Carp Agricultural Society co-president ‘had never heard’ of far-right organization before meeting

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The co-president of the Carp Agricultural Society regrets allowing a far-right group Diagolon to book its main hall for a meeting Saturday night.

“We didn’t know who they were when they booked,” Jean Sullivan told Postmedia in a telephone interview Monday. “It’s not within our values or mission. It was an unfortunate series of events.”

Sullivan says Diagolon didn’t reveal its identity or its purpose before booking the hall.

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“From my understanding, they did not tell us what the organization was and I had never heard of them before Saturday night.”

Diagolon was founded by Jeremy MacKenzie, a podcaster who promotes white nationalism.

According to a 2022 House of Commons report, Diagolon’s policies include preparing for a “race war”. In November 2022, he testified at the public inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to break up the convoy protest in Ottawa.

The Ottawa meeting was the first stop in the “Road Rage Terror Tour” across Canada. The Ottawa Police Service was aware in advance that an event was happening somewhere in the city, but didn’t know exactly where until Saturday.

“The Ottawa Police maintained a visible presence at the event,” a statement from OPS said. “The event was monitored and no criminal incidents have been reported to OPS at this time. The role of police in Canada is to maintain public order and preserve the peace.”

Many Carp residents were alarmed when they learned of the presence of Diagolon, including a Facebook commentator who wrote, “This is dangerous and damaging to our community.”

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West Carleton-March Coun. Clarke Kelly also took to Facebook to air his complaints.

“There is no place for such behaviour in West-Carleton March and I strongly condemn the presence of such a group in our community.”

The tour had been scheduled to move on to the Wahnapitae Community Centre in Sudbury on Sunday.

Organizers had set up shop in the parking lot and were selling T-shirts as a fundraiser, but hall organizers abruptly cancelled the event and returned the booking fee after learning about the nature of the meeting.

A website for the tour also lists future dates across Canada, including in Calgary (July 13), Vancouver (July 19), Kamloops (July 20), Edmonton (July 24), Saskatoon (July 25), Hamilton (July 31) and “Nova Scotia” (Aug. 4).

“Meet and greet” events are scheduled for Thunder Bay on Tuesday, Regina (July 11), Lethbridge, Alta. (July 12), Kelowna, B.C. (July 15), Nanaimo, B.C. (July 16), Winnipeg (July 26), Quebec (Aug. 1) and Fredericton, N.B. (Aug.2).

kwarren@postmedia.com

X: Citizenkwarren

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