Racist Groups : Northern Guard
The Northern Guard (not to be mistaken with the Northern Guard Detroit City Football Club) is a far-right group that mostly hails from Eastern Canada, but also has some chapters in Western Canada. After the Soldiers of Odin disbanded in Nova Scotia, it reformed as the Northern Guard. The AntiHate.ca website defines them as, "A militant anti-Muslim group with neo-Nazi ties that is active across Canada," that have, "Engaged in premeditated assaults targeting anti-racist, anti-fascist demonstrators."
Source: The Northern Guard National Page on Facebook
Their current national president, Nick Gallant, on a Facebook post says that the group's, "...mission is to uphold the constitution and protect our Charter of Rights and protect our Canadian citizens from both foreign and domestic threats." They claim to do charitable work and perform activism to reach their goal of, "...making our provinces cleaner, safer, and stronger." They even try to make a point that they are not racist. As you will see, that's completely false.
Source: Facebook
In reality, they are indeed racists and white supremacists. If you look through the Facebook pages belonging to their various members, you'll see this very clearly. They seem to be non-racists on paper but on their Facebook pages and even in public, they prove to be the opposite. I don't want to spend too much time on the group themselves, but on the actual members. Many of the members can be seen in photos on their Facebook pages giving the "okay" hand signal that happens to be a hand signal used by white nationalists and that alt-right.
Nick Gallant. Source: Facebook
Further reading:
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
https://www.antihate.ca/tags/northern_guard
Violent Transnational Social Movement Research Project
https://casisvancouver.ca/1_19_fifth-generation-warfare.html/rwe-group-database/northern-guard/
Anti-Racist Canada: The ARC Collective
http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2017/09/part-i-northern-guard-feel-press.html
http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2019/08/far-right-infighting-part-1-alberta.html
Vice
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/yww8ab/canadas-newest-ultra-nationalist-group-plans-show-of-force
Global News
https://globalnews.ca/news/5473923/maxime-bernier-northern-guard-white-power-sign/
https://globalnews.ca/news/5134538/canadian-anti-hate-network-halifax-northern-guard/
The Halifax Examiner
Journal Pioneer
https://www.journalpioneer.com/news/provincial/atlantic-canadas-alt-right-fringe-340070/
Amendment:
While the Northern Guard can be considered a racist group, they also have a positive side to them. As odd as that may sound. It has to be noted that they do a lot of community outreach in the form of helping their community, at least in the New Brunswick chapter. They help with food banks, helping people who need groceries or help with snow removal, toy drives, and they also help out with foundations for abused children etc.. Lets hope that from the good they do, they can stop with the bad, even if it be intentional or unintentional.
