CALGARY — Questions are being raised after the CBC and political commentator Rachel Gilmore published articles on Canada’s “active club” movement on the same day, with both stories citing the involvement of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) and one drawing on an internal Public Safety Canada brief that has not yet been publicly released.On March 3, CBC published a story by Eric Szeto that described “white nationalist fight clubs,” citing an internal Public Safety Canada brief warning that the movement poses a risk of “extreme violence” in Canada.That same day, Gilmore published an article in The Tyee focusing on an active club in Montreal involving individuals tied to Second Sons Canada — a group that in the past has been accused of being “ethno-nationalists” and “neo-Nazis.”Alexander Vriend, vice-president of Second Sons, says the timing of the articles and the limited public release of the government brief raise questions about how the story was developed and who had access to the information.“I think the intention behind it was specifically only to give it to certain actors so that they could create the narrative that they wanted,” Vriend told the Western Standard, noting the CBC article said the outlet obtained the brief but did not specify how.The CBC article stated that Public Safety Canada shared the brief with all levels of government and law enforcement and that it was prepared by the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence.The report is said to call the active clubs “ideologically motivated violent extremism that rationalizes violence against Jewish, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ people.”.'INDIAN TRUCKS KILL CANUCKS': Nationalist group protests Canada’s trucking safety crisis.The piece also quoted CAHN executive director Evan Balgord, who said the report should prompt government action.“White nationalism is the biggest threat it’s ever been,” Balgord said.CAHN describes itself as an organization that monitors and counters hate groups across Canada.However, a 2022 Ontario court decision in a libel suit involving journalist Jonathan Kay spotlighted the organization’s connections to Antifa.Wiretap Media has reported that CAHN has received more than $900,000 in federal funding since 2020, including a $200,000 grant in October 2025 from Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund, administered through the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence.“You’re seeing all of these hate researchers combining into one big network,” Vriend said, suggesting the timing of the recent reporting could help create a call for additional funding.“I think part of that is because the funding for anti-hate initiatives isn’t what it used to be… Part of what they’re doing right now is trying to create a mandate and justification for additional funding for these groups.”The Second Sons vice-president said he believes the federal government or its partners selectively provided a summary of the report to outlets and researchers likely to reinforce a particular narrative..He pointed to a March 4 video posted to social media by Gilmore, which shows the front cover of the report as well as select pages.Second Sons was able to piece together portions of the briefing using screenshots appearing in the video posted by Gilmore on X.Those excerpts appear to come from a document titled Canada’s Active Clubs and Second Sons.In the sections reviewed by the Western Standard, the report states that “active clubs represent a threat which is difficult to accurately assess.”.“While many active club chapters do not publicly advocate for terrorism or the use of deadly force, they present insular communities in which there is extreme hateful rhetoric, exclusionary conspiracism and the celebration of violence towards others — particularly towards marginalized groups of people.”Another section of the briefing notes that “primary material sources are not included” and that the document instead links to publicly available reporting which “may contain similar subject matter.”Vriend argues this suggests the report may rely heavily on previously published media coverage rather than court records, police investigations or other primary evidence.“They’re not quoting court dockets, they’re not quoting police investigations,” he said..Vriend disputed both the characterization of Second Sons as well as the way the report has been summarized, saying some of the language the media articles has been cherrypicked.He pointed to one passage stating that “while most active club representatives have not been directly linked to coordinated attacks, the use of intimidation, street violence, doxing and calls to prepare for armed violent conflict, for example a race war, could create a risk for more extreme violence.”“[CBC] quoted a total of nine words from the briefing,” he said, referring to phrases such as “extreme violence.”“[The report excerpt says] we're not advocating violence… no active clubs advocate for the use of violence. The whole point of them is to provide productive outlets for the dissatisfaction that men have with the current state of society, and we do not engage in violent behaviour because that doesn’t benefit us," Vriend said. .Gilmore’s article in The Tyee focused on Frontenac Active Club, which reportedly operated out of Alpha Athletika gym in Montreal’s Saint-Léonard neighbourhood.One individual identified in the Tyee article as a member of the group was former Canadian Olympian bobsledder Giulio Zardo, who had been working at the gym as a boxing coach.Vriend told the Western Standard that Zardo has no criminal record and no known history of violence.“He’s an Olympic athlete. There’s no criminal record, no history of violence or anything like that," he said..According to Vriend, Zardo lost his coaching job at the gym after being identified in the article.Supporters of Zardo have since launched a GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign, which Vriend says has raised roughly $20,000 so far.Additional questions have also been raised about how some of the identities connected to the Frontenac Active Club were obtained and reported on by Gilmore.In a March 4 op-ed published by Free Speech Watch, it claimed Gilmore acknowledged working with “government sources” who allegedly provided her with information about private Canadian citizens that was later used in reporting identifying individuals connected to the club.Gilmore’s article and subsequent related videos also cited CAHN’s Elizabeth Simons, whom Gilmore referred to as her “friend.”In a March 3 video posted to X in conjunction with her Tyee article, Gilmore credited Simons with helping to “unmask the identity” of Zardo..Vriend has alleged the Public Safety report may be part of a broader effort to eventually designate groups like Second Sons as terrorist organizations.He pointed to developments in Australia where authorities have moved against similar organizations under new laws and said he believes Canada could be moving in a similar direction.“If they can’t label us terrorists because we don’t meet that threshold, they’ll create another category and ban us anyway,” he said.When asked why he believes CBC, CAHN and Public Safety continue to focus on his organization, Vriend said authorities have been unable to find any criminal activity.“There are no instances of violence, threats of violence or criminal activity,” Vriend stated.“There's nothing they can point to in our history that would justify that designation.”He added that the attention Second Sons has received has had the opposite effect of what the CBC and CAHN probably want.“Every time CBC writes about us, we get a spike in recruiting to the organization,” he said.When the Western Standard reached out to Gilmore for comment on whether she had been coordinating with CAHN or Public Safety via email Gilmore said, "Why are you, as supposed journalists, reporting on Second Sons Canada’s baseless conspiracy theories?" "That’s the only source for this. Quite the “journalistic” choice!" Gilmore said. The Western Standard has reached out to Public Safety Canada several times for a copy of the brief and has yet to receive an answer as of the time of publication.
