Associate of Soldiers of Odin in Saskatchewan Found Guilty of Uttering Threats Directed at Prime Minister

To be fair, the Saskatchewan Chapter of the SoO is now seemingly defunct, but that is neither here nor there.

Near the beginning of August we reported that Christopher Hayes of Grayson, Saskatchewan had been arrested for uttering threats directed towards Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Christopher was at the time a member of at least one SoO Facebook group:

His brother "MJohn Hayes" was, also at the time, the Oxbow president of the SoO:

Not long after, we posted a few follow-up articles that our readers could view here:

• Soldier of Odin Member Christopher Hayes Update 1
• Soldier of Odin Member Christopher Hayes Update 2

Today, we learned that Christopher Hayes has been found guilty of uttering threats:

Leading up to Hayes' arrest, police received two complaints about posts he had made on Facebook in relation to the prime minister. The RCMP's National Security Enforcement Section investigated the complaints. 

One of the two posts was read out during sentencing in provincial court on Feb. 13.
Hayes was found guilty of uttering threats and faces nine months of probation. Part of the probation stipulates that Hayes is not to attend events where the prime minister is present. 

He is also prohibited from owning or shooting any firearm or crossbow for the next five years, is not allowed to own ammunition or explosives, and is subject to a $500 fine.

Now, while we are pleased that this individual has faced the consequences for his criminal actions, at least to some degree, there are many others who seem to make threats with impunity.

An article came out in the "National Post" noted that other politicians in the country, particularly Rachel Notley, have been facing an almost continuous barrage of threats to kill, rape, or otherwise harm them:

Paulie the Hate Propaganda Mule

Your Ward News has been.... well.... in the news again:

POLICE INVESTIGATE ANTI-SEMITIC PAPER YOUR WARD NEWS – AGAINBy Paul Lungen, Staff Reporter - February 1, 2017 

Toronto police are again investigating Your Ward News for potential hate crimes, but a Thorncliffe Park resident who was one of the first to call on Canada Post to stop delivering the publication doesn’t believe criminal charges will result.
....
Your Ward News, which bills itself as “the world’s largest anti-Marxist publication,” is a bizarre collection of anti-Marxist rants, stream of consciousness rambling, essays linking Jews to Communism, and assorted anti-gay an pro-Nazi articles. The tabloid also employs photographic collages that invariably include Nazi imagery and other photos and articles portraying Jews as evil. The winter cover includes a manipulated image of Jewish financier George Soros, with horns, wearing a tunic emblazoned with the satanic number 666 and the Star of David.

YWN has been a going concern for some time, but particularly since James Sears (aka "Dimitri the Lover")  took over as editor when the rag became an overt vehicle promoting Sears' misogynistic, antisemitic, and racist views.

For example:

The above missive refers to the Liberal government's decision to order Canada Post to stop delivering it to Toronto homes, but creeper Sears has continued publication and has started distribution privately. In the meantime, TWN has lost almost all of its advertisers save those with direct links to Sears and YWN. And of course fellow creeper Paulie has been boosting the rag for some time as well:

On a related note, and once again, ew!

Soldiers of Odin: Infighting, Drug Arrests, Accusations of Corruption

UPDATE: The Alberta chapter of the SoO appears to have defected as well according to an article in the "Edmonton Examiner" dated February 8, 2017.

When we posted our article our article regarding the defection of the entire Saskatchewan Chapter of the Soldiers of Odin from the national and international movement, there was one part of the exchange between the former co-president of the Saskatchewan SoO and another individual who apparently also has some position of leadership within the SoO:

We'll deal with the second portion of the party we highlighted first.

This past October, the former co-president of the Saskatchewan Soldiers of Odin was arrested on drugs and weapons charges:

Resident of Estevan Charged with Multiple Offenses Following Search Warrant

The Estevan Police Service (EPS) has made another significant drug bust in an ongoing effort to keep the city safe. 

On the morning of October 20th, the Estevan Police Service Drug and Intelligence unit performed a search warrant, which lead towards the arrest of a 35 year-old resident of the city of Estevan....."As a result of the search six firearms, a pair of brass knuckles, eight containers of tannerite explosives, approximately 200 rounds of ammunition, 220 grams of marijuana with a street value of $2,200, and six grams of essentially mushrooms, as well as a quantity of cash were seized." added Police Chief Ladouceur.....The Estevan resident was recognized as David Tierney, who is facing one charge of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking; possession of psilocybin; possession of the proceeds of crime; nine counts of possession of firearms and explosives contrary to a court order; two counts of unsafe storage of firearms; and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon.

A rather problematic charge considering the claims that the SoO was established to keep "the streets" safe. One would presumably be justified in asking, "protection from whom?"

