The Toronto Police Services emblem at TPS headquarters, in Toronto on May 17, 2022.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
The RCMP and city police forces are investigating links between antisemitic leaflets and posters found in cities across Canada, anti-Jewish graffiti found in Ontario high schools and an active U.S. white-supremacist group.
MPs and Jewish groups are warning about inroads being made in Canada by the Goyim Defense League, which sells Hitler busts on its website, posts virulently anti-Jewish videos on its own TV channel and demonstrates with swastika flags outside American synagogues.
The leaflets found in Canada were printed from the website of the group, while the antisemitic graffiti at high schools referred to the group’s video-streaming platform GoyimTV.
The channel, which mainly targets American Jews and includes neo-Nazi material, also features derogatory videos about Jews in Canada.
Last month antisemitic flyers printed from the Goyim Defense League’s website were found on 24 streets in Peterborough. They are being investigated by local police, along with the distribution of antisemitic leaflets there in May.
Antisemitic graffiti linked to the group was found at four Toronto-area schools last year, including Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute in Scarborough. Toronto police’s hate crimes unit is investigating. The graffiti referred to GoyimTV, which posts videos and livestreams, including those praising Hitler and glorifying the persecution of Jews.
“The Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit has been investigating multiple (six) mischief occurrences referencing ‘Goyimtv.tv’ that occurred on school properties throughout the city in 2022,” it said in a statement.
“The investigation, which included video canvassing of the areas, has yet to identify a suspect. We are encouraging anyone with information to please contact police.”
In January, antisemitic propaganda originating from the group, including suggesting Jews are responsible for mass immigration and abortion, were found in Saskatoon.
This month antisemitic material printed from their website has been reported in a family neighbourhood in Langley, B.C.
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Sergeant Kris Clark of Langley RCMP said in a statement they were continuing to “follow investigative leads” to determine the source of flyers, printed from the Goyim Defense League’s website.
“While the flyers do not express any direct threat, they are antisemitic and perpetuate bias and prejudice toward the entire Jewish community,” he said.
Gerry Almendrades, national director of community security for Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told The Globe and Mail he has been in touch with law enforcement across Canada about the group, which also hosts offensive material about the LGBTQ community and white-supremacist propaganda about non-white minorities.
He has also raised the group’s increasing presence to an Ontario police round table for other minority groups, including Muslims, members of the LGBTQ community and South Asians.
“Peterborough got peppered quite severely by this propaganda. It has spread throughout Canadian cities,” he said. “It’s a flag for extremist beliefs. It’s an indicator in your town that there are people who don’t like racialized communities. It does not begin and end with the Jewish community.
“Is the ideology spreading in Canada? Yes. These pamphlets are an indication of that.”
The Goyim Defense League (goyim is a Yiddish word for non-Jews) is led by Jon Minadeo II, a former rapper, and a small group of Americans adept at utilizing modern media to promote their messages.
Carla Hill, senior director of investigative research for the U.S.-based Center for Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, which has been monitoring the group, said although it is run by a small number of people, the group has thousands of supporters around the world. She said the fact that antisemitic videos were now being posted about Canada on its channel meant they had active supporters in this country.
Montreal MP Anthony Housefather said he was concerned the group is making inroads in Canada.
“This is a group I have certainly heard about. It promotes hate, spreads conspiracy theories blaming Jews for multiple things and wants Jews to be expelled from America. They have been active in the U.S. for a number of years but I’m very disturbed to see that they are starting activities in Canada,” he said.
Dan Panneton, director of Allyship and Community Engagement, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the Goyim Defence League encouraged their audience to spread their leaflets and it was a matter of concern that individual Canadians were consuming and then deciding to spread American neo-Nazi propaganda.
“The bigger problem is the growing presence of far-right Canadian groups and networks that don’t need the GDL’s encouragement,” he added.