Facebook group that spurred ouster of MPP Paul Miller known for ‘extreme’ anti-Muslim rhetoric
The anti-Islam group purportedly at the heart of Hamilton MPP Paul Miller's political ouster is known for extreme" rhetoric that includes joking about hunting Muslims and calling them sewage."
Ontario's NDP revealed Wednesday that the party booted the veteran Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP from caucus primarily because pre-election vetting found he was a Facebook group member of the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam.
Miller, however, said he does not personally use Facebook and suggested in a Queen's Park press scrum Thursday his account was compromised," perhaps by a former staffer. The fix is in ... It has all been staged," said the 71-year-old MPP, who has threatened legal action and plans to run as an independent candidate in the June 2 provincial election.
He stressed he has never been a member of the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam (WCAI) or any similar group. I am not racist in any way shape or form."
Whomever joined the Facebook group is unlikely to have stumbled into it unknowingly," said Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
He described the Alberta-based group as small and less active since a rally planned for Toronto in 2018 fizzled in the face of counterprotests. But their rhetoric around Muslims was perhaps some of the most extreme in Canada."
Anti-racism advocates keeping track of group founders have captured Facebook posts by one-time WCAI vice-president Jesse Wielenga that refer to Muslim hunting" and lament white genocide."
Another group founder, Joey De Luca, can still be seen on videos posted to the WCAI Alberta chapter" on Facebook calling Muslims sewage" and parasites." Another post celebrates a joint patrol" of Calgary streets with the white supremacist group Soldiers of Odin.
Balgord said it's theoretically possible" someone could click to follow an offensive Facebook page by mistake, but if someone were to engage with the page at all, then there is no excuse," he said.
It's not clear if the NDP vetting process found evidence of comments or other interactions with the coalition by a Miller Facebook account.
But party officials speaking on background said digital vetting confirmed the controversial Facebook group was joined by a Miller account around the time of the 2018 election or shortly thereafter. Any other candidate and any other caucus member ... would be disqualified for ever having been a member of an Islamophobic, racist group," said party director by Lucy Watson in a statement.
NDP leader and Hamilton MPP Andrea Horwath has not agreed to any interview requests with The Spectator regarding Miller's expulsion.
But in response to reporter questions at a Stratford announcement Thursday, Horwath said the Facebook discovery was the final straw following a pattern of behaviour" that concerned the party. We know it wasn't just one incident."
The party's statement Wednesday references past allegations by an office staffer that Miller made racist and homophobic remarks." Those allegations and others were initially made public ahead of the 2018 election in a human rights complaint, but later settled confidentially via arbitration.
The statement also points to an investigation into racism at Hamilton's public school board that resulted in sanctions against Miller's wife, trustee Carole Paikin Miller. The resulting report noted the trustee - and her husband - could be heard scoffing and muttering under their breath in indignation" during a phone meeting of trustees discussing anti-Black racism in relation to a school policing program.
Miller did not respond to Spectator interview requests Thursday.
But he told reporters gathered at the provincial legislature Thursday that the effort to link the unrelated school board probe to him was total nonsense" and that the 2018 human rights complaint had been settled and was a dead issue."
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com