charlottesville)
International Relations Minister Christine St-Pierre warns that the Quebec’s international reputation could take a hit due to the increased visibility of homegrown far-right groups.
August 16
In no small part in reaction to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, a few days earlier, the Hudson’s Bay Company removes a plaque from the company’s flagship store in downtown Montreal that commemorates Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederate States during the American Civil War; the plaque had been placed on the store in 1957 by U.S.-based United Daughters of the Confederacy.
(http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/montreal/jefferson-davis-confederate-plaque-montreal-1.4248206)
August 18
Montreal Counter-Info releases photos and names of members of La Meute, Atalante, and Soldiers of Odin.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/la-meute-membres-et-manifestant-es/)
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/atalante-membres/)
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/actualites/anti-fascism/soldiers-of-odin-quebec-membres-et-manifestant-es/?vpage=1)
Xavier Camus publishes a blog post exposing Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu as a member of several far-right Facebook groups; this comes two days after La Presse revealed Boisvenu had been a member of the Pegida Québec Facebook group. Boisvenu said he was unaware of this, and someone else must have added him.
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/08/18/le-flirt-du-senateur-boisvenu-avec-lextreme-droite/)
August 19
Members of Atalante travel to Montreal to hang banners reading “Remigration” outside the Olympic Stadium, where refugees, many of them from Haiti, are being housed.
(https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/22/anti-migrant-banners-pop-up-in-montreal-including-at-olympic-stadium.html)
A small anti-immigrant demonstration is held in Quebec City backed by Storm Alliance and the Front Patriotique du Québec, with Robert Proulx on hand to provide security. Along with Dave Tregget and Denis Boulanger, La Meute founder Eric Venne [aka Corvus] is an attendance, even though Le Meute itself has distanced itself from the rally. Former bonehead turned “extremism expert” with the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to ViolenceMaximeFiset shows up to observe andisconfronted by Proulx and a bonehead, who explain that it is “violent” to accuse people of being racist—the bonehead in question is wearing a sticker from the openly neofascistFédération des Québécois de Souche, an organization that Fiset had in fact co-founded in 2007. (http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/08/17/deux-manifestations-anti-immigration-a-quebec-en-fin-de-semaine) (http://montreal-antifasciste.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/proule_fiset_1-Copy.mp4)
August 20
La Meute had planned what they hoped would be their largest public demonstration to date, in Quebec City. Hundreds of anti-racists travel from Montreal, joining with hundreds of Quebec City anti-racists. La Meute’s meeting place had been leaked, and they were forced to hide in a parking garage for hours, surrounded by the antifascists. Small groups of La Meute supporters were identified approaching the site and dealt with, sometimes a bit impolitely. In the late afternoon, as the antifascists dispersed, La Meute took to the streets; they numbered in the hundreds and were lauded in the media for their disciplined approach. At the same time, media and politicians castigated the antifascists for various acts of vandalism and violence.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/08/25/context-and-report-back-from-the-august-20th-three-way-clash-in-quebec-city/)
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/08/28/un-happening-pour-lextreme-droite/)
Those in attendance at the La Meute demonstration constituted a veritable who’s who of the Quebec far right, Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald and Alexandre Cormier-Denis among them. However, when Dave Tregget attempted to join, he was rebuffed.
Montreal activist Jaggi Singh was arrested during the protest, leading Mayor Labeaume to decry “Singh’s gang” for wreaking havoc in his city. Singh jokingly identified himself as “Michel Goulet” (a former Nordiques hockey player) to Quebec City police, giving his address as the local hockey arena.
(https://www.facebook.com/JaggiMontreal/posts/10154703920411176)
Persons unknown remove a plaque commemorating colonial genocide in Montreal.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/plaque-raciste-enlevee-a-montreal/)
August 25
Eric Venne [aka Corvus] is expelled from La Meute over alleged financial improprieties, an act that he describes as a “knife in the back.” Within 48 hours, he is back on social media announcing that he had been made an honorary member of Storm Alliance.
August 28
PQ leader Jean-François Lisée demands that Ottawa take on all costs associated with “Justin Trudeau’s guests”—i.e., refugees fleeing the United States—complaining that money going to refugees should instead be going to support people in need already living in Quebec. Following a wave of criticism, Lisée doubles down on his message, claiming he tells it like it is.
