Hamilton police accused of political interference over Dominion Society conference

CALGARY — On the eve of the Dominion Society of Canada’s nationalist conference in Hamilton, Ontario, local police are facing accusations of political interference after releasing an announcement asking venues in the city to report any new bookings for the convention after its original venue backed out.The Dominion Society says it has sold out its DomCon 2026 conference, which will proceed at an undisclosed location on Saturday, despite opposition from Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath and groups such as B’nai Brith Canada, which have accused the organization of racism and extremism..On Thursday, the Hamilton Police Service (HPS) issued a public service announcement saying the Dominion Society was continuing to seek venues in the city despite previously indicating DomCon would be moved elsewhere.“An alternate booking had been secured at another local venue but was cancelled by the venue earlier this morning. Hamilton Police continue to encourage venues to consider the impact this event and its messaging may have on the broader community when making decisions about hosting it,” the statement reads.“The messaging associated with DomCon is divisive and exclusionary and can negatively impact the sense of safety and belonging within our community. We have heard those concerns from members of the community and take them seriously.”.Dominion Society marches ahead with nationalist conference despite Hamilton mayor’s opposition, political pressure.Police also stated that they would continue to work with local partners and had “developed an operational plan” to make sure “appropriate resources are in place should the event proceed in Hamilton.”Dominion Society founder Daniel Tyrie told the Western Standard that his organization had secured another venue for the conference and that it would go ahead as planned, but he declined to disclose the location or number of tickets sold, citing concerns over further outside interference.“DomCon will not be cancelled,” Tyrie said.“The Hamilton Police has engaged in a crazy campaign to try and shut down our event against our charter rights. Last I checked, we're Canadians. We're able to peacefully organize to discuss political ideas.”Tyrie also claimed uniformed officers had visited venues and that Insp. Darren Murphy had warned him that the Dominion Society could be held responsible for additional policing expenses.“Darren Murphy reached out to me two days ago and he threatened to impose any additional policing costs on the organization, which I thought was quite ridiculous,” he said..“There's not gonna be any additional policing costs caused by the event. All the additional policing costs are gonna be caused by the radical activists who are actively trying to disrupt the event, being egged on by the mayor and so on. We've committed no crimes. We've been accused of no crimes, and yet the police is using their authority to try and intimidate venues into not hosting us.”Tyrie also said that his organization and its lawyers would be spending the coming weeks examining contractual issues that have arisen from the cancelled venue bookings..In a recorded telephone conversation between Murphy and Wiretap Media that surfaced on social media on Thursday, the police inspector said that HPS released its statement to ensure venue operators who were approached by the Dominion Society understood the views of the organization seeking to rent their properties.“We’re not telling venues not to book,” Murphy said.“We’re just making venues aware of who they’re booking with.”When pressed on the police service’s position regarding the group, Murphy stated the Dominion Society was “not an organization that we would like holding a conference in the city of Hamilton.”“The messaging is offensive, it’s exclusionary, and it’s not something that the Hamilton Police Service supports or the City of Hamilton [supports],” he said.Wiretap noted that the Dominion Society had never been linked to any crimes or violence, that its ideas on immigration policy are protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the HPS’ actions infringed upon those rights.“That’s just perception,” Murphy said, adding that his department’s handling of the issue was part of a broader HPS strategy and not a decision he made himself.However, he would not say whether the directive had come from the chief of police or Mayor Horwath..The response from police drew widespread backlash online, with Conservative MP Andrew Lawton (Elgin—St. Thomas—London South) saying that while he had “significant issues” with the Dominion Society, he was not aware of any criminal allegations involving the group or “credible suspicion that their conference would be illegal.”“It is not for police to target venues that may wish to rent space to a group that is breaking no laws,” Lawton said.“This is how lawful (however objectionable or disagreeable it might be) speech gets chilled and how the state censors without laying a single charge.”.Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole also weighed in, describing the Dominion Society’s views as “immature and repugnant” while defending its members’ legal right to express them.“They are free to have them and speak them,” O’Toole said.DomCon has faced opposition since it was announced, with Horwath previously sending letters to local businesses warning them about the organization. Liberal MP Aslam Rana (Hamilton Centre) also described the event as a “white supremacist” gathering and said his office had contacted the appropriate authorities.One of the biggest issues in the entire debacle has been the possible attendance of Austrian remigration activist Martin Sellner, who was set to be a keynote speaker at the event but whose travel authorization to enter Canada has remained unresolved for several months, meaning he cannot board a flight to Canada.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) previously told the Western Standard that privacy laws prevented the department from commenting on Sellner’s case..Tyrie accused immigration officials of deliberately leaving Sellner’s application pending rather than issuing a decision that could be challenged before the conference’s date.“[The decision] didn't totally blindside us. This is something that we've been navigating with our legal team for months to ensure that Martin was able to come here,” he said.“[Authorities are] playing procedural games. They're just leaving it pending. They'll do something maybe Sunday, anytime after the event, once it's impossible for us to deal with it.”Sellner will instead address the conference remotely, and Tyrie said his organization would continue trying to bring him to Canada for future DomCon events.“The system is throwing everything at us to try and shut down this event,” Tyrie stated.“They banned us from Instagram. The mayor banned us from every public venue in the city. These government-funded anti-Canadian NGOs have been smearing us. The mainstream media has been writing hit pieces almost on a daily basis for the last month. They're doing everything they can to stop this event from happening, and I think that shows how important it is that the event goes forward as planned.”

Hamilton police accused of political interference over Dominion Society conference

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