But Tierney countered by noting that current BC President and National Sargent-At-Arms of the SoO has his own legal issues to deal with, including a 2011 arrest and subsequent conviction on similar drugs and weapons charges:

Conditional sentence issued for marijuana grow op 

Mark NIELSEN / Prince George Citizen
June 4, 2015 09:43 PM
....
Crown prosecution had been seeking six months in jail for William Coady Daniels, 47, but provincial court Judge Randall Callan agreed with defence lawyer Fred Fatt that a conditional sentence was more appropriate.
....
Daniels was arrested in November 2011 when police seized 203 marijuana plants from a barn on his farm as well 11 baggies, each containing a half pound of marijuana ready to be sold. 

A .22 calibre rifle was found by the front door of Daniels' home and a .45 calibre pistol was found in a safe, both loaded, along with $10,730 in cash. 

But the court also heard Daniels turned to growing marijuana after injuring his hand. Despite eight surgeries, he was unable to regain his fine motor skills and had lost his job as a marine engineer at B.C. Ferries as a result. 

Moreover, Daniels' worker's compensation payment were not enough to cover his mortgage so he was also in danger of losing his farm. Following his arrest, his wife left him.

Soldiers of Odin Collapsing? Entire Saskatchewan Chapter Breaks Away

We've been understandably focused on the tragedy in Quebec City -- an event that we consider to be a terrorist attack in which a white nationalist murdered six Muslim men and wounded several others -- however another interesting event occurred during the past 24 hours that will be of interest to our readers:

It seems that one of the conflicts that has emerged over time is the collecting of dues. The national leadership of the SoO decided that they would start collecting dues from members having never previously done so. These dues are to be submitted to SoO National President Joel Angott. A portion of money collected would then be sent to Mika Ranta in Finland. There's more to this story and we intend on digging into it in more detail, but suffice it to say that this newish rule (we're not certain how recently it was made) was the straw that broke Jörmungandr's back.

We see that Dave Tregget, formerly of the SoO as Quebec chapter president and national vice-president, now leader of another break away faction (along with the former Alberta and New Brunswick provincial SoO leaders) Storm Alliance congratulating the former SoO leadership for this move. On January 1 we published an interview with Mr. Tregget who voiced similar misgivings about the national leadership of the SoO.

The fallout from David Tierney's post announcing he and Travis Stovin, now former co-presidents of the Saskachewan chapter of the SoO, were taking the entire Saskatchewan chapter with them has been a fascinating car wreck and includes posturing and threats of recrimination from current members and leadership in the SoO, especially emanating out of British Columbia which is perhaps the most active chapter in Canada (though Saskatchewan was perhaps a close second):

Shooting at Mosque in Quebec City and Initial Islamophobic Reaction

Here is what is currently known.

The Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec in Quebec City was attacked during evening prayers just before 8:00 pm (the same mosque was also targeted during the summer when a pig's head and anti-Muslim message was left at the building). The shooting took place on the ground level of the mosque where the men prayed while the women were in the level above. At this point we know of six people who have been killed with 19 injured, five critically. One suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, is in custody and has been charged with 6 counts of murder. The second individual who had been named was a witness and not a suspect in the shooting. Bissonnette had contacted police after the shooting to turn himself in; initial reports suggested that there might have been explosives in the vehicle.

Bissonnette is a student at Laval University where his Facebook profile suggested he was studying anthropology though he may have transferred to political science. Also noted were some of the Bissonnette's "liked" pages which included Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Génération Nationale, and Parti Quebecois, though he is also a Katy Perry fan too:

A source close to this writer has found evidence that Bissonnette ran with an alt-right group at Laval University. He was associated with a man named Pascal Mercier-Lévesque who appears to have been a writer for GAUCHEDROITISTAN. The site is conveniently down for maintenance (wonder why?) but the Internet Archives have the site saved.

While apparently a loner who had a difficult adolescence, Bissonnette  was said to be xenophobic, misogynistic, and nationalistic by those who knew hims. He was active on social media and was somewhat of a troll harassing left-wing and progressive groups. One of those groups noted their familiarity with Bissonnette in a recent post:

We'll publish information as it becomes available.

Soon after the shooting took place we decided to check out the reaction to the shooting on the various Facebook groups we monitor. When we took these screen shots we knew a lot less about the incident than we do now, but lot of the folks on these sites seemed to think that the shooters were anti-Muslim.... and are really happy about it and hoped to see more shootings. Others suggested that it was a "false flag" operation to push for (a) gun control (b) legal prohibitions against negative speech about Islam. Others blamed Trudeau (some of whom hoped he would be targeted as well "next time"). And still other suggested sectarian violence, which again they were okay with so long as Muslims are killed.

