Rick Dean
Registered
9
Racialists' move into Manitoba alarms activists
By TAMMY MARLOWE STAFF REPORTER
Anti-racism activists say there must be "absolutely zero tolerance" for an Internet-based group's plan to set up shop in Manitoba and spread their message of true white pride. "If we aren't vigilant and we allow these sentiments to find fertile ground in our community and our province, then it's likely to spread," B'Nai Brith Canada's midwest region director Alan Yusim said yesterday. "If this is what it is, then ... we should speak out loudly and strongly against it."
The group, called Western Canada For Us, claims on its website to represent Euro
Canadians, who believe they're becoming a minority in Canada and want to fight to preserve their heritage and history.
Members are mainly based in Alberta and are supporters of Holocaust denier
r
Ern
t Zundel.
HOLDS PROTESTS, DEMONSTRATIONS
The site says WCFU holds pro
tests and demonstrations, distributes literature, holds monthly meetings and does not condone violence or illegal activities.
Photos of recent rallies are posted, along with links to other Internet pages -- including the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and White Renegade.
There's also a link to a Manitoba chapter, headed by president Jamie Murphy.
"WCFU Manitoba has started on it's (sic) way to becoming a force in our community," he writes. "Through hard work, loyalty, and perseverance we can grow towards true white pride."
Sgt. Ron Johannson of the Winnipeg Police diversity-relations unit told CBC Radio officers are aware of the group.
&q
uot;From a police services standpoint, we're going to do whatever we need to do to find out as much information as we can about this and carry out the proper actions," he said, adding police
co
uldn't
comment further.
Murphy told CBC yesterday the WCFU is not a racist or hate-based organization but just a bunch of people who
are proud of who they are.
"It doesn't promote hatred. It's not a hate group. If anybody in the group is about hate or violence or crime, then that's not part of my group that I want," he said. "It's more for, I guess, European-Canadians. You can't say 'white' anymore because if you say it's for white Canadians, people will think, well, you're a hate group."
Winnipeg teenager Jem disagreed strongly with Murphy's view of the WFCU's mandate.
"That's super racist," the St. John's High School student said. "It's not right ... What's the point in having
a dominant race? We're all equal, we're all the same."
Percy Saito disagreed with the WFCU's claim it wanted to "bring the white race back to its former power in
this co
untry."
"There was no white male power to begin with," said the aboriginal man. "You guys are the ones that came from Europe."
Activist Leslie Spillett, who works with the Winnipeg-based United Against Racism, said the theory that one ethnic gro
up is more superior than the rest doesn't fly.
"That's absolutely fundamentally flawed, because people are people," she said. "It's a simplistic world view when you say people of a different colour are to blame for (someone's) lack of power ... when we start making those distinctions, that's racism."
Racialists' move into Manitoba alarms activists
By TAMMY MARLOWE STAFF REPORTER
Anti-racism activists say there must be "absolutely zero tolerance" for an Internet-based group's plan to set up shop in Manitoba and spread their message of true white pride. "If we aren't vigilant and we allow these sentiments to find fertile ground in our community and our province, then it's likely to spread," B'Nai Brith Canada's midwest region director Alan Yusim said yesterday. "If this is what it is, then ... we should speak out loudly and strongly against it."
The group, called Western Canada For Us, claims on its website to represent Euro
Canadians, who believe they're becoming a minority in Canada and want to fight to preserve their heritage and history.
Members are mainly based in Alberta and are supporters of Holocaust denier
r
Ern
t Zundel.
HOLDS PROTESTS, DEMONSTRATIONS
The site says WCFU holds pro
tests and demonstrations, distributes literature, holds monthly meetings and does not condone violence or illegal activities.
Photos of recent rallies are posted, along with links to other Internet pages -- including the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and White Renegade.
There's also a link to a Manitoba chapter, headed by president Jamie Murphy.
"WCFU Manitoba has started on it's (sic) way to becoming a force in our community," he writes. "Through hard work, loyalty, and perseverance we can grow towards true white pride."
Sgt. Ron Johannson of the Winnipeg Police diversity-relations unit told CBC Radio officers are aware of the group.
&q
uot;From a police services standpoint, we're going to do whatever we need to do to find out as much information as we can about this and carry out the proper actions," he said, adding police
co
uldn't
comment further.
Murphy told CBC yesterday the WCFU is not a racist or hate-based organization but just a bunch of people who
are proud of who they are.
"It doesn't promote hatred. It's not a hate group. If anybody in the group is about hate or violence or crime, then that's not part of my group that I want," he said. "It's more for, I guess, European-Canadians. You can't say 'white' anymore because if you say it's for white Canadians, people will think, well, you're a hate group."
Winnipeg teenager Jem disagreed strongly with Murphy's view of the WFCU's mandate.
"That's super racist," the St. John's High School student said. "It's not right ... What's the point in having
a dominant race? We're all equal, we're all the same."
Percy Saito disagreed with the WFCU's claim it wanted to "bring the white race back to its former power in
this co
untry."
"There was no white male power to begin with," said the aboriginal man. "You guys are the ones that came from Europe."
Activist Leslie Spillett, who works with the Winnipeg-based United Against Racism, said the theory that one ethnic gro
up is more superior than the rest doesn't fly.
"That's absolutely fundamentally flawed, because people are people," she said. "It's a simplistic world view when you say people of a different colour are to blame for (someone's) lack of power ... when we start making those distinctions, that's racism."