(http://journalmetro.com/actualites/national/1191026/lisee-est-la-cible-des-critiques-souverainistes/)
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/09/la-meute-les-antifas-et-le-pq.html)
August 29
Jaggi Singh is arrested in Montreal and brought to Quebec City to face charges of resisting arrest and taking another person’s identity, relating to the events of August 20.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/08/29/public-statement-in-solidarity-with-activist-jaggi-singh-arrested-in-montreal-for-having-impersonated-nordiques-michel-goulet-in-quebec-city-not-a-joke/).
Boneheads from Atalante show up at his court appearance the next day, in an (unsuccessful) attempt to intimidate anti-racists.
Just days after its inauguration,a mural painted by a group of Indigenous women in the Montreal neighbourhood of Saint-Henri denouncing white supremacy is vandalized with a racist message.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/indigenous-mural-calling-out-white-supremacy-vandalized-days-after-completion-1.4267811)
August 30
La Meute’s spokesperson Sylvain Brouillette [aka Maikan] is forced to publicly distance the group from Storm Alliance member Jean-Francois Dionne, who had attended their August 20 rally with an Iron Cross flag often associated with neo-nazis.
It is publicly revealed that the car belonging to Mohamed Labidi, president of the CCIQ, was firebombed on August 6. Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier of Citoyens au Pouvoir au Québec opines that Labidi might have firebombed his own car.
(http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/08/30/incendie-de-la-voiture-du-president-du-cciq-bernard-rambo-gauthier-a-des-doutes)
Wolves of Odin, a pagan far-right group that first came together in the winter of 2016/17, holds a barbecue. Afterwards, two members get hurt in a lively public debate.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/cest-pas-juste-mcgregor-qui-sest-fait-taper-samedi-passe/#fn-78807-1)
Early September
Arrests of antifascists in Quebec City relating to August 20 demonstration.
The Northern Guard is created by former members of Soldiers of Odin, who object to being in a group led by a woman (Katy Latulippe). The Northern Guard cites the Three Percenters as an inspiration, and states it will be present on September 30 at the cross-Canada day of action initiated by the Storm Alliance.
(https://www.vice.com/fr_ca/article/wjjmjw/un-nouveau-groupe-ultranationaliste-montrera-ses-couleurs-le-30-septembre)
25,000 copies of an Islamophobic broadsheet produced by the so-called “Brigades de l’Amour” are distributed in Quebec City, accusing the CCIQ of propagating intolerant and hateful messages and of having connections with terrorist groups.
(http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/09/02/regis-labeaume-reagit-aux-tracts-a-caractere-islamophobe-distribues-par-les-brigades-de-lamour_a_23194939/)
Siasi Tullaugak and Sharon Baron, two Inuit women, are found dead in Montreal. Police rule their deaths suicides, however friends and family feel their deaths were not adequately investigated, and that they may have been murdered.
(https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/599773/police-investigations-criticized-in-deaths-of-two-inuit-women-in-montreal)
September 1
An Angus-Reid online poll of 1,505 Canadian respondents conducted August 22–25 finds that 53 per cent of those surveyed feel Canada has been “too generous” to the 7,000 asylum seekers who walked across the border since July 1, while 34 per cent said the level of support has been “about right.”
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/canada-too-generous-toward-illegal-border-crossers-poll-suggests)
September 5
Antifascist banner drop in Quebec City.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/09/06/quebec-city-if-youre-not-anti-fascist-what-are-you-then/)
No Borders graffiti appears in Montreal not far from the Olympic Stadium.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/pas-de-frontieres-personne-nest-illegal/)
September 8
Alexandre Bissonnette appears in court; due to numerous delays in providing disclosure, there are fears that he will get off because his right to a speedy trial has not been respected.
(http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/09/08/la-preuve-contre-alexandre-bissonnette-pratiquement-complete)
September 10
Montreal Antifasciste reveals that several well-known right-wing columnists and pundits are members of La Meute’s private Facebook pages; the list includes Éric Duhaime (radio announcer at FM93), Lise Ravary (Journal de Montréal columnist), and Richard Martineau (Journal de Montréal columnist). Several of these journalists reply that they were added without their knowledge or consent, which raises important questions about La Meute’s claim of 40,000 members, based solely on the number of members of their Facebook pages.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/fr/2017/09/10/eric-duhaime-lise-ravary-richard-martineau-myriam-segal-et-eric-bedard-membres-de-la-meute/)
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/09/10/richard-martineau-et-eric-duhaime-membres-du-groupe-secret-de-la-meute/)
(http://beta.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1057161/les-faux-amis-de-la-meute)
September 11
Radio Canada publishes a report on the Three Percenters in Quebec.
