BC Conservative Leader John Rustad Suggests Province Would Participate in ‘Nuremberg’-Style COVID-19 Trials
‘Nuremberg 2.0’ is an idea being pushed by conspiratorial far-right groups to prosecute politicians, doctors and others for ‘crimes against humanity’
BC Conservative leader John Rustad assured anti-vaccine activists British Columbia would be open to joining other jurisdictions in legal proceedings inspired by the Nuremberg Trials that would be aimed at prosecuting those deemed responsible for COVID-19 public health measures and vaccines.
“Nuremberg 2.0,” an idea popular among COVID-19 conspiracy theorists and the online far-right, is simultaneously inspired by the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical principles on human experimentation, as well as the Nuremberg Trials that prosecuted Nazi leaders after the Second World War.
Nuremberg 2.0 advocates typically call for those who created, justified or enforced public health measures — including politicians, doctors, academics, journalists and police — to be jailed and even executed for “crimes against humanity.”
In July 2024, Rustad was a “special guest” during an online meeting organized by two anti-vaccine groups, BCPS Employees for Freedom and the United Health Care Workers of BC. Rustad previously made headlines after stating at the same online meeting that he regretted getting the “so-called vaccine” against COVID-19.
At another moment during the meeting, Rustad was asked by Jedediah Ferguson, president of UHCWBC and a host of the event, where the BC Conservative leader stood on “Nuremberg 2.0” – Rustad replied by assuring Ferguson that he would be open to the province “participating” in a multi-jurisdictional format.
“Are you okay or for a Nuremberg 2.0?” Ferguson asked.
“A new and bigger two point oh, sorry?” Rustad replied confused, prompting the anti-vaccine activist to repeat himself more slowly: “Nuremberg.”
“Nuremberg 2.0 – ah, yes,” Rustad repeated.
“That’s probably something that’s outside of my scope…”
“I know, that’s a hard one, I knew it, I knew it,” Ferguson interrupted. “I put you on the hot spot right there, for sure, but I had to ask.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Rustad replied. “Like I say, that’s something that’s sorta outside the scope in terms of jurisdiction of British Columbia but if, you know, we would certainly be participating with other jurisdictions as we look at those sorts of issues.”
The Conservative Party of BC did not respond to a request from PressProgress to clarify Rustad’s understanding of “Nuremberg 2.0” or whether the multi-jurisdictional proceedings would be national or international in scope.
Jedediah Ferguson, the anti-vaccine activist who asked Rustad about Nuremberg 2.0 says he was satisfied with the BC Conservative leader’s response.
“John’s response was adequate,” Ferguson told PressProgress, adding he’s flexible about which specific format Nuremberg 2.0 would ultimately take, whether that’s “internationally, Canada or provinces.”
“A panel or board would have to be established,” Ferguson said, explaining that he would like to see “world leaders, governments, media who had a part in forcing people to stay home” prosecuted for unspecified crimes.
“It could look like governments, medical experts, pharmaceuticals companies go on trial for the experimental vaccine they pushed on the population.”
“Nuremberg 2.0,” an idea to hold Nuremberg-style trials to prosecute and execute political leaders and public health officials for bringing in COVID-19 restrictions, is big in anti-vaxxer and QAnon circles.
2. https://t.co/s0WqHENuZy #ottnews https://t.co/maANTC1Srm
— Luke LeBrun (@_llebrun) February 2, 2022
Timothy Caulfield, a Canada research chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta who specializes in online misinformation and conspiracies, says “it’s horrifying” to hear a political leader “legitimizing and normalizing” any talk of a “Nuremberg 2.0.”
“This is dark, nasty stuff,” Caulfield told PressProgress. “They’re not talking about some kind of careful judicial process, it really is code for execution and retribution.”
“That’s what’s at the heart of Nuremberg 2.0.”
Peter Smith, an investigative journalist and researcher with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, says people who talk about Nuremberg 2.0 are typically fuelled by grievances about pandemic public health measures.
“It is a phrase that emerged during the pandemic and was supposed to be the title for these coming trials for ‘crimes against humanity’ that would be brought against doctors, politicians, police and more for enforcing and carrying out COVID-19 health restrictions,” Smith explained.
