- Adrien Arcand
Adrien Arcand (1899 –
August 2 ,1967 ), was a Montrealjournalist who led a series of fascist political movements between 1929 until his death in 1967. During his political career he proclaimed himself the "Canadianführer ".Biography
Arcand published and edited several
anti-Semitic newspapers during this period, most notably "Le Goglu", "Le Miroir", "Le Chameau", "Le Fasciste Canadien" and "Le Combat National". He received covert funds from the leader of the Canadian Conservative PartyRichard Bedford Bennett (who wasPrime Minister of Canada from 1930 to 1935, seeR. B. Bennett#Controversy ) to operate his newspapers and propagateanti-Semitism .In 1934, he established the
Parti national social chrétien (National Social Christian Party), which advocatedanti-communism and the deportation of CanadianJew s toHudson Bay , an idea that was inspired by his friend, noted BritishRhodesia n fascistHenry Hamilton Beamish , who suggested sending the Jews toMadagascar . Even then, Bennett secretly hired Arcand as his chief electoral organizer in Quebec for the 1935 federal election.In 1938, Arcand was chosen leader of the federalist/fascist National Unity Party of Canada, born of the fusion of his Parti National Social Chrétien with the Prairie Provinces’ Canadian Nationalist Party and Ontario’s Nationalist Party, which itself grew out of the Toronto Swastika Clubs of the early thirties.
Arcand was always a staunch federalist and an
anglophile . He received secret funds fromLord Sydenham of Combe , former governor ofBombay and a prominent fascist sympathizer in the British Conservative Party. He also maintained correspondence withArnold Spencer Leese , chief of TheImperial Fascist League . Arcand’s party statutes called for the following oath to be taken at the beginning of every party meeting::"Moved by the unshakable faith in God, a profound love for Canada, ardent sentiments of patriotism and nationalism, a complete loyalty and devotion toward our Gracious Sovereign who forms the recognized principle of active authority, a complete respect for the British North America Act, for the maintenance of order, for national prosperity, for national unity, for national honour, for the progress and the happiness of a greater Canada, I pledge solemnly and explicitly to serve my party. I pledge myself to propagate the principles of its program. I pledge myself to follow its regulation. I pledge myself to obey my leaders. Hail the party! Hail our Leader!"Frederick EDWARDS. « Fascism in Canada », Maclean’s Magazine, 15 April 1938, p. 66.]
Arcand always was steadfastly opposed to
Quebec nationalism . He wanted to build a powerful centralized Canadian Fascist state within the British Commonwealth.:"… Arcand insists that his organisation has no sympathy with the extreme French nationalist movement represented by the group which split from Premier Duplessis after he was returned to power because he would not go all the way they wished. "We were the first in Quebec to fight Separatism," Arcand declared, "and we are carrying on that fight very satisfactorily, swallowing many ex-members of that failing movement." Frankly, the National Social Christian Party was aiming for Dominion power, Arcand admitted, describing Dominion power as the real key to the vital problems of this country."
On
May 30 ,1940 , he was arrested inMontreal for "plotting to overthrow the state" and interned for the duration of the war as a security threat. His party, then called the National Unity Party, was banned. In theinternment camp , he sat on a throne built by other prisoners and spoke of how he would rule Canada when Hitler conquered it. [This story is told in "Dangerous Patriots: Canada's Unknown Prisoners of War", by William Repka and Kathleen Repka, New Star Books, Vancouver, 1982 (ISBN 0-919573-06-1 or ISBN 0-919573-07-X), in the section by Charlie Murray, who was imprisoned with him for being a union organizer.]Arcand ran for the
Canadian House of Commons on two occasions. Despite being shunned by mainstream Quebecers in the post-war years, he managed to come in second with 29 per cent of the vote when he ran as a National Unity candidate in the riding ofRichelieu—Verchères in the 1949 federal election [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=608] . He came in second again with 39 per cent of the vote when he ran as a "Nationalist" inBerthier—Maskinongé—delanaudière in the 1953 election. [ [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=49 House of Commons website] ]Arcand never wavered in his belief in
Adolf Hitler , and, in the 1960s, was amentor toErnst Zündel , who became a prominent Holocaust denier andneo-Nazi propagandist in the latter part of the 20th century.On
November 14 ,1965 , he gave a speech before a crowd of 900 partisans from all over Canada at the Centre Paul-Sauvé inMontreal . As reported in "La Presse " and "Le Devoir ", he took the occasion to thank the newly-elected LiberalMember of Parliament for Mount Royal,Pierre Trudeau , and former Conservative leader George Drew, for speaking in his defence when he was interned. However, both Trudeau and Drew denied that they had ever defended Arcand, or his views, and insisted that they had in fact been defending the principle of free speech even for fascists. Trudeau also denied later rumours - for which no evidence has been uncovered - that he and Arcand had once been members together of a secretRosicrucian Order.References
ee also
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Fascism in Canada
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