(http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1054852/milice-extreme-droite-quebec-iii-3-pourcent?fromBeta=true)
A newly organized Generation Identity group carries out a pan-Canadian postering action at campuses across the country. Posters found around Concordia University in Montreal are quickly removed by antifascists.
September 15
Two individuals—Mathieu Bilodeau (age 32) and a 44-year-old man—are arrested for the August 6 firebombing of the car belonging to Mohamed Labidi, president of the CCIQ. Police confirm that this was a hate crime, and that the attackers intended to target “a Muslim.”
(http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/09/15/voiture-incendiee-de-mohamed-labidi-la-police-de-quebec-arrete-deux-suspects)
September 16
The Front Patriotique du Québec calls for a demonstration in Montreal and then cancels the call, saying they plan to postpone their rally until the Liberal government’s planned Commission Against Systemic Racism (which itself will be subsequently cancelled).
There is a split within the leadership of La Meute. Over the course of several days, allegations of financial malfeasance lead to founding member Patrick Beaudry, the target of the criticism,withdrawing to form his own La Meute (nothing of substance has been heard from Beaudry since). (http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/09/exclusif-putsch-au-national-et-la-meute.html?m=1) (https://xaviercamus.com/2017/09/22/la-meute-au-bord-de-leclatement/)
September 20
In a debate in the National Assembly over the legitimacy of masks at demonstrations, PQ leader Jean-François Lisée accuses Québec Solidaire of links to the Black Bloc and Jaggi Singh:“The Black Bloc use masks to prevent police surveillance when committing crimes. I understand that Québec Solidaire wants to protect the Black Bloc. I understand that Québec Solidaire wants to protect the anarchists. I understand that Québec Solidaire wants to protect Jaggi Singh.”
“Le Black Bloc utilise des masques pour se soustraire à la surveillance policière et commettre des délits. Alors, je comprends que Québec solidaire veut protéger le Black Bloc. Je comprends que Québec solidaire veut protéger les anarchistes. Je comprends que Québec solidaire veut protéger Jaggi Singh.”
(https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/politique/quebec-solidaire-defend-le-port-du-masque-dans-les-manifs-1491c6b2e1d8fb18e59fe3e9603c1b30)
September 21
Montreal Antifasciste exposes the identity of vlogger “MacLuv” of “DMS” [real name: Maxime Morin]. Morin’s recent video targeting the Concordia campus left had gone viral, being picked up by a number of non political clickbait sites. Morin, was revealed to be a fan of David Duke and a purveyor of antisemitic and transphobic trash.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/09/21/maxime-morin-aka-dmsdamcluv-and-his-racist-agenda/)
September 23
The Mouvement républicain du Québec claim they will hold a conference in Montreal, having already been forced to hold their June conference outside of the city [see June 17]. They claim speakers will include Mathieu Goyette (head of the Parti Citoyens au Pouvoir), Eric Le Ray (founding member and head of EPC @ Partners), Me Hans Mercier (lawyer and head of Parti 51), Adrien Pouliot (head of the Parti conservateur du Québec), Michel LeBrun (former lawyer and previous interim head of the Union Nationale),and Philippe Dujardin (president of the Nicolas Viel section of the Société Saint-Jean Baptiste). However, when it becomes clear that they will meet with a robust antifascist response, they cancel their plans.
September 23–24
Stickers accusing antifascists of being a “terrorists,”“sodomites,” and “whores for Canada,”specifically naming researcher Xavier Camus, appear at Joliette metro, adjacent to Cegep Maisonneuve, where Camus works.
September 25
According to a CROP-Cogeco poll, two out of three Québécois are ready to vote for a “populist” politician who supports closing the borders to immigrants and refugees, and to “defend Quebec’s national identity,” should such a candidate run in the elections.
Deux Québécois sur trois seraient prêts à voter pour un politicien «populiste» s’engageant à refermer les frontières aux immigrants et aux réfugiés, et à «défendre l’identité nationale» si un tel candidat se présentait aux élections, révèle un sondage CROP-Cogeco.
