Andrew Scheer and members of his Conservative caucus attended and spoke at the Yellow Vests Convoy rally in Ottawa. Attendees of the rally included white nationalist Faith Goldy and members of prominent far-right anti-immigrant hate groups.

Scheer delivered a speech at the rally, assuring participants the “we’re fighting for you. We’re standing with you.”

The Convoy has been plagued by controversy as it made its way from Alberta to Ottawa.

Groups such as Anti-Hate Canada and Yellow Vests Canada Exposed chronicled numerous examples of anti-immigrant comments, connections to hate group members and threats to politicians by Yellow Vests Convoy and Yellow Vests members.

Scheer did not acknowledge or mention any of the controversy surrounding the group, though he did take time to pose near a sign that called on Prime Minister Trudeau to be “tried for treason”.

Anti-Hate Canada and Yellow Vests Canada Exposed tracked over 100 examples of overt racism and death threats from Yellow Vests Canada members, including Tony Green who was arrested on January 28th after allegedly pointing a firearm at an off-duty RCMP officer; and Gregory McNeil, who made death threats towards law enforcement.

Sault Ste. Marie Yellow Vests organizer Dave Selvers previously called immigration minister Ahmed Hussen an “ugly n** . . . responsible for flooding Canada with useless n** muslim terrorists.”

While Conservative politicians exclusively focused on the convoy’s message about oil market access, Yellow Vests Convoy supporters focused their energy anti-immigrant issues.

White nationalist Faith Goldy, who claimed to be in touch with the convoy organizers, complained that there was too much coverage about energy and not enough on immigration issues.

Members of far-right hate groups were present throughout the Yellow Vests Convoy. This included World Wide Coalition Against Islam member Christopher Hayes; a member of the Northern Guard, a group with ties to neo-Nazis; and rumours of people wearing hats from the far-right Canadian Combat Coalition.

Previous Yellow Vests Canada events included attendees such as prominent Canadian neo-Nazis Paul Fromm and Brian Ruhe.

Scheer is increasingly engaging with and expressing support for ideas and issues championed by the far-right. Scheer has increasingly adopted anti-refugee rhetoric championed by Donald Trump by spreading lies and misinformation about asylum seekers.

Scheer appeared numerous times on the alt-right network Rebel Media, which has rehired Gavin McInnes, the founder of the hate group Proud Boys. Scheer’s campaign manager was also a co-founder of Rebel Media.

A report by PressProgress showed that 25% of the Conservative caucus appeared on the Rebel Media.

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