An access to information request has revealed how federal money was used by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network to leverage social media and law enforcement against alleged hate speech.The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is an independent, nonprofit organization made up of experts and researchers on hate groups and hate crimes. Its stated mandate is "to monitor, research, and counter hate groups by providing education and information on hate groups to the public, media, researchers, courts, law enforcement, and community groups." It also has relationships with the Southern Poverty Law Center in the U.S. Documents acquired by Rebel News Online revealed a "confidential" email sent to Canadian Heritage in 2020 by CAHN Executive Director Evan Balgord. In the October 14, 2020, correspondence he discussed project metrics related to their grant from Ottawa."I feel that many softer metrics will be spoken to in our end of project report (eg. in both a specific and broad sense, demonstrating what we have accomplished thanks to the grant in terms of countering hate and promoting multiculturalism, diversity, and democratic participation of groups targeted by hate with the grant)," Balgord explained.The executive director said the media contacted them for stories 3 to 12 times per day. However, they lamented that prosecutions often didn't take place when CAHN tried to trigger them."We continue to file professional and lawyer-reviewed criminal complaints that provide evidence of criminal activity by members and supporters of hate promoting groups. However, since applying for the grant we have been disappointed to find that engaging law enforcement in this way is not particularly fruitful. Now, while we still file those complaints, we put less of an emphasis there and pursue other legal avenues in cases of criminality too (eg. lawyer-drafted complaints to social media platforms)," Balgord explained."We have far more successful outcomes with our public reporting."Rebel founder Ezra Levant said the new Online Harms Bill combined with the recent discovery suggests startling possibilities."Bill C-63....removes the need for race hustlers and grifters to apply for government grants. Now they can just file complaints -- by the dozen, by the hundred, by the thousand -- to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and extract the money from their political targets directly," Levant warned."C-63 lets anyone who files a complaint demand up to $20,000 per complaint from their targets. Conservatives will have to pay for their own persecution, like when Stalin sent the families of the people he had executed a bill for the bullet they used. Now the vexatious litigants on the left can get their money directly from their enemies list."According to the National Post, CAHN received a grant of $268,400 to participate in an “anti-racism action program” from October 2020 to March 2022. The grant agreement, obtained through an access to information request, shows that the money was used to hire additional staff members, facilitate workshops, write articles, and engage on social media.A “recommendation for ministerial approval” form (also obtained through an access to information request) said, “This project will increase the organization’s capacity to counter online hate by hiring four team members to carry out the monitoring of extreme-right groups, report on their activities and file complaints with law enforcement; it will educate the public as to these groups and the damage they create, and will share information through 10,000 Facebook and Twitter followers.”CAHN's scope of concern ranges from neo-Nazis to conservative-minded school board candidates. The organization published an article January 27, 2022 entitled The 'Freedom Convoy' is nothing but a vehicle for the far right.]"They say it is about truckers, and have raised over $6 million dollars on GoFundMe. But if you look at its organizers and promoters, you’ll find Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, and incitements to violence," CAHN complained.The organization also published a Pride Defence Guide.The chair of CAHN is former CBC journalist and former Wikimedia executive director Sue Gardner. She was designated a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and was once ranked by Forbes as the world's 70th most powerful woman.Lawyer Richard Warman sits on the board of CAHN. According to his online biography, he has been the successful complainant in 16 consecutive cases before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal dealing with internet hate.On Nov. 10, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a defamation lawsuit launched by Warman, the National Post reported. Warman sued journalists Jonathan and Barbara Kay for tweets that criticized CAHN’s links to the Antifa movement in the United States, which has been covered by C2C Journal and The Federalist. The Kays did not name Warman in their tweets.The ruling stated that “CAHN did in fact assist Antifa and that the movement has been violent,” and that this was not a “good look."
