Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s department privately questioned whether the Canadian Anti-Hate Network was too biased to receive federal money, even as it approved a $200,000 research grant, according to newly released internal memos.“In the past the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has been accused of creating products that were not free from bias,” said the memo obtained through Access To Information. “Was this taken into consideration when providing funding?”Blacklock's Reporter says despite the concerns, the department approved the grant, which expires March 31. The Minister’s Office refused to publicly defend the decision. “Of note, the Minister’s Office is aware and has declined to provide a quote for this,” a staff email said..The Anti-Hate Network said the money would fund research on “the far-right landscape in Canada” and comply with human research ethics rules.It wasn’t the first time Ottawa raised questions about the group. Then-Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told MPs last September that his department would review the Network’s work. “Our role certainly as a government but also as parliamentarians is to work to unite people, not divide them,” he said.Federal records show the Anti-Hate Network — which has positioned itself as a watchdog on neo-Nazis and extremism — has also targeted conservatives and pro-life Catholics. In 2021 it labelled former premiers Bill Vander Zalm and Brian Peckford as conspiracy theorists for opposing pandemic mandates.The group’s 2024 booklet 40 Ways To Fight The Far Right listed Campaign Life, the longtime organizer of Parliament Hill’s annual pro-life march attended by Catholic schoolchildren, among examples of “far right and hate movements.” .The booklet urged counter-protesters to mobilize, saying: “If fascists are holding a public demonstration you should be in the streets too.”Since 2020, the Anti-Hate Network has received $908,000 in federal grants. Conservative MP Rachael Thomas said taxpayers should not be funding groups that stoke division.“You’re collecting tax dollars from people all across the country with all sorts of beliefs from all sorts of backgrounds and those dollars are being used towards an organization that’s actually furthering or spurring greater polarization,” Thomas told the heritage committee. “It’s a grave disservice to the unity of our country and the well-being of our people.”
