Students For Western Civilization: Trolls, But Still Interesting (Part II)

In late November we published an article about a group trying to establish itself in a number of Canadian and American universities and colleges. While Students For Western Civilization may or may not be a hoax, we still consider the topic to be of some interest in that some previously unnamed individuals who we've been looking at for a few years have popped up in relation to the group.

When VICE published an article on this movement back in September, we began to focus on some of the people who were posting in the comments section. Two in particular jumped out at us:

April Legal Notes

This really isn't in any way intended to be a comprehensive article. We just thought we would share some information on the legal front.

First, the deadline for Marc Lemire to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court (re: the Federal Court of Appeal's decision) was on April 1. However, word is that he hasn't filed anything and that it appears that he has given up. We suppose he may have forgotten as he has been busy live blogging the most recent Free Dominion defamation suit. On that case we also see that Paulie is shilling but he received a response from one of his Facebook friends who we have discussed in previous posts which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement:

On the same day, Toronto nutter Eric Brazau was convicted for wilfully promoting hatred and for harassing a Muslim family. He was sentenced to 9 months, however as he spent 9 months in pre-trial custody he was ultimately sentenced to time served. In order to protect Brazau's right to free expression the judge refused to ban him from distributing flyers, so we might not be too surprised if we find that him in the news again for similar reasons. We perhaps shouldn't be surprised either that when Brazau was arrested, Ron Banerjee was his wingman.

We also received notice concerning another appeal that is going ahead. Terry Tremaine's appeal is to be heard on May 28 in Regina at the Court House on Victoria Avenue. We actually haven't heard much from Tremaine in a while, and we can't say that we are all that disappointed by this fact.

Finally, two quick updates on Arthur Topham from the horse's mouth.... so to speak:

Topham followed his post on April 8 with the one below posted yesterday:

So we guess we'll find out in 5 days or so?

"Calgary Sun" Supports Scherger Being Fired

We posted a link to an article regarding the firing of Rene Scherger, a City of Calgary worker who was responsible for a number of rabid anti-Semitic websites, last week. We also mentioned that he had originally been outed by three conservative blogs.

Yesterday, the "Calgary Sun" which leans just a wee bit towards the conservative side of the political spectrum chimed in supporting the firing of Mr. Scherger:

City right to fire bigot

Last Updated: March 17, 2010 10:18pm

He’s right, there is a conspiracy — a conspiracy to keep venomous bigots from being paid on the public dime.

And so a Parks Department foreman finds himself looking for work after being fired by the City of Calgary for planting seeds of a different sort in his spare time — namely the seeds of hate.

The 56-year-old foreman is accused by the city of running an anti-Jewish website and affiliating himself with other anti-Semitic sites, all while clearly identifying himself as a city employee.

A letter, purported to be the official letter of termination given to the foreman last month, reads “You were the owner and creator of an anti-Semitic website in the public domain.”

It goes on to say, “The content (including linked content) on these websites was abhorrent and contrary to the values the City promotes.”

City sources confirm the man was fired following an investigation by the city’s legal department into websites directly linked to the employee, which railed against Judaism and Zionism.

Officially, being a personnel matter, the city can only say an investigation of some sort took place and the matter was dealt with.

“An issue was brought to our attention that we took very seriously,” said Anne Charlton, director of parks.

“It was a matter of an employee-employer relationship and we have dealt with the issue.”

The termination letter offers more clues as to the city’s case against the foreman, which was put together under the guidance of the city’s top solicitor, Paul Tolley.

Tolley was placed on the case in January, after an anti-racist blog exposed the employee and his handiwork, describing him as the “Canadian Jew Hating Freak of the Day.”

It took a matter of weeks to decide the foreman must be fired.

The termination letter explains to the former employee, whom the Sun has chosen not to name, exactly why a pink slip was included with his final paycheque.

“Your conduct was harmful to interests of the City and incompatible with your duties as a City employee and public servant,” it reads.

“Amongst other things, the City has an obligation to provide a workplace and services to the public free of discrimination. It can not knowingly employ someone who has repeatedly published anti-Semitic material.”

The sites in question, once open to the public, are now restricted or shut down — suffice to say, they were filled with bile for all things Jewish, and their disappearance is a victory for all but a narrow-minded few.

