Max French

David Maxwell (Max) French (born 1960)^[1] is a far-right political activist in Canada and a leading figure of the Heritage Front.

A railway brakeman by training, ^[2] in 1988, French was a fringe candidate running to be mayor of Scarborough, Ontario^[3] as the candidate of the white supremacist Nationalist Party of Canada.^[4]

During the campaign he described himself as a "white racist"^[5] and in future campaigns would say he was concerned about keeping the race "pure".^[2]

French ran for mayor of Scarborough again in 1991^[6] when he finished in third place with 3,784 votes^[7] and again in 1994, this time as a candidate for the Heritage Front^[7] (and initially claiming to be a "Reform Party/Heritage Front" candidate). On September 16, 1994, shortly after he announced his mayoral candidacy, French was expelled from the Reform Party after boasting in the press about being a member of both Reform and the Heritage Front^[8] Reform leader Preston Manning alleged that this was part of a plot to discredit the party.^[9] In this final attempt at election French came in fifth place with 2,792 votes^[10] or less than 3% of the vote.

In 1993, French emceed a Heritage Front rally in Kitchener, Ontario and paid tribute to Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel telling the audience "Without Zundel, we couldn't sit down here tonight and ridicule the Holocaust and everything that goes with it."^[11]

French was a central character in the so-called "Heritage Front Affair" involving Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) informant Grant Bristow and was one of several Heritage Front members whose attempt to infiltrate the Reform Party of Canada with Bristow's alleged assistance prompted a review by the Security Intelligence Review Committee.^[12] The report, which included a profile of French, claimed that French collected uniforms that belonged to dead Nazis and was nicknamed the "Necronazi" for his efforts; French denied being aware of he nickname.^[12]

In 1989, French and several other members of the Nationalist Party of Canada travelled to Libya to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the 1969 Libyan Revolution. Factional divisions within the Nationalist Party, as well as dissatisfaction with leader Don Andrews, were exacerbated as a result of the trip and Droege, Gerry Lincoln and others decided to form a new neo-Nazi organization which was launched as the Heritage Front in September.^[13] French joined the new organization several years later after he had a falling out with Andrews.^[14] He was also one of several neo-Nazis who infiltrated the Reform Party of Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s prior to being expelled.^[14] in 1994 when he ran as a "Heritage Front/Reform Party" candidate for Mayor of Scarborough.

Following the murder of Wolfgang Droege, French eulogized his long-time friend, associate and neighbour calling him "the Michelangelo of the white separation movement."^[15]

References

1. ^ "Civic election '88:The candidates", Toronto Star, November 10, 1988
2. ^ ^{a b} "City of Scarborough, Election '91", Toronto Star, November 7, 1991
3. ^ Abate, Gay, "Scarborough's mayor calls it quits", Globe and Mail, October 10, 1988
4. ^ Abate, Gay, "Scarboro features cheap, glossy campaigns", Globe and Mail, November 12, 1988
5. ^ Josey, Stan, "Freeze development in Rouge, Scarborough candidate says", Toronto Star, October 20, 1988
6. ^ "North York may restrict nominee's spending", Toronto Star, June 26, 1991
7. ^ ^{a b} Taylor, Sterling, "Battle's on to be Scarborough mayor Safer streets, more new jobs common issues in 6-way race", Toronto Star, September 21, 1994
8. ^ Canadian Press, "Reform expels member of racist group", Globe and Mail, September 17, 1994
9. ^ "Plot to discredit Reform alleged", Vancouver Sun, September 17, 1994
10. ^ "Municipal Council: Final results", Toronto Star, November 16, 1994
11. ^ Ries, Barry, "Few protest as white supremacists meet : Supporters shout "Sieg heil' and use Nazi salute" The Record (Kitchener), May 17, 1993
12. ^ ^{a b} Humphreys, Adrian, "Neo-Nazis, white supremacists drawn to Zundel hearing: A 'lightning rod' for far-right groups" National Post, May 17, 2003
13. ^ Security Intelligence Review Committee, The Heritage Front Affair, A report to the Solicitor General of Canada (Section 3), December 9, 1995
14. ^ ^{a b} Security Intelligence Review Committee, The Heritage Front Affair, A report to the Solicitor General of Canada (Section 7.71), December 9, 1995
15. ^ Brieger, Peter, "Neo-Nazi killer who acted out of paranoia gets 10 years", National Post, June 17, 2006

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Name	French, Max
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Date of birth	1960
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