Neo-Nazi group offers rent incentive to Calgary recruits
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | 11:44 AM MT
CBC News
The mayor of Calgary says an internet offer by a white supremacist group to help pay the rent of new members willing to relocate to the city is "distasteful."
Under a posting titled "White Nationlist Relocation Program — Destination Calgary" on an online forum earlier this month, a member of Calgary's neo-Nazi Aryan Guard invited people to move to the city.
"The Aryan Guard is always seeking new brothers and sisters, if you are interested in relocating to our Calgary area, we will pay the damage deposit for your residence," wrote someone nicknamed "pitbull-A.G." on stormfront.org, a forum that promotes "white pride worldwide."
"We believe that through fortifying our current locations with more White Nationlists we can spread the world more efficiently and than in the future branch out further throughout Canada."
The neo-Nazi group claims to have about 20 members.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said the offer shows the group has little support in the city.
"This is certainly something that we don't support. This is, I think, the wrong move, of trying to take a supremacist organization and trying to encourage people, with money, to join their organization," he said on Monday. "I find it distasteful actually."
Some posters have replied with inquiries about what the job market is like in Alberta.
A man from London, Ont., wrote: "This announcement pleases me. This is exactly one of the things we ought to be doing. We should start doing this in London too. The government can't do a thing to us just for helping other Whites settle in our cities. Whether it's helping them find a place to stay or find a job, all perfectly legal."
A study by Statistics Canada released in June showed Calgary had the highest rate of hate-motivated crime in the country. In 2006, 92 hate crimes were reported in the city — about nine incidents for every 100,000 people in the city, or three times higher than the national average of three per 100,000.