Still, the Internet is rife with the kind of racist vitriol that would make a sewer feel dirty — the discovery of another stash of hatred is no big surprise.

Where the city foreman really messed up is to boast about his job in the public service, while promoting intolerance based on race and religion.

Obviously, it wasn’t a very bright thing to do. It’s a decision that cost the parks worker a career spanning more than three decades, and while he’s become something of a folk-hero among white power groups littering the Internet, that won’t pay his rent.

The former foreman wouldn’t speak to the Sun Wednesday, but has in the past denied ownership of at least one of the blogs written under his name.

He did have noted Caucasian-purist Paul Fromm call in his stead — an interesting choice, given Fromm’s association with the white power movement.

Fromm, the head of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, calls the firing by a blow to free speech.

“I think it’s atrocious — he expressed his views on his own time,” said Fromm.

“If he doesn’t have the right to his non-violent political views and at the same time have a job, I think a lot of people are in peril.”

If that means firing people who promote hatred while collecting a public paycheque, it’s the kind of peril the City of Calgary should promote.

michael.platt@sunmedia.ca

We never took a position on whether we believed Scherger should have been fired, but we're not about to cry crocodile tears that he has been removed from his job.

UPDATE: It's the "Calgary Sun" and not the "Calgary Herald." Stupid and careless mistake.

Rene Scherger Fired

A few months ago we sent out unexpected kuddos to bloggers with whom we often find ourselves in stark disagreement with. Those bloggers managed to "out" a City of Calgary worker who was posting pretty nasty anti-Semitic rants on his blog and on other websites.

Well, Paulie just dropped in to Stormfront to let people know there was yet another martyr for the cause:


Now, we aren't the "anti-racists" Paulie is referring to in this particular case. As we mentioned before, we were beaten to the punch by Jay Currie (who, as it turns out, seems to actually be a pretty decent photographer), Blazing Cat Fur (or Mr. Kathy Shaidle), and Sassy Wire. And what does Paulie think of these three radicals?


Ironic, no?

Kevin Goudreau Is Delusional Part 102,091,199,347,162,830

Oh, Kevin. You are the gift that keeps on giving.

Not long ago Kevin Goudreau responded to our most recent article in which we featured him. Suffice it to say, nothing in the article was complimentary. However that seems to have been part of Goudreau's master plan:


Right Kevin. We're the idiots.

Does Kevin remind anyone else of the kid back in school who, trying to impress his class mates with some hair brained stunt, completely screws it up, falls flat on his face, then leaps up bleeding and says, "Ya, well, I meant to do that okay!" The reality is he's not very happy about us:


Problem for him is that we're merely quoting him, so if there are lies being told, he's the one telling them. No matter.

Well Kevin has been a busy, busy beaver since re-establishing his Facebook profile after being deleted for the 18th time. Kevin discovered how to post videos on Facebook and YouTube:


While the videos Goudreau created on his Facebook profile (one of which he uploaded 14 times) were lost when he had to recreate his profile for a 19th time (we have to say he's sure persistent) we managed to save them for our readers to bask in the lunacy that is Kevin Goudreau:





These videos are all a part of an effort by Goudreau to present himself and his "group" as a significant player in the Canadian racist movement. In fact, he goes as far as to claim that his "White Nationalist Front" is the largest such group in Canada (though we all really know he's the only member):


He's even stepping in to claim that the White Pride March in Calgary is not only going to be held, despite the collapse of the Aryan Guard (which still exists in remnant form as of right now) and significant trouble within W.E.B., but he will be the keynote speaker featured at the march. However, others are somewhat dubious about his claims:

The last comment was made by an out on bail John Marleau (bon89 is the username he utilizes on Stormfront) echoing a statement concerning the march he made earlier.

In fact Goudreau is rather infamous for similar lofty plans that don't amount to anything other than empty rhetoric. Last year he was planning on a big WN concert in Ottawa. He even contacted some WN and NSBM bands. But that was it. The bands he contacted were left hanging (no tears from us, mind you) and he blamed them for the failure to get a concert going. It seems that Goudreau feels he only needs to say he's planning something for it to actually happen.