(http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/09/25/deux-quebecois-sur-trois-seraient-prets-a-voter-pour-un-politicien-populiste)
Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier states that he is leaving La Meute, claiming the organization is not “serious.”
(http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/09/25/fini-la-meute-pour-bernard-rambo-gauthier)
September 26
Three antifascists are arrested allegedly graffitiing at Joliette metro, which had been the site of repeated far-right stickering over the previous week.
September 30
Storm Alliance holds its largest border protest to date, with over 100 racists gathering at the Lacolle border where a refugee camp (by this point empty) had been set up over the summer. They were countered by more than 100 anti-racists from Montreal and nearby border communities.
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/no-incidents-in-far-right-demonstration-in-st-bernard-de-lacolle)
(https://sub.media/video/antifa-block-far-right-at-uscanada-border/)
Following the protests, the racist social media ramblings of many of the anti-immigrant protesters are revealed by Montreal Antifasciste.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/10/10/storm-alliance-at-the-border-were-not-racists-but/)
While he is present providing security at the border demonstration, J.S. R.P. Tech, Robert Proulx’s Montreal computer business, is vandalized by persons unknown.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/vandalisme-sur-le-magasin-de-robert-proule-membre-de-la-meute/)
The Lacolle demonstration is one of a number of rallies—some endorsed by Storm Alliance, some not—across Canada on this day, in response to Storm Alliance’s call for a national day of action.
(https://gredacanada.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/alerte-manifestations-contre-lextreme-droite-le-30-septembre-2017/)
There is an anti-fascist bannerdrop in Montreal.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/solidarite-avec-les-refugie-e-s-les-migrant-e-s-et-les-militant-e-s-antifascistes/)
October
Groups of Soldiers of Odin wearing their insignia are spotted around Montreal,taking down left-wing posters, especially those for the November 12 demonstration against racism and those put up by the Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire.
Posters of group Generation Identity are found in Montreal’s Milton-Parc neighbourhood, close to McGill University.
(https://www.mcgilldaily.com/2017/10/white-supremacist-posters-found-in-milton-parc/)
October 2
“Les Irréductibles Québécoises,” an ad hoc group of far-right women, rally at the National Assembly to denounce the government and the “Muslim invasion.”
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/women-of-quebecs-far-right-come-out-of-the-shadows)
October 3
Geneviève Guilbault of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) wins a by-election in the Liberal stronghold of Louis-Hébert. The former Liberal deputy for the riding, Ihssane El Ghernati, had stepped down as a result of blowback for her position supporting the right of an immigrant to wear the niqab during her citizenship ceremony.
(http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/509467/resultats-partielle-louis-hebert)
The election loss is blamed by some Liberal MNAs on the government’s plans to hold a Public Commission Against Systemic Racism later in the year (it will ultimately be cancelled).
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/louis-hebert-riding-election-consultation-systemic-racism-1.4319911)
Later in themonth, opinion polls will indicate the CAQis the most popular party among francophones and has a good chance of winning the 2018 provincial elections.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-quebecoise/201710/19/01-5140629-a-un-an-des-elections-les-astres-salignent-pour-la-caq.php)
October 4
CBC reveals members of Canadian Armed Forces active in La Meute’s closed Facebook group.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/members-of-la-meute-facebook-group-part-of-canadian-military-1.4331380)
October 5
An electoral sign in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, for mayoral candidate Alex Bottausci is vandalized with an antisemitic message reading: “No more Jews.”
(https://globalnews.ca/news/3789621/election-sign-in-dollard-des-ormeaux-defaced-with-anti-semitic-graffiti/)
Pending approval of both parties’ memberships, an agreement is reached to liquidate Option Nationale into Québec Solidaire.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-quebecoise/201710/05/01-5139069-fusion-qs-on-zanetti-se-presentera-dans-une-circonscription-favorable.php)
October 6
Sunny Letourneau, the La Meute member who had spearheaded opposition to the Muslim cemetery in St-Apollinaire, and other members of La Meute run for municipal council. (https://xaviercamus.com/2017/10/06/une-equipe-pro-meute-se-lance-en-politique-municipale/)
October 7
“L’eau du Québec, c’est sacré” ecological rally refuses to take a stand against plans by the Storm Alliance to march as an organized contingent. Nonetheless, following social media blowback, Storm Alliance decides not to participate. The tolerance for racists by the organizers of the demonstration is subsequently denounced by the Camp de la rivière.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/defendre-leau-de-qui-et-comment-le-faire-declaration-du-camp-de-la-riviere/)
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/10/09/sur-la-pseudo-infiltration-de-la-storm-alliance-dans-la-manif-ecologiste/)
October 9
For a third time, the anti-racist mural painted by a group of Indigenous women in St-Henri is vandalized.