We begin with the Canadian Anti Islam Force:

A Reader's Comment: Systemic Racism Against First Nations' Peoples

We've been taking a bit of time away from the blog, but we hope to be back soon with a few updates and articles. However, we thought we would share a comment left behind by one of our readers who left the comment on our article, "Jody Issel, Soldiers of Odin Moose Jaw President, Isn't Even Trying Anymore" perhaps responding to a screen shot included in the article in which Michele Tittler take shots at First Nations peoples. We hope that the anonymous poster doesn't mind us doing this, but we really did think that it warranted more eyes that it would have garnered as simple a comment left on an article:

As a political conservative with some First Nations ancestry and many friends (from all political persuasions) from local First Nations communities, I would like to address the canard that First Nations peoples do nothing for this country. Especially since I hear it from wider audiences than just the tiny minority of racists in Canada. 

First, we need to recognize the horrific impact of the Residential School System upon the First Nations family. As Canadians we often point the finger at America over blacks and slavery, but we are just as guilty when it comes to First Nations Peoples and the Residential School System. I dare say the impact of Residential School System among Canada's First Nations was as destructive as slavery among African-Americans in the U.S. 

Second, for generations Canada's First Nations people were not permitted to advance themselves in society. The amount of red tape and bureaucracy they needed to circumvent to establish businesses and engage in other professions was triple that of other people in Canada (whether black, white or Asian). So it's not that they didn't want to do anything for themselves or for Canada. It's that they were actively discouraged from doing so through government policy and bureaucracy that imposed burdens upon First Nations people to which others were not subject. 

An extremely eye-opening example for me is the story of Douglas Cardinal, probably one of Canada's most renown architects who designed the Canadian Museum of History. He is First Nations. Blackfoot, if I recall correctly. I remember watching a documentary on his work and how he was forced to go to Texas to study architecture because no Canadian school would accept him because he was First Nations. Additionally, even after he graduated he found it difficult to find work in Canada because his ideas incorporated First Nations influence. 

I find it appalling that a man who would become one of Canada's greatest architects would be treated in such discriminatory fashion as a young man. To contribute to Canada, he basically had to overcome rejection from every professional school in Canada, go to the United States, earn his degree down there, face more rejection from Canada during the early part of his career while looking for work, and only once his genius was recognized by Americans was he then deemed acceptable to return to Canada. 

I'm sorry, but had I been a young First Nations professional in Mr Cardinal's position I would have given up on Canada after being on the receiving end of such poor (and I would argue racist) treatment. I would have stayed in the United States where my talent and hard work was recognized. How many more young First Nations people did Canada miss out on because they simply gave up after having their dreams crushed, or stayed in the United States where they were treated more fairly? 

I get what you guys at ARC are trying to do in combating racism. And we may sometimes disagree on political issues. But I believe that there is an inherent racism in Canada against First Nations peoples that runs much deeper than the tiny of minority who make up various hate groups.

Not really anything we need to add, is there?

Former SOO Moose Jaw President Jody Issel Throws Some Subtle Shade on National Leaders

That's right, former Soldiers of Odin Moose Jaw president.

More on that later.

It seems that our article on Jody Issel, who at the time of it's publication WAS the president of the Moose Jaw chapter of the Soldiers of Odin, resulted in quite of bit of interest:

It also resulted in some SoO members and leaders deciding to offer their $0.02, though some were a little confused by standard English:

Kazimir is referring to our brief article on Kevin Goudreau that preceded the Issel article. He evidently doesn't understand that this part meant that BEFORE we publish our SoO article we would FIRST publish an (implied unrelated) article on another subject:

We're currently working on collecting information for an article on the Soldiers of Odin in Saskatchewan, specifically the leadership in Moose Jaw and the connection to the neo-Nazi movement in this country and abroad, however we thought we'd share something that came across our desk and caused us to collectively giggle.

But then perhaps we shouldn't be unkind as even the best of us can miss certain nuances of language when reading online article, though we aren't sure what language this person is trying to communicate to us is:

And then there was this person who denied that Issel was even associated with the SoO:

Yeah! How dare we believe our lying eyes!

In any case, when the subject turned to Issel's involvement with the SoO, Mr. Kazimir (who was still confused by the Goudreau post) offered the following excuse which sort of flew in the face of some of his earlier claims:

Well, the truth will out, won't it?

Jody Issel, Soldiers of Odin Moose Jaw President, Isn't Even Trying Anymore

You know, if there's one positive thing about Trump's election is that the racists we've been covering here for years have become refreshingly honest about their views. Take this guy for example:

Now this is admittedly an older photo of Jody Issel, but it does sort of capture a particular moment in time, specifically the time he tried to start up an unauthorized chapter of the Aryan Nations' in Saskatchewan. That effort didn't pan out so well, so he threw in his lot with Kyle McKee and the Aryan Guard in Calgary for a while, attending at least one of their "White Pride Day" marches.

A few months after we reported Issel's efforts to start an Aryan Nations' chapter, he contacted us to first beg, then threaten us, to remove his information. We didn't and we still haven't, but at that time he seems to have recognized that being associated with the racist movement wasn't good for his career prospects.