It looks like even the racists are sick of Goudreau's schtick. In fact they're willing to publicly humiliate him to get their point across that Kevin Goudreau is a wingnut. To do so some are going back. Way back. Back almost two decades.

Back in 1993 or 1994, Kevin Goudreau (then 18) was a big talker who seemed to have gotten on the bad side of some neo-Nazis. Goudreau claimed he stood up against 15 Hammerskins. Others laugh at the claim. However the results of the encounter were not at all pretty. Want to know what Goudreau's nose is a bit crooked?


Ouch. Seems that he came out second best in that fight. We certainly don't sanction violence, even against the likes of Goudreau, but this picture does serve to illustrate a point we've made here on a number of occasions. If you run with racist gangs, you're far more likely to be the victim of violence perpetrated by fellow gang members than you are the average person of color that you'll ever meet or any anti-racist. In fact the racist movement is soaked in violence. Also illustrative is the reaction of Goudreau's fellow travelers:

Kevin. Baby. A little friendly suggestion.

You might want to consider a less violent group of people to hang around with.

Unexpected Kudos to Blazing Cat Fur, Sassy Wire and Friend of the Blog Jay Currie

We know! We're as surprised as anyone, but we have to give genuine credit where credit is justifiably and deservedly due.

We here at the ARC Collective make a point of exposing racists to public scrutiny. And we like to think that we're pretty damn good at it. We figure out who the racists are are and, if it is warranted based on their behavior (i.e. racist marches, flyering university campus' with hate propaganda, running racist and antisemitic websites and blogs, committing acts of violence, etc), we let the public know who they are, what they believe, and why people should care. Certainly even racists have the right to be racists (unless they're in violation of the criminal code or, and it will hopefully be determined one way or the other soon, in contravention of sec. 13 of the Human Rights Act) but as we believe the public has a right to be informed, we exercise our free speech rights as well.

Sometimes, we get scooped. Usually it's by Dr. Dawg or M.J. Murphy, but in this case, and we're almost embarassed to admit it, we were scooped by not one, not two, but three conservative blogs.

Earlier this month, Sassy Wire ran a story concerning a Rene Scherger, a Calgary city foreman with Parks and Recreation. Scherger once operated a virulently antisemitic blog containing links to other equally hateful websites. And Sassy Wire managed to track Scherger down, identify him, and publish why people should care. The article resulted in a number of comments, including some by a woman who seems to be a bit off her kilter who defended Scherger and made some pretty outlandish accusations which Sassy Wire addresses.

Now, Sassy Wire managed to do something that we here at the Collective have only rarely managed to do. Sassy Wire caught the attention of the mainstream media who proceeded to publish a story based on the original blog post:

City investigates anti-Semitic blog
By MICHAEL PLATT, Calgary Sun
Last Updated: 12th January 2010, 9:44am

The blogs are filled with venom and scorn for the Jewish religion. That much is obvious.
What isn’t so cut-and-dry is whether the alleged owner of the websites, a City of Calgary employee, can be punished for poisonous posts targeting Judaism and Zionism.

A full investigation of the employee, a 56-year-old foreman with Parks and Recreation, was launched Monday after the existence of at least two anti-Jewish blogs, both linked to the man, was revealed to city officials.

Described by one online watchdog as “one of the most twisted blogs you’ll ever see,” the sites both contain stories and articles targeting members of the Jewish religion, as well as anti-Jewish artwork.

The city is taking the matter very seriously, especially as one of the blogs and a Facebook site under the same name lists the City of Calgary and the Parks department as the man’s employer, for more than 30 years.

City officials confirm there is a foreman with Parks of the same name, and as a result, the city’s top lawyer has launched an investigation.

“We just became aware of the issue, so we are doing our investigation to determine an appropriate response — we need to determine a few facts, and then we can respond to this,” said City Solicitor Paul Tolley.

That the websites in question aren’t directly connected to the City of Calgary doesn’t necessarily protect the employee, whom the Sun has chosen not to name for now.

The city’s code of conduct for staff can include behaviour and actions outside of work hours, said Tolley.

“Sometimes the actions of an employee outside of the workplace can impact on their employment with the city and that’s something we’ll have to investigate,” said Tolley.

