The Heritage Front was founded in 1989 by former
Nationalist Party of Canada members
Wolfgang Droege,
Gerry Lincoln,
Grant Bristow (a plant working for the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)) and
James Scott Dawson. They were joined by
Al Overfield and other former members of the Nationalist Party who had become disenchanted with
Don Andrews's leadership and felt that a new organization and tactics were necessary. The idea for the new group was developed in early September 1989 when a delegation of 18 Canadian
far right activists were visiting
Libya at the invitation of
Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his regime. The Heritage Front formed an alliance with the
Church of the Creator and its Canadian leader
George Burdi. Other prominent figures in the Canadian far right, such as
Paul Fromm and
Ernst Zündel, worked with the Heritage Front but did not join the organization. In 1992, the Heritage Front illegally brought prominent American
neo-Nazis Tom Metzger and his son John Metzger to Canada to speak, and provided security at a speech by
Holocaust denier David Irving. Droege retired in 1995, following legal troubles, and handed leadