The Winnipeg Sun from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • 7

THE WINNIPEG SUN Saturday September' '1992 HATE pj) lift er at the time a remarkable admission of how right wing hate groups work "One language English" was the Hank rallying cry in the west a frightening echo of grassroots protests today The Han mobilized opposition to bilingual education In the schools and against "giving French language equal in the federal civic service These policies made the Han a natural ally of the provincial Conservative party "Every organizer in (the Han) Is a Tory It costs over a thousand a week to pay boasted Walter Cowan Klan treasurer and a leading Regina Tory who would go out to sit In the House of Commons for five years as a Tory MR With the Hank help the Saskatchewan Tbrics were able to topple the ruling Liberal government in 1929 and bring In a series of anti-French policies advocated by the Han Supported Tory In Alberta it was much the same story In 1930 the Klan actively supported the bid by Tory Ambrose Bury to win the federal scat in East Edmonton and celebrated his victory with a cross burning Over 50 towns In the province had "Haverns" or chapters The Klan circulated a petition to protest the "promiscuous use of French on the In British Columbia the Klan claimed 13000 members Including 8000 in Vancouver alone Favorite targets there were the Chinese and Asian Immigrants with calls for "the removal of all Orientals from The Canadian Han withered away In the 1930s racked by internal struggles and scandals In any event mainstream governments were already enacting the anti-French and anti-immigrant policies the Han had advocated But for a stormy dccado fiery crosses did dot the prairie sky Who is to say it cant happen again? Julian Sker is the author of WHITE HOODS: KU KLUX KLAN published by New Star Book! By JULIAN SHER Special to The Winnipeg Sun In 1922 ten students lost their lives when fire swept through St Boniface College in Winnipeg It was one of several blazes at Catholic institutions across Canada and in each case tho Ku Klux Han sent a warning beforehand Police dismissed the warnings as a crank and never uncovered any proof of Han involvement But the flames of hatred tinned by the KKK did sweep across western Canada in the 1920s And Manitobans who dismiss the activities of the Han today as tho foolish-neaaf a few cranks would do well to remember those years The Han boasted tens of thousands of members In the west enjoyed close tics with leading politicians and campaigned effectively against a vulnerable minority: French Canadian Catholics In 1924 an American organizer 8 remised Wlnnlpcggcrs that "the sheeted gurcs of loyal subjects of the Invisible Empire (of the KKK) will ride at night and sweep the province of "undesirable Condemned bilingualism Klan rallies were held in the Royal Templars Hall on Young Street in Winnipeg in VIrden and in St Boniface The Winnipeg Han passed a resolution condemning bilingualism an easy scapegoat then as today Fortunately though the Han In Manitoba never amounted to much But in neighbouring Saskatchewan the Han became a powerhouse Newspapers at the time estimated Han membership In that province at between 40000 and 50000 during the 1920s The made-ln-Canada Klan had 125 chapters The tiny community of Woodrow reportedly had 153 members out of a total population of 218! Thousands of people attended public cross-burnings in Regina and other cities The Hank remarkable success was the minority and immigrants "Whatever we result of its ability to tin and feed off tho found that (people) could be taught to hale widespread prejudices against the French and fear we fed said one Han lead Self-described Nazi lived life of drugs violence jails Mike Panniter shouts to his fiancee to get the "box with while he talks to a reporter on the phone from his Montreal home "I dont like to throw away he says perusing the papers Hell looking for a recruitment poster he used when he led ARM Aryan Resistance Movement in Montreal about a year ago Instead he finds a Winnipeg Sun article on the arrests of two Hansmen One of the accused is his friend "Me and Bill (Harcus) are like he says with as much sentimentality his gruff voice can muster "When I was doing time he wrote me a letter and came to visit me When in a strange prison and you know anybody Itk nice to get a letter" Just released from Jail Fid as he Is often called is a 27-year-old self-described Nazi skinhead Who'S been In and out of prisons including Hcadingley for assault and one of his former roommates refers to that visit "I am finally working at Metiers Shoe Repair the same Mciz-ers we went to the night you guys were Wayne Koch writes "I am also sending you a collage of Hitlers I made a few years ago and a bunch of stickers and some KKK papers few Koch also designed the cover a picture of Hitler In the middle of a Manitoba ma? for a white supremacist publication Harcus and his roommate were planning "Harcus was more into it (the movement) than anybody else Koch says Parmitcr says Harcus kept in touch sending him a letter while he was on Parmitcr who refuted to say whether he was alluding to being In jail says he hasn't talked to his friend since last till when he called to tell Harcus he was again being sentenced "I was Just imagining him shaking his head I told him about my little drug (habit) he chuckles adding he been clean for He was just released in May from a Quebec jail after serving time for threatening to kill assault with a weapon and theft He was only protecting his home from a prowler he explains "I cracked him with a baseball bat some scummy punk I embarrassed the guy and took his boots and made him walk home he says explaining the theft He recalls a fight that landed him In Headingley just as vividly "We go to this party This big colored guy comes up to me and spits on me "Brett was drunk and I was drunk and I hit someone with a beer Brett Is Brett Hayes a former neo-Nazi skinhead who did an about-face last year and now heads an anti-racist group in Parmitcr recruited Hayes into the movement "I met Brett In Vancouver he was a scummy punk I helped him out when he was panhandling I would bring him chicken down from my mother The two travelled to Winnipeg together in the lato and eventually teamed up with Harcus Hayes says: "My girlfriend saw Harcus handing out pamphlets about white power and told him to come and meet me because I was Into the same thing "And I guess we became SS Action Group Harcus was also in contact with skinheads In the UB at the time Including the Northern Hammcrsklns and the SS Action Group In Michigan Hayes says A letter written by a former SS Action Group member to Harcus MIKE PARMITER: Assaults months He tried calling Harcus recently but the "number was.