NEW ETHNO-NATIONALIST PARTY IN QUÉBEC PROMISES TO END THE “GREAT REPLACEMENT”

 Formed by remnants of the province’s anti-immigration scene, the Patriot Party promises to save Québec from “cultural genocide.”Posted on August 26, 2021

Sébastien Roback (edited)

A Québec-based political party named the Parti patriote (Patriot Party) is bringing their brand of ethnonationalism into the 2021 Canadian federal election.

Billing itself as a nationalist and sovereignist movement, the party’s raison d’être is to “defend the Québécois people from anything that threatens its existence.” They believe these threats, which are listed in their platform, have already led to the “extinction” of many Western nations.

“Let us affirm ourselves against globalism, mass immigration, and illegal immigration instrumentalized by the enemies of our nation in order to make us disappear and/or to reduce our collective power,” reads the main page of the party’s crudely designed website.

Founded in 2019, the Patriot Party originally sought to participate in the previous federal elections, but failed to register any candidates in time for its name to appear on ballots. This time, they have promised to recruit a slate of at least 20 candidates across Québec running under the Patriot banner.

Their platform also refers to multiculturalism as a “perverse postmodern doctrine aiming for the cultural genocide of the québécois people,” and emphasizes the Patriots’ opposition to the so-called “Great Replacement” – a White nationalist concern that says the white population of Western countries are being deliberately replaced through immigration.

On social media, the Patriot Party’s concern with the “integration” of Muslims – and especially Muslim women – is on full display. In dozens of Facebook posts, the party and its officials share pictures of veiled women along with captions like “Integration, a major problem in Québec,” eliciting aggressive responses from its supporters, who refer to Muslims as “parasites” and as “plagues.”

Transgender women are similarly targeted throughout their content.

Though their recent arrival on the political scene means they are unlikely to will win any seats in the upcoming election, electoral gains might not be the Patriot Party’s primary objective. On social media, the party has made repeated calls for donations in order to print signs to be place “all across Québec” – including in ridings where the party is not yet fielding candidates. 

This image was shared on the Patriot Party’s social media accounts. It reads: “Do you want these signs all across Québec? Make a donation to the Patriot Party.”  

One of these signs has the words “No to mass immigration,” complete with a woman making a “stop” hand gesture. 

Elections Canada currently lists the Patriot Party as eligible for registration, meaning it met the requirements to become an official party, but has yet to run a candidate in an election. This is likely to change on the candidate registration deadline.

LEADERSHIP

The Patriot Party’s founder, Donald Proulx, is a longtime anti-immigration activist who is well-known for his participation in protests outside Lacolle, Québec, a border town, in opposition to an influx of asylum seekers. During one of these Roxham Road demonstrations, Proulx shared the microphone with members of La Meute, as well as with Ontarian activist Kevin Goudreau.

Before taking interest in federal politics, Proulx attempted to found a municipal party in Montréal, in opposition to then-Mayor Denis Coderre. In a Facebook post, Proulx denounced the latter’s views on immigration, as well as his perceived silence in the face of a supposed wave of violence in the city.

“In Montréal, anarchists (antifas) are disturbing, censoring and even using violence against québécois nationalists … and what are Coderre and city council doing? Nothing! On top of staying silent, they have declared that Montréal is a ‘sanctuary city,’ a refuge for illegal immigration. Enough!’”

Donald Proulx, posing in front of a Patriot Party sign. Source: Facebook.

Though he remains very active as its president, Proulx has since handed over the reins of the Patriot Party to Carl Brochu, a 51-year-old videomaker and ex-high school teacher best known for his role in planning a stunt in which he, alongside members of a far-right group named Front Patriotique (Patriotic Front) snuck into a Liberal Party of Canada event to heckle Prime Minister Trudeau. 

Brochu was announced as the party’s new leader on June 12, 2021, during an event attended by members of the Groupe Sécurité Patriote (Patriot Security Group), a group known for providing its security services to nationalist groups like the Soldiers of Odin during demonstrations. During his first leadership speech, Brochu claimed that Québec sovereigntists face a five-to-one battle against “ethnic,” Indigenous and anglophone voters, as well as “colonized québécois” and the “Canadian federalist machine.”

Carl Brochu during his leadership speech, alongside a member of the Groupe Sécurité Patriote. Source: Facebook.

Weeks after the election, he would go on to describe CAP as “controlled opposition” on Radio InfoCité, a conspiracy-oriented sovereigntist radio station.