(https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/st-henri-mural-vandalized-for-third-time-in-three-months-1.3625144)
October 14
A minuscule rally in front of the Bell Centre organized by “Je Suis Québécois” demands that a quota of players on the Canadiens hockey team be Québécois. The ridiculous gathering is organized by Daniel St-Hilaire, who has extensive ties with the populist right.
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/11/12/des-paravents-pour-lextreme-droite/)
October 16
Jewish Defense League members from Toronto claim they will come to Montreal to protest at concerts by Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician who has publicly taken a stand against Israeli apartheid. Anti-Zionists mobilize, but the JDL does not show up.
The “Comité Fuck Robert Proulx” breaks the windows of J.S. R.P. Tech, Robert Proulx’s Montreal computer business. Proulx has come to notice for organizing security at far-right demonstrations across Quebec this year, often waving the Mohawk Warrior flag.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/le-magasin-du-raciste-robert-proulx-cible-une-deuxieme-fois/)
October 18
Provincial Liberals effectively cancel the Commission publique contre le racisme systémique, refocusing its mandate on creating economic opportunities for immigrants and visible minorities.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-consultations-systemic-racism-overhaul-1.4360661)
The Commission had been strongly criticized by the PQ and CAQ opposition parties (http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/systemic-racism-hearings-are-necessary-will-go-ahead-kathleen-weil-says), and had been blamed for the loss of the Louis-Hébert riding, a long-time Liberal stronghold, in an October 3 by-election.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/louis-hebert-riding-election-consultation-systemic-racism-1.4319911)
Provincial Liberals pass Bill 62, barring people from covering their faces when using public services. This is understood by everyone as an attack on Muslim women.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/10/26/critical-report-on-bill-62-adopted-by-the-quebec-national-assembly-on-october-18-2017/)
An Angus Reid poll released in October suggests most people in Quebec—87 per cent—strongly or moderately support the legislation. Both the PQ and the CAQ criticize it for not going far enough.
(https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-bill-62-explainer/article36700916/)
Over the next week there will be a number of quickly organized demonstrations at bus stops, as the law will affect people taking public transit; when a bus driver is photographed with his face covered to show his support,the image goes viral. He is suspended for one day by the STM.
Individuals from Québec Solidaire organize a demonstration at Snowden metro in Cote-des-Neiges, attended by dozens of people. The protest receives little logistical support from the party, and none of the QS bigwigs show up.
October 19
Two antifascists are arrested in Montreal in connection with alleged incident involving members of the far right. They will spend a month behind bars before being released.
October 20
The Justice Femme social media page receives reports of three separate Islamophobic incidents targeting women taking public transport in the days following Bill 62.
(https://www.facebook.com/JusticeFemme/posts/1770505473012501)
October 26
It is revealed that the Fondation Centre Jeunesse has signed an agreement with La Meute, whereby the latter will collect donations for the charity organization’s holiday drive. Following this public revelation, the FCJ cancels the agreement.
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/10/26/entente-troublante-entre-la-meute-et-la-fondation-centre-jeunesse/)
October 28
Antifascists join the Main Rouge anti-austerity march in Montreal.
November 4
Despite predictions from the far right across North America, including in Quebec, antifa revolution fails to occur on this date.
(https://www.snopes.com/is-antifa-planning-a-civil-war/)
November 8
Gabrielle Bouchard becomes the first trans woman elected president of the Fédération des Femmes du Québec.
(http://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/radio-canada-cet-apres-midi/segments/entrevue/46280/federation-femmes)
November 10
Yves Claudé publishes an article in l’Aut’journal, a free “left nationalist” newspaper that regularly attacks the radical left and defends the “Quebec nation” against claims of racism. Claudé claims that “antifa” engage in terrorism and are opponents of a progressive Quebec, warning that the upcoming November 12 demonstration might turn ugly. Claudé is a former leftist who was active in antifascist activities in the 1980s and 90s, and in the late seventies and eighties was a left-wing flamenco guitarist, performing under the name Yves Alix.
