Douglas (Doug) Christie is a Canadian lawyer based in Victoria, British Columbia. He is best known for defending individuals accused of Nazi war crimes or racist, anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi activity. He is also a political activist who is the founder and leader of the Western Canada Concept, a right wing political party advocating the separation of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from Canadian Confederation.
Christie's more notable clients have included:
- Ernst Zundel, a Holocaust denier and alleged neo-Nazi;
- Terry Long , former leader of the Aryan Nations in Canada;
- James Keegstra, who was fired from his teaching job for including anti-Semitic topics in his lectures;
- Malcolm Ross , like Keegstra, a teacher fired for anti-Semitic activity;
- three alleged leaders of the Ku Klux Klan in Manitoba;
- Rudy Stanko of the World Church of the Creator;
- Tony McAleer after he was charged with broadcasting hate speech over the phone and online;
- John Ross Taylor of the Western Guard Party and Aryan Nations;
- Imre Finta who was alleged to be a Nazi war criminal and collaborator;
- Doug Collins , a late newspaper columnist brought before the British Columbia Human Rights Commission for anti-Semitic and racist comments;
- Paul Fromm, head of the far-right "Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform" and "Canadians for Freedom of Expression", and participant in neo-Nazi and racist gatherings, who was fired from his job as a teacher for his political activity;
- Lady Jane Birdwood , a British follower of Oswald Mosley and distributor of hate propaganda; and
- Wolfgang Droege of the Heritage Front.
- David Ahenakew, who has acknowledged making anti-Semitic comments in a 2002 interview with the Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Christie was the founding leader of the national Western Canada Concept, but was removed from the leadership in 1981. He was subsequently denied membership in the party's Alberta branch. He later became leader of British Columbia's provincial WCC, and led it through provincial elections in that province through the 1980s and 1990s. Christie never won a seat at the provincial or federal level, nor did the BC WCC ever win any seats in the provincial elections it contested. Christie continues to run an organization with the "Western Canada Concept" name, but it is no longer a registered political party.
In 2005, Christie announced his intention to form a new federal political party to be called the Western Block Party which would be a Western Canadian version of the Bloc Quebecois in that its role in the Canadian House of Commons would be to act as a regional separatist party.
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Last updated: 05-29-2005 01:38:44
