Toronto (August 11, 2021) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is extremely troubled by the discovery of yet another member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) who has a history of neo-Nazi activity.

The discovery was made by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, which revealed yesterday that a young man named William Condie, who currently lives in Ontario and serves as an armoured corporal with a regiment based in Hull, Quebec, had signed up as a user of the neo-Nazi forum Iron March back in 2017 while he was already a member of the Canadian military. Over the span of two days, Condie posted on the forum, writing that Jewish people are “trying hard to side-track the [alt-right] movement to make it appear more progressive… F**k that, 1488 or bust.” 1488 is a common code used by neo-Nazis that combines two popular white supremacist numeric symbols – the 14 representing neo-Nazi and domestic terrorist David Lane’s 14-word slogan and 88 standing for Heil Hitler.

Research by the Anti-Hate Network suggests that Condie was also a user of Discord as a teenager, reportedly posting “GOTTA GAS EM ALL” when he was asked his view on Jews and declaring his “picture-perfect nation” as “Like Nazi Germany pre-WW2, but with less jews [sic].”

CAF has confirmed to FSWC that Condie remains a member of the reserves and it has launched an investigation. FSWC has requested a meeting with CAF leadership to discuss the matter and offer recommendations to ensure CAF anti-hate directives are enforced and members involved in hate activity are identified and removed.

The discovery comes six months after a Calgary-based sailor who was also a former user of Iron March was released from the CAF following FSWC’s advocacy efforts. Last year, all branches of the Armed Forces issued new directives aimed at combatting hateful conduct and extremism within their ranks.

“Following several high-profile cases of Canadian military members with ties to neo-Nazi groups and the introduction of new anti-hate directives in all branches of the CAF, it’s extremely disappointing to learn that there’s yet another member with a history of neo-Nazi activity that the military has been completely unaware of,” said FSWC Director of Policy Jaime Kirzner-Roberts. “Why is it up to NGOs with limited budgets and no access to military personnel files to identify hateful actors in the ranks? Why are these investigations not being initiated by the military itself? These revelations raise real concerns about whether and to what degree the CAF is actively taking steps to enforce its own policies prohibiting hate group activity.”