(http://lautjournal.info/20171110/le-mouvement-antifa-au-quebec-trente-annees-de-derives)
November 11
Storm Alliance members attend a Remembrance Day ceremony in Quebec City wearing their insignia.
November 12
An anti-racist rally in Montreal brings together thousands of people. The rally is supported by more than 170 community groups and progressive organizations. Opposition to Bill 62 is a major theme amongst demonstrators. A few far-right trolls show up, but without incident.
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/anti-racism-protest-to-be-family-friendly-and-positive-organizers-say)
(http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1066813/manifestation-racisme-montreal-centre-ville)
November 22
Former NDP and BQ MP Claude Patry, who has been head of La Meute’s the Saguenay-Lac St Jean Clan, leaves the group.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/11/exclusivite-claude-patry-abandonne-le.html)
November 25
Storm Alliance and La Meute organize a joint demonstration in front of the National Assembly in Quebec City. The demonstration is preceded by days of news reports scaremongering about antifascists and the far left. Between 200–300 antifascists gathered for a non-confrontational picnic, after which roughly 200 remained on the scene to attempt to confront the racists. However, an aggressive police presence combined with a lack of tactical preparedness—and outnumbered by the Storm Alliance/La Meute demonstrators on this occasion—led to a rout. Storm Alliance and La Meute members were accompanied by members of Atalante, Soldiers of Odin, and the Three Percenters, the latter as part of the security team.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/12/03/balancesheet-on-the-november-25-counterdemonstration/)
(https://www.vice.com/fr_ca/article/qv3gpd/lextreme-droite-quebecoise-sort-de-sa-coquille?utm_source=viceqcads)
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/12/25-novembre-pendant-que-la-police.html)
DMS’ “Caporal Chef” [real name: Guillaume Beauchamp] and DaMacLuv [real name: Maxime Morin] release a video of the march in which they thank Vincent Bergeron and Stephanie Langevin, without whom they say they could not have made the video.
The CAQ voices its support for a natalist policy and a reduction in immigration to deal with the “demographic question.”
(http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/11/25/une-hausse-des-naissances-aiderait-a-preserver-lidentite-pense-la-caq)
November 29
A video by former Quebec Stomper Martin Leger is reproduced in the media. In it Leger (who owns a gun shop) makes fun of feminists and others concerned about plans for a pro-gun rally at the memorial to victims of the Polytechnique massacre on December 3rd, three days before the 28th anniversary.
(https://durerealite.wordpress.com/2017/11/30/martin-leger-de-bonehead-a-armurier/)
December 1
Writing in the Journal de Montréal, Denise Bombardier decries the fact that a trans woman has been elected president of the Fédération des Femmes du Québec. The article is promoted on social media by La Meute and other far-right groups.
(http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/12/01/une-transgenre-preside-la-ffq)
December 2
Vigil in front of National Assembly organized by artist Luc Archambault, to protest the arrests of antifascists one week prior. Archambault himself was swept up in the random November 25 arrests.
(https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/justice-et-faits-divers/manifs-a-quebec-arrete-par-erreur-lartiste-luc-archambault-exige-des-excuses-8817a9c1eab0b78af045b1e6a10bc599)
December 3
Members of the collectiveTouscontreunregistrequébécois des armes à feu plan a demonstration at the memorial to victims of the Polytechnique massacre. Widespread outrage convinces them to relocate to a sugar shack outside of Quebec City. The organizers have connections to numerous far-right groups, including Storm Alliance, La Meute, and the Three Percenters.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/12/02/the-gunnies-and-the-far-right/)
December 5 and 8
Maxime Morin [aka DaMacLuv] and Guillaume Beauchamp [aka “Caporal Chef”] from DMS feel the love.
(https://mtlcounter-info.org/le-5-et-le-8-decembre-a-mtl/)
December 9
Members of Storm Alliance and La Meute participate in a “charity” action in Montreal under the banner of “Unis Pour Les Démunis,” a group established by Seana Lee Roy and “Kat Baws” from Storm Alliance in the fall. Their action is a flop, as they are outflanked by antifascists who, in collaboration with SOS Itinérance, set up their own tables to provide (much better!) food to people in need. Dave Tregget later delivers a video message in which he accuses antifascists of having attacked “women and children” at the event; this is contradicted by the accounts of the far-right women themselves, who insist nothing of the sort took place. Later that day, Seana Lee Roy is relieved of her position as head of Storm Alliance Montreal.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/12/31/unis-pour-les-demunis-flares-out/)
December 12
TVA runs a news story claiming that women working as road signalers at a construction site in Montreal neighbourhood of Cote-des-Neiges were reassigned at the request of officials at a mosque where the roadwork was being done. This story kicks up an internet storm of outrage.As well as from members of various far-right groups,denunciations are forthcoming from pundits and mainstream politicians, including Québec Solidaire’s Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who tweets his outrage. Within 24 hours it is proven to be false, yet it takes three days for TVA to issue a retraction and weak apology, and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois’s fails to take down his erroneous tweet.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/12/14/tvas-fake-news-is-whipping-up-islamophobic-frenzy-on-the-far-right/)
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/12/16/la-chronique-de-martineau-sur-laffaire-des-mosquees/)
December 15
Despite the fact that TVA has retracted the story, dozens of people demonstrate outside a mosque on de Courtrai St. that the Islamophobic news network had accused of having women road workers excluded from a worksite. Even the anti-Muslim group La Meute had withdrawn its support for the demonstration, given that the news story is transparently untrue.
(https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2017/12/17/tvas-fake-news-and-the-manufacturing-of-islamophobia-continued/)
December 16
Atalante’s house band Légitime Violence perform a benefit show for the neo-fascist organization, claiming that funds raised will go to support “Québécois families in need.”
(https://gredacanada.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/alerte-samedi-le-16-decembre-2017-concert-de-legitime-violence-et-des-neo-fascistes-a-quebec/)
December 18
Members of La Meute attend a public meeting with Bloc Québécois leader Martine Ouellet in Chicoutimi. During the Q&A they question Ouellet about why the BQ voted against a Conservative Party motion to condemn former child-soldier Omar Khadr as a terrorist.
(http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.ca/2017/12/chicoutimi-quand-la-meute-harcele-et.html)
December 19
Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier says he is leaving politics for “personal reasons”.
(http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-quebecoise/201712/19/01-5147666-bernard-rambo-gauthier-se-retire-de-la-vie-politique.php)
Following the decision the previous week by the Option Nationale political party to liquidate and merge with Québec Solidaire, ON member Denis Monière states he is negotiating for other ON members unwilling to join QS to be integrated into the Parti Indépendantiste (a previous incarnation of which he had founded in the 1980s). This is the same party that caused consternation with its aggressively racist and Islamophobic campaign during the May by-election in the Gouin riding in Montreal.
(http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/515798/disparition-d-option-nationale)
December 20
More than 100 antifascists march on TVA’s building in Montreal, denouncing the Islamophobic media network for spreading the fake news about women being excluded from a work site in Cote-des-Neiges at the request of a local mosque. [See December 12 and 15]
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/debunked-mosque-story-rally-targets-tva-nouvelles-islamophobia)
December 22
Nicolas Thériault, 46, is arrested by Quebec City police for Islamophobic comments made online; he is charged with inciting hate and uttering threats.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-police-arrest-suspect-in-connection-with-online-threats-against-muslims-1.4463830)
December 14–31
New divisive conflicts arise within the La Meute council; at first the council closes ranks around Eric Proulx, who is accused of authoritarian and abusive behaviour, including sexual abuse, by Saguenay La Meute members,but this solidarity breaks down at a drunken Christmas party. Eric Proulx seizes control of the La Meute Facebook accounts and is accused of trying to deliver them to the disgraced Patrick Beaudry. He eventually sells some of the pages back to La Meute for $883.23.Finally, control is reasserted by Sylvain Brouillette [aka Maikan], Proulx leaves, and two new members join the leading council: Robert Quettier and Myriam Voyer (formerly co-administrator of the Pegida Québec Facebook page).
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/12/21/un-predateur-sexuel-parmi-les-chefs-de-la-meute/)(https://onjase.org/post/2017/12/28/49-Du-rififi-chez-les-louveteaux)
(https://xaviercamus.com/2017/12/30/argent-sexe-et-mensonges-dans-la-meute/) (https://xaviercamus.com/2018/01/05/le-retour-du-grand-chef-maikan/)
