Western Standard: Canadians with German, Ukrainian and Dutch Bloodlines Are Not Pure ‘Ethnic Canadians’

Canadians whose family trees trace their roots back to Germany, Ukraine, the Netherlands and other European countries outside the British Isles and France are not pureblood “ethnic Canadians.”

Or at least so says the leader of a white nationalist group in a new op-ed for the Western Standard, a right-wing alternative media outlet run by a former United Conservative Party MLA.

Over the weekend, the Western Standard published an op-ed titled “What is a Canadian?” authored by Daniel Tyrie, the former executive director of Maxime Bernier’s far-right People’s Party of Canada, who now heads a white nationalist group called the Dominion Society.

Western Standard (X.com)

The Dominion Society, which extremism experts describe as the “political arm” of Canada’s white nationalist movement, maintains a website that explicitly promotes the “Great Replacement,” the idea that immigration policies are designed to replace white populations.

The group’s main focus is on mainstreaming an idea it calls “remigration.” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the US-based Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, has noted the Dominion Society’s “remigration” message is effectively advocating the “ethnic cleansing of people of colour.”

“Remigration was a concept devised by former Austrian neo-Nazi Martin Sellner as the policy answer to the white supremacist ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory,” Beirich previously told PressProgress. “Remigration fixes the ‘problem’ by removing those populations from what its adherents consider to be rightfully ‘white’ countries.”

Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, echoed that view, observing that the Dominion Society seeks to “push the Overton window” and normalize the idea of “remigration.”

“Their goal is racist mass deportations of people who aren’t white and European, or the right kinds of European,” Balgord told PressProgress.

Andrew Coyne (X.com)

While Tyrie’s views on non-Europeans are abundantly clear, in his Western Standard op-ed, the leader of the white nationalist group puts forward an argument about why, in his view, not all white European Canadians are quite equally “Canadian” either.

Tyrie, who was born in Ontario, describes an ethnocultural hierarchy in which the descendents of English, French, Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled along the St. Lawrence in Eastern Canada are of a higher status than Western Canadians of “other” European backgrounds.

“Canada was founded by settlers – primarily of English, French, Scottish, and Irish descent – who established a society along the St. Lawrence River from the early 1600s onward,” Tyrie writes, describing this group as true “ethnic Canadians” (a group, he elaborates, that does not include First Nations).

Tyrie goes on to question the idea that “settlement of the West diversified Canada’s ethnic identity,” pointing out that in the late 19th century, Canada saw a wave of settlers from “other Eastern and Northern European countries, notably Germany and Ukraine.”

“This broader group – ethnic Canadians and later settlers who integrated into their identity – I call Heritage Canadians,” the white nationalist told Western Standard readers, suggesting “other European settlers” can only become “Canadian,” in his view, through interethnic marriage and cultural assimilation.

“Maybe some were a quarter-German, or one-eighth Dutch, but overwhelmingly, Canadians shared a common stock,” the white nationalist remarked, recalling schoolyard conversations from his childhood.

Tyrie’s argument builds on thoughts he has previously shared on Elon Musk’s X social media platform, where he has claimed Canadian-born, second-generation individuals of “other” European backgrounds, such as Dutch Canadians, are not truly Canadian.

Mark Marissen, Daniel Tyrie (X.com)

Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard and a former United Conservative Party MLA in Alberta, stands behind his publication’s decision to publish the op-ed.

“The Western Standard regularly publishes guest columns from people that it sometimes does not entirely endorse, but feel are worthy of debate and discussion,” Fildebrandt told PressProgress. “Only editorials published by the Editorial Board represent the official views of the Western Standard.”

Fildebrandt, who is himself of a German family background and often participates in German-Canadian cultural events, did not respond to a question about whether he was troubled by the implication that people whose family trees reflect waves of 19th-century German immigration would hold second-class status to, or be less Canadian than, someone of British descent.

“If every view published by the Western Standard was strictly in keeping with my own personal views, we’d be a very boring publication,” Fildebrandt explained.

Fildebrandt offered no response as to where the Western Standard would draw the line – or, if it has a line.

Derek Fildebrandt (Facebook)

Fildebrandt and his outlet have repeatedly promoted the Dominion Society and its allies in recent months, with Fildebrandt himself hosting an hour-long podcast with Tyrle in January about his ideas on “remigration” and plan to mass deport millions of immigrants from Canada.

David Wiechnik, a Western Standard writer based in Calgary, provided glowing coverage of the Dominion Society’s launch last summer, as well as an anti-immigrant protest in January outside the Conservative Party’s convention in Calgary. More recently, Wiechnik interviewed a leader of Second Sons Canada, a related “active club” group described as the “militant arm” of Canada’s white nationalist movement, who was given space to criticize journalists, civil society groups and Public Safety Canada at length for identifying the group as a potential risk for “extreme violence.”

The Dominion Society has recently made appearances on other right-wing alternative media outlets too. Last month, Tyrie was publicly denounced as a “racist” by former Alberta premier Jason Kenney after the white nationalist appeared on an outlet called Juno News.

Kenney later stressed conservatives need to draw the line on allowing “racist sentiments” from gaining a beachhead within the conservative movement.

“The consequence of not drawing the line is mainstreaming or destigmatizing outright racist sentiments,” Kenney told CBC’s Front Burner last month.

“This guy is advocating to take immigration to zero for at least 10 years, to have the forcible deportation of every legal permanent resident in Canada,” Kenney said of Tyrie. “He’s also calling for the deportation of many citizens who are not quote ‘heritage Canadians’, which I can only take to understand as the descendants of white European Canadians.”

“This stuff is obviously toxic. It’s crazy.”

Balgord says right-wing alternative media outlets like the Western Standard and Juno News are allowing themselves to be used by extremists who are trying to subvert conservative parties from within to advance their own narrow agendas.

“Some white nationalists think that this is how they take their racist ideas into the mainstream, by smuggling them through outlets like the Western Standard and Juno,” Balgord told PressProgress.

“They need platforms like these that have more credibility than their own livestreams and shows, which are too explicit in advocating violence, using racial slurs, and having obvious neo-Nazis participating for people with any real influence to be caught watching,” Balgord added.

“The Dominion Society wants to push the Overton Window by getting media coverage and criticizing and cajoling conservative parties to make racist policies part of their platform.”

Candice Malcolm, founder of Juno News, similarly defended giving the Dominion Society a platform last month by explaining she too is trying to “open the Overton Window.”

“I’m trying to open the window so it’s wider, so there’s a wider range of what’s acceptable to talk about,” Malcolm explained. “As a conservative, I’m also trying to shift the window to the right because I think part of the biggest problem in this country is that it leans too far left.”

“I am trying to shift it, but I am also trying to open it.”

Clarification: This article has been updated to include additional details about what does and doesn’t constitute the official views of the Western Standard and to make clear that Derek Fildebrandt did not take a personal position on the content of Tyrie’s op-ed.