Nationalist Party of Canada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Don Andrews |
| Founded | 1977 (1977) |
| Split from | Western Guard |
| Headquarters | 300 Coxwell Avenue PO Box 3037 Toronto,Ontario M4L 3B6 |
| Newspaper | The Nationalist Report (1977–1985) |
| Membership(mid-1980s) | 150–300 |
| Ideology | White supremacy |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| natparty | |
TheNationalist Party of Canada is a Canadianwhite supremacist organization founded in 1977 byDon Andrews.[1][2][3][4] It was initially known as theNational Citizens Alliance and was established after Andrews was legally barred from associating with his previous organization, theWestern Guard.
From 1977 to 1985, it publishedThe Nationalist Report, a journal described by Canadian courts as promoting hatred against Black, Jewish, and Asian communities. Andrews and party secretary Robert Smith were convicted under Canada's hate speech laws for their work on the journal, and their appeal to theSupreme Court of Canada was rejected in the landmark decision ofR v Andrews (1990).
The Nationalist Party of Canada was founded by Andrews after he was legally barred by his bail conditions from associating with theWestern Guard, another white supremacist organization. The party was briefly known as the National Citizens Alliance. It had an estimated 150 to 300 members in the mid-1980s.[5]
From 1977 to 1985, the party publishedThe Nationalist Report, which ceased publication when Andrews and party secretary Robert Smith were charged and convicted under theCriminal Code for promoting hatred. Crown attorney Michel Anne MacDonald described the journal as containing anti-Black, anti-Jewish and anti-Asian articles,[6] and the presiding judge described the "degree of hatred" in their journal as "obscene".[7] He added that Andrews was the "directing mind of the publication" and described Smith as a "faithful, industrious follower".[8]
In 1986, Andrews and Smith endorsedHolocaust denierJim Keegstra's bid to lead theSocial Credit Party of Canada.[9] The two men appealed to theSupreme Court of Canada in 1989, seeking to have their conviction overturned.[10] The court rejected the appeal in December 1990, ruling that theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms did not protect hate speech inR v Andrews andR v Keegstra.[11] Andrews and Smith served jail terms following the ruling.
The Nationalist Party continues to further its goals through supporting such projects as "European Heritage Week" (commemorated every October beginning on the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving) and ashortwave radio program. It also originated and operates the "Canadian Flag Perpetual Pride Campaign" each year during the months of July and December, where residences in cities and towns in Canada, and governments at the federal, provincial and municipal levels are encouraged to properly display new Canadian flags and to replace worn ones; this campaign has been extended to encourage Canadian flag displays at offices and stores of major Canadian corporations such as Canadian Tire, Unilever and Loblaws/Weston.
Andrews has run forMayor of Toronto several times, including in 2003 when he won 0.17 percent of the vote. In that year, two other party members ran unsuccessfully forToronto City Council.
Robert "Bob" Wayne Smith is afrequent candidate for political office, and has sought election at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Like Don Andrews, he was originally a member of the Western Guard Party.[12] He first ran for the Toronto School Board in 1972, when he was still a student.[13] His most recent campaign was forMayor of Toronto in2006. During his Western Guard days, he was the voice for its White Power Phone Message. Among organizations he has served in include the Canadian Anti-Soviet Action Committee, the Ontario Social Credit organization, as a director of the Ezra Pound Institute for International Studies, and as a guest commentator during the 1990s for the British Peoples' League Hour radio program. Today, he regularly blogs at his Internet column on the Nationalist Party website page, "Bob's Beat".
| Election | Division | De facto party | Votes | % | Position | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 municipal | Toronto School Trustee, Ward Eight | Western Guard | 247 | 11/11 | Not elected | |
| 1974 municipal | Toronto City Council, Ward Four | Western Guard | 200 | 7/7 | Not elected | |
| 1976 municipal | Toronto School Trustee, Ward Nine | Western Guard | 864 | 6/7 | Not elected | |
| 1980 federal | St. Paul's | Nationalist | 108 | 6/9 | Not elected | |
| 1980 municipal | Toronto School Trustee, Ward Eight | Nationalist | 1,319 | 6/9 | Not elected | |
| 1982 municipal | Toronto School Trustee, Ward Eight | Nationalist | 603 | 6/10 | Not elected | |
| 1985 municipal | Toronto School Trustee, Ward Eight | Nationalist | 935 | 5/7 | Not elected | |
| Ontario provincial by-election, April 1, 1993 | St. George—St. David | Nationalist | 72 | 8/9 | Not elected | |
| 2003 municipal | Toronto City Councillor, Ward 31 | Nationalist | 414 | 4/4 | Not elected | |
| 2006 municipal | Mayor of Toronto | Nationalist | 1,105 | 0.19 | 20/38 | Not elected |
