Neo-Nazi newsletter makes an appearance in Ottawa

A Neo-Nazi newsletter started showing up in mailboxes in Ottawa during a week already marred by several incidents of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and racist graffiti appearing on religious buildings.

Vanier resident Amanda Carver, a registered psychotherapist and mother of two, found a copy of Your Ward News in her mailbox last week.

While some of her neighbours dismissed the newsletter as junk mail and threw it out, Carver did not.

As Carver flipped through the pages of the self-proclaimed “world’s largest anti-Marxist publication,” she found a graphic depicting Minister of Public Services and Procurement Judy Foote being gassed in a chamber operated by US President-elect Donald Trump.

“There are sections in here where he advocates for sexually assaulting women,” Carver said.

But what concerns Carver the most is not knowing who delivered this publication to her home.

After receiving the newsletter, Carver contacted the police department and took the publication to the Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street.

“They flipped through it. They said it was disgusting and distasteful, but it’s free speech,” she said.

 

 

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, also received the newsletter in the mailbox of her Old Ottawa East home.

The woman said she received the pamphlet Thursday afternoon, and immediately called the Ottawa Police.

She said a police officer arrived at her home later that evening and left with a copy of the controversial paper.

Media relations officer Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa Police told The Drift that they have not received a single complaint about the publication to date.

The newsletter was so controversial that this past spring, Canada Post was ordered to stop delivering it.

The editor-in-chief of the Toronto based newsletter said in an email interview that he intends to “test various markets” for the publication and that the target for the fall edition was the GTA, Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara region. He said he has been using volunteers to hand deliver the publication.

He said he has been able to continue delivering the newsletter without Canada Post.

“The Canada Post ban was initially an administrative inconvenience,” he said. “But once we reorganized our distribution and we assembled a combination of private delivery companies and volunteers, things went back to running smoothly.”

The publication’s editor said it was no accident the publication tried to make inroads in Ottawa and the Niagara region, where provincial by-elections were taking place.

The goal, he said, was not to influence the elections, but to take advantage of the politically charged environment.

 

What is considered Hate Speech?

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of expression, however there are limits, explained Richard Moon, a Professor of Law at the University of Windsor.

“Even prior to the Charter, there has always been a recognition that freedom of expression matters,” Moon said. “But there are ways in which expression can be employed that are harmful to others.”

In Canada, the federal Criminal Code is the main legal route for dealing with hate speech said Moon. However, the definition of hate speech under this provision is narrow. There must be willful promotion of hatred and the expression must be extreme.

Moon says he recognizes how difficult such a narrow definition can make it to legally draw the line between freedom of expression and hate speech.

Back in her home, watching her daughters play, Carver mentions something else that worries her about receiving the newsletter.

“The thing that is really disconcerting to me, is that this seems to be coinciding with all the hate graffiti in the city,” said Carver.