Over the years we kept an eye on him. He was careful, locking down his Facebook from our prying eyes, but there were still a number of times he forgot himself:

Then when the Soldiers of Odin movement found it's way across the Atlantic, Issel found himself in an interesting position in that he lived in Moose Jaw, the SoO were looking for a Moose Jaw city president, and the SoO doesn't actually seem to vet their members or individuals aspiring to positions of leadership. Thus:

Recently, Issel and his merry band of SoO members (four by all accounts) decided to take a stroll about Moose Jaw (at least long enough to snap some photos) to protect the fine folks of that particular prairie community:

The problem here is who will protect the fine folks of Moose Jaw from the people who claim to want to protect them?

Bill Daniels, SOO Provincial President in BC

It's funny, because although he claimed that he wasn't hiding, at the time Issel posted these messages on his other profile, it was locked up tighter than gnat's chuff.

But things have changed on both of his profiles, although this one is the more interesting of the two right now:

So why does Issel feel more comfortable openly expressing his racism?

Take a wild guess:

The Goudreau is Aggrieved

We're currently working on collecting information for an article on the Soldiers of Odin in Saskatchewan, specifically the leadership in Moose Jaw and the connection to the neo-Nazi movement in this country and abroad, however we thought we'd share something that came across our desk and caused us to collectively giggle.

Last month we reported that Kevin "Not in the Face!" Goudreau found himself in a rather unfortunate altercation that resulted in his arrest.

In addition to posting screen shots of witnesses which were all pretty consistent, we also reached out to the person the Goudreau assaulted:

At the time I posted that [the update on Facebook], he had not been arrested. He came back later in the night, at which point he was arrested. I know he is awaiting trial on December 8th. 

Other than being violent, I found him to be a caricature of something he couldn't possibly be. He tried this staring thing with me. It was pretty funny. It seemed like he thought he was hypnotizing me or something.

No, that doesn't sound at all like the Goudreau, does it?

In any case, the Goudreau (who wasn't active on social media for some time after his arrest) eventually provided his take on the events of the day in question which were TOTALLY believable!

Nice to see Paul Fromm championing someone admitting to an assault

Right.......

Well, only now has the Goudreau gotten around to addressing our article concerning his arrest, posting the following an hour ago:

So, he claims he was assaulted, but then says he's serving a 60 day sentence on weekends

Ohhhhh, a Danier leather jacket! Well that certainly changes everything.

Shall we add this to yet the list of threats the Goudreau has made towards us and others?

Kevin. Baby.

We aren't in the least worried.

Interview With Former Soldiers of Odin National Vice-President Dave Tregget

Last month we published two articles that dealt in part with the direction of the Canadian chapter of the Soldiers of Odin (see here and here). In the CBC article that we quoted in those articles, one of the foci was on the seeming split in the Quebec branch of the group which had been formerly led by Dave Tregget:

But as Tregget was busy building the group's membership he was also running afoul of the national leadership as well as the movement's international leaders in Finland. 

According to his one-time second-in-command, Tregget gave a series of interviews in the fall in which he downplayed the links between the Finnish and Quebec branches of the group. 

He also insisted on patrolling the "political correct" areas of Quebec City, like St-Roch, where the group was less likely to confront the city's immigrant population, said Katy Latulippe, who is now the acting president of Soldiers of Odin-Quebec. 

There are conflicting accounts of what, precisely, happened. Latulippe said Tregget was suspended. Tregget said he quit: "Finished with the racist image of Finland," he later told CBC News in a Facebook message. 

Regardless of the details, what is clear is that with Tregget out, and Latulippe in, the group's Quebec chapter will undergo a reorientation....."Dave avoided that, on patrols, we go into areas where there are a lot of Muslims or Islamization," she said during a recent phone conversation.

Tregget had also been the SoO national chapter's vice-president prior to his depatrure. That fact however did not insulate him, nor some of the other former SoO members who left the group, from being labeled as traitors. Among the others who left the SoO are William Crotty who had been the president of the Alberta chapter (and who is the "William" mentioned in the Vice exposé published last April) and Colin Oleary who was a leader in New Brunswick. Depending upon whom one wishes to believe, Tregget either resigned from the SoO or was suspended.

After reading the CBC article and on a bit of a whim, I decided to contact Tregget to see if Anti-Racist Canada could get his side of the story regarding the reasons for his departure from the SOO, though if I'm honest I didn't expect him to respond to my query. Much to my surprise, he did respond and further agreed to an on the record interview to offer his side of the story concerning his exit from the SoO.

What follows is a brief interview with the former Quebec chapter president and national vice-president of the Soldiers of Odin in Canada. I will add that French is Tregget's first language so please forgive any communication issues that may result: