Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: [06/18] The Heritage Front: Supporting Cast
Summary: The League for Human Rights (B'nai Brith Canada) 1994
         report on the extremist organization The Heritage
         Front

Archive/File:
pub/orgs/canadian/league-for-human-rights/heritage-front/supporting-cast
Last-Modified: 1995/11/29


                      The Supporting Cast
                    (in alphabetical order)

As seen above, Wolfgang Droege is the dominant force in the Heritage 
Front. But there are several current and former members who are 
important figures in the movement.  

                        Kenneth Barker

Kenneth Barker got his fifteen minutes of fame when he received a 
one-month jail term in the summer of 1994 for his role in the Heritage 
Front hotline.  In fact, Barker is a secondary figure in the Front; he 
is an organizer for the Front in Oshawa, and has also helped the group 
rent venues for their events. His conviction is based on his founding 
of the "Equal Rights for Whites" hotline around the time that the 
Heritage Front was shutting down its primary message line.  

He has a list of weapons-related charges against him, including 
possession of a sawed-off shotgun and careless storage of a firearm. 
Robbery and bomb-possession charges were dropped. Barker, a 
welder-fitter by trade and a father of two, describes himself as a 
"White separatist."  

                       Grant Bristow

Grant Bristow, one of the founders of the Heritage Front, did not 
come to prominence until August 1994. There are allegations suggesting 
that Bristow received more than $50,000 annually for five years from 
the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He allegedly 
used his CSIS money to finance the Front starting in 1989. As Bristow 
allegedly started working for CSIS several months before the HF was 
founded, it is possible that there might never have been a Heritage 
Front without him.  

According to an article by Bill Dunphy of the Toronto Sun, Bristow 
was supposed to be working as a mole for CSIS while serving as the 
intelligence chief and co-director of security for the Heritage 
Front. However, his rather active role in hate activities cast doubt 
on whether he was helping or hindering the Front. While his 
information helped in the deportation of Sean Maguire, it appears 
Bristow may have helped bring the Metzgers and Mahon into Canada 
illegally.  Bristow also allegedly ran a programme of harassment 
against anti-racists in Canada, providing the Front with personal 
information on them. In her testimony, Elise Hategan claimed that 
Bristow gave neo-Nazis phone numbers and addresses of anti-racist 
leaders. He also is accused of illegally accessing answering 
machines and voice mailboxes as part of his hate campaign.  

According to a 1994 Canadian Centre on Racism and Prejudice (CCRP) 
press release, Bristow and Gerry Lincoln are the real brains behind 
the Heritage Front, and Wolfgang Droege is merely a figurehead. The 
CCRP also reports that Bristow has a long criminal history in the 
United States. It is also known that Bristow was one of the Heritage 
Front founders that visited Libya at the invitation of Muammar 
Qadhafi in l989.

Bristow uses several names, including Grant Bristol, Grant 
Briston, Grant Morrison, Rob Taffner, Robert Morris, and has utilized 
the first names Rick, Markus and Gerald.  

                         George Burdi

Burdi was the leader of the Canadian branch of the Church of the 
Creator (COTC), a violent US-based hate group. There are several links 
between the Heritage Front and Burdi's organization, including 
COTC-provided security at HF events. Burdi has also claimed to be a 
member of the Heritage Front himself, and is reportedly a close 
colleague of Droege. He also met David Irving through Ernst Zundel, 
with whom he had previously worked. While a student at the University 
of Guelph, Burdi tried to start a chapter of C-FAR at the university.  

Although he has not been in the public eye since mid-1993, Burdi was 
one of the most visible racists in Canada for several years. He wrote 
for Racial Loyalty, and also gave several speeches at racist rallies. 
He appeared as a guest on Geraldo as a representative of the COTC. 
In 1993 Burdi was denied entry into the United States after 
immigration officials found large quantities of White supremacist 
literature in his possession.  

George Burdi is best known as the singer for the hate-rock band 
RaHoWa (an acronym for Racial Holy War). Using the name the Reverend 
Eric Hawthorne, he sang such memorable songs as "White People Awake," 
"Race Riot," and "Third Reich." The band's tape, released by 
Resistance Records, featured a cover illustration of a White warrior 
standing on top of a dead Black man.  

Not content with fantasy violence, Burdi physically assaulted an 
anti-racist demonstrator at an Ottawa RaHoWa concert in May of 1993. 
The concert which was part of a racist rally, was interrupted by 
protesters who stormed the proceedings. It is believed that Burdi 
moved home with his parents in the Toronto area following his arrest. 
He has not been a public figure in the Canadian hate movement since 
that time.  

                    David Maxwell French

David French is best known tor his afliliation with the Nationalist 
Party of Canada (NPC). He ran for mayor of Scarborough, Ontario, in 
1991 with the backing of the NPC and leader Don Andrews. It is 
reported that French is no longer a member of the party, and that 
his primary affiliatlon is now with the Heritage Front. French was 
one of the NPC members who attended the "peace conference" in Libya 
in 1989.  

French has a long history of atfiliation with violent racist groups. 
In 1983 he went to a conference at the Hayden Lake, Idaho compound 
of Aryan Nations. He reportedly has a long-standing affiliation with 
the group, and it is also believed that French has extensive 
paramilitary training.  

                   Charlene Elise Hategan

In 1985 Hategan moved to Canada from Romania with her family. She 
reportedly had a hard time adjusting to a new country, and found her 
niche with the Heritage Front after calling their hotline.  

HF leaders frequently displayed her to journalists and recruits, 
saying that she was the embodiment of the "new generation" of 
hatemongers in Canada. Hategan, who goes by her middle name, wrote 
several articles for _Up Front_, and gave speeches to HF rallies 
and to other White supremacist crowds. She was charged by police 
for defamatory libel and promoting hatred.  

Hategan grew weary of the hate, according to the Toronto Sun, 
but was afraid to leave the HF because of the abuse and violence 
she feared she would encounter. Because of this pressure, Elise 
attempted suicide in late 1993. After leaving hospital, she 
secretly became an anti-racist while spying on the Front, testifying 
against Droege and Schipper in their contempt of court trials 
in June of 1994. Hategan is currently in hiding from the Heritage 
Front and other White supremacists.  

                      Gerry Lincoln

Lincoln is the founder and editor of _Up Front_, the monthly newspaper 
distributed since January 1992 by the Heritage Front. Although not a 
public figure, Lincoln is quite active behind the scenes. He designed 
the Heritage Front logo and letterhead, and writes scathingly racist 
and anti-Semitic editorials for Up Front. The publication is 
distributed to all HF members and others on their mailing list.  

However, his activities are not limited to the printing press. In 
1989, he went to Libya with several other founders of the Heritage 
Front at the invitation of Muammar Qadhafi. He also traveled to 
Ottawa for the founding convention of the Northern Foundation. This 
conference, although attended by many non-racist conservatives, is 
considered to be the first meeting of the Heritage Front founders 
in Canada.  

                        Peter Mitrevski

After anti-racists attacked and damaged Gary Schipper's house in 
June 1993, several Heritage Front members retaliated with violence. 
Peter Mitrevski, a former skinhead, was arrested and charged with 
assault in the ensuing melee. However, he has never been convicted 
of any hate-related crime.  

But Mitrevski is more than hired muscle. He served on the Nationalist 
Party's Advisory Council, and was invited to Libya in 1989. Mitrevski 
went to Michigan to meet with the Rev. Bob Miles, and traveled to 
Georgia to promote the Front at KKK meetings. He and Droege travelled 
Canada to form links with other White supremacists in the early days 
of the Heritage Front, and is still considered one of the leaders of 
the organization.  

                           Gary Schipper

"The voice of the Heritage Front," Gary Schipper was the man behind 
the telephone hotline. Born in Canada, he was adopted by a Jewish 
family who moved to the United States. As a teenager, he was caught 
smoking marijuana by his mother and ran away from home. He spent 
several years traveling across the U.S. before returning to Canada. 
A 1994 Toronto Life interview revealed that despite a Jewish 
upbringing, including a bar mitzvah ceremony, Gary later joined the 
Heritage Front, claiming that his parents were unable to convert 
his natural Aryan disposition. A self-described "welfare cheat," 
Schipper collected public assistance while earning good wages, at 
times making more than $2000 a week as a telephone solicitor.  

In 1993 Schipper helped set up the "Equal Rights for Whites" 
hotline after the Heritage Front was ordered to discontinue its 
telephone message system. In 1994, he was sentenced to two 
months in jail for contempt of court. He served six weeks, and is 
out of jail pending appeal. If the appeal is denied, he will serve 
the final two weeks of his term.  

~
The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada, 15 Hove
Street, Downsview, Ontario M3H 4Y8. 416-633-6224.

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