Given that the blogs in question contain vitriol towards Jews, Tolley acknowledges that a key question maybe the alleged owner’s role as a foreman, supervising people of all races and religions.

“That would be part of it, overall, but I can’t really say much about it, because I don’t want to compromise the investigation,” said Tolley.

The sites, updated as recently as August, came to the attention of the city and this newspaper after being highlighted on a separate, anti-racism blogsite, under the heading “Canadian Jew Hating Freak of the Day”.

The keeper of that blog included a warning to Calgarians: “FYI to all – If you live in Calgary you should know that you’re paying this guy’s salary. He works for the city in the parks and rec. dept. as a foreman.”

The websites connected to the anti-Jew blogs are a maze of links, containing conspiracy theories and essays aimed mainly at the Jewish religion, which is condemned as racist, power-hungry and corrupt.

It doesn’t appear the alleged owner of the blogs actually writes the material, though anti-Jewish words apparently penned by the same man can be found on plenty of online comment forums, under the same unique user handle.

As well, his Facebook page connects to one of the anti-Jewish blogs, where he is listed as owner.
Still, when contacted through an email address listed on one of the anti-Jewish blogs, the man denied running the website.

“What investigation? I went to the site and it is not my blogsite,” he wrote back.

The man did acknowledge a connection to the anti-Jewish site, but failed to explain why he was named as owner, complete with his age, occupation and profile picture.

“I am a follower as I am of many blogs, forums, websites and social sites,” he wrote.

And so the city, deserving of praise for launching an immediate investigation, will be forced to untangle the online mess.

The local Jewish community is taking a wait-and-see stance over the alleged connection to the City of Calgary, though leaders with the community wasted no time condemning the blogs.

“The places where the links take you are appalling and unfortunately, like many other inventions which benefit mankind, the web can be used for negative purposes,” said Calgary Jewish Community spokesman Adam Singer.

“There are parts of the web which have become a cesspool.”

While we do think that calling Sassy Wire an, "anti-racist website" might be a bit of a stretch (an anti-racist would be well aware of what has been happening in Calgary for some time), we admit that the person running it did do some solid investigative work.

Later, Blazing Cat Fur (BCF) of, "married to Kathy Shaidle" fame picked up the Sassy Wire blog posts which resulted in the following two comments:

Josephine: This is beyond disgusting

BCF: I agree, glad we can publicize him;)

BCF later adds while comenting on another blog post on the same subject:

I'm inclined to agree Rabbit, I doubt they would or should have any jurisdiction. If he has committed a criminal act that may be another matter. I think the public scorn should be sufficient punishment.

Finally, BCL's regulars kindly posted a number of links connected to Scherger.

To add insult to our humiliation over being scooped, friend of the blog Jay Currie (point of fact is, we actually don't thik that he likes us ver much) continued to discuss the story, adding a barb at ARC's expense. When he discussed the importance of making Scherger's name public, Jay Currie provided the following explanation:

Point and shun seems about right to me. Being a moron, even an anti-semitic moron, should not be, in itself, a firing offence. However, this guy is apparently a foreman and, as such exercises control over others. Some of whom may be Jews. Then his views might well be relevant to job performance.

Not all were in agreement though. Louise of "The Stubble Jumping Redneck" offered this dissenting view:

I’m afraid I have to disagree. He should be fired. The City of Calgary also has a reputation to protect. Keeping him on implies they have no problem with this kind of screwball thinking and it makes them complicit. I’m sure they have some sort of code of conduct governing their employees and after all, it’s the Calgary taxpayer that is paying his wages.

Now, point of fact is that we at the ARC Collective were aware of who Rene Scherger was and is (oh, he's another friend of Paul Fromm by the way). We were in the process of gathering information about him, but we had put him on the back burner as we were busy with other matters at the time. We were unaware of the blogs he operated or the other sites he was involved with and had we known we would have bumped him up on the list of things to do. However, we dropped the ball on this particular story.

Thankfully, and even though we will disagree on almost every other issue, at least on this topic Sasy Wire, BCF and Jay Currie picked up that ball and ran with it. We know that none of them will care that we want to give them credit, but in the spirit of not being partisan we feel that we have to recognize their efforts in this case.

Well done. You deserve the credit that you've earned through your work on this issue.