“It is essentially accusing a large number of public and private individuals who acted during a health crisis of being on par with one of the worst campaigns of subjugation, humiliation and destruction in modern history,” Smith added, referencing Nazi atrocities during the Second World War.
Ferguson, a former laundry worker at a hospital near Courtenay, BC, launched a class-action lawsuit against BC’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, over COVID-19 vaccines last year.
On social media, Ferguson has repeatedly posted content promising the coming of the “second Nuremberg trials.”
One article shared by the anti-vaccine activist describes COVID-19 as the “fraud case of the century” and the “biggest crime against humanity ever,” suggesting the pandemic and subsequent public health measures were planned out by global elites in Davos under the direction of Klaus Schwab, the head of the World Economic Forum.
“Send them to jail,” Ferguson posted.
In another posting, Ferguson claimed the COVID-19 virus is an “offensive biological warfare weapon” created by the US Department of Defence, with the help of the CIA, Harvard University, Klaus Shwab, Bill Gates, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and a list of others, which also includes China’s communist government.
“All are guilty of Nuremberg crimes,” Ferguson wrote, adding that “all citizens of the world” are encouraged to “file criminal charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, demanding that the people responsible be arrested and prosecuted.”
Ferguson has also shared content announcing a sovereign citizen grand jury had found Dr. Bonnie Henry “guilty of Nuremberg Code violations” and that an “international network of corporate lawyers” are launching a class-action lawsuit against the architects of the pandemic under “Anglo-Saxon law.”
Ferguson told PressProgress he is “aware” many people who promote Nuremberg 2.0 want to see politicians and doctors executed. While he’s unsure about which specific forms of punishment he’d like to see handed down to those found guilty, he clarified that he does not personally condone sentencing people to death.
“I don’t condone or wish death on any one,” Ferguson said. “The thought has crossed my mind, but that decision is not for me to make.”
“That decision might be voted on by the citizens, like an election process possibly,” Ferguson elaborated. “I definitely think the citizens should decide in a fair process on what happens to people who are found guilty of the crimes that have occurred.”
“So often these communities reside in such echo chambers that they take it as truism, not that it’s even contested, as a complete truism that this revisionist view of COVID has been proven right,” Caulfield told PressProgress.
Caulfield said even if Rustad was unaware of Nuremberg 2.0’s dark connotations, he nonetheless has a duty to set the record straight, because the words of a political leader give “implicit permission to his community to embrace these really dangerous ideas.”
“You would hope he would say ‘I don’t know anything about that’ if he doesn’t know anything about it,” Caulfield said. “If he does, and I suspect he’s at least heard of Nuremberg 2.0, he should shut it down.”
“He should say ‘listen, I may not agree with all of the public health policies, but the language surrounding Nuremberg 2.0 is not a constructive path forward’.”
“Of course, he doesn’t want to say that because he has to play to his base.”
Update: Although the BC Conservatives did not initially respond to a request for comment, following publication of this story, BC Conservative leader John Rustad issued a statement to clarify his position on Nuremberg 2.0:
“In a recent interview, I misunderstood the question posed to me and wish to be unequivocal in my response,” Rustad’s statement reads. “Any attempt to compare or equate the Nuremberg Trials or Nazi Germany to the COVID-19 pandemic is completely inappropriate and unacceptable.”
“The Nuremberg Trials were a monumental moment in history, where justice was served for some of the most heinous crimes ever committed.”
“To compare these trials, which sought accountability for the atrocities of the Holocaust, to any modern-day public health measures is a distortion of history and deeply disrespectful to the memory of those who suffered. I strongly condemn any such comparisons and reaffirm my commitment to preserving the integrity of historical truths.”
I want to take a moment to clarify my position on a critical issue. In a recent interview, I misunderstood the question posed to me and wish to be unequivocal in my response. Any attempt to compare or equate the Nuremberg Trials or Nazi Germany to the COVID-19 pandemic is…
— John Rustad (@JohnRustad4BC) October 7, 2024
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