1992: David Irving Denied Entry Into Canada
© Copyright 1992 the Toronto Sun reproduced with permission:
Bracketed commentary by J. Shallit
Toronto Sun
By Bill Dunphy
A controversial British author and Holocaust denier has been barred
from entering Canada for a speaking tour, the Sun has learned.
David Irving, a historian and darling of the international neo-nazi
movement, was hand-delivered a letter in Los Angeles informing him
of the Canadian decision to deny him entry.
A copy of the Oct. 9 letter warns Irving he can't enter Canada because
of his criminal record and because "there are reasonable grounds to
believe (you) will commit one or more offences" in Canada.
Irving was convicted of violating a German law making it illegal to deny
the existence of the Nazi extermination of Jews.
Irving, in Los Angeles for a speaking engagement, was unavailable for
comment.
His lawyer,
Doug Christie of British Columbia, said Irving has asked him
to fight the decision.
Christie said the ban is the result of political pressure and vowed to
overturn the decision.
"I am searching for a remedy, perhaps a federal court injunction."
Christie said he still hoped Irving would be present in British Columbia
on Oct. 28 to receive the
Canadian Free Speech League's 8th annual
George Orwell award for courageous defence of free speech.
Irving's planned tour also included stops in Calgary, Kitchener, Hamilton,
Toronto, and Ottawa.
Irving's visit to Kitchener, Ontario
Despite an order from Canadian immigration [which, by the
way, I strongly disagree with] to leave the country, David
Irving got out on bail and spoke for about half an hour
in front of approximately 50 people at
Michael Rothe's
European Sound Import store in downtown Kitchener,
Ontario [about 60 miles west of Toronto] on Saturday,
November 7, 1992.
Kitchener, a town of about 175,000 with a strong German
heritage [it used to be called Berlin until World War I],
is a known center of neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial activity.
Also sighted at the store were neo-Nazi publisher
Ernst Zundel and convicted felon, drug-dealer, and former
KKK
leader
Wolfgang Droege. [
Droege spent several years in a
US prison in the 1980's for his attempted takeover of the
Caribbean island of Dominica.]
Irving was greeted by approximately 75 demonstrators, who,
despite sub-freezing temperatures, chanted and carried
signs outside Rothe's store from about 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM.
Irving briefly appeared outside the store, and was interviewed
on local TV, before he was shouted down by protestors
chanting, "Irving, go home!" Later, at about 3:00 PM, Irving
was ushered into a waiting car by police and, eyes averted
from the crowd, was driven away.
A man who claimed to be a history student at WLU handed out
anti-Semitic Holocaust denial literature briefly. [I was not
able to get any copies.]
Jeff Shallit
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
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phone call to Dean McNulty at the Sun, 7:45 PM, October 15, 1992, by J. Shallit.
Thursday, October 15, 1992
page 39
Brit Denied Entry to Canada
Nazi sympathizer barred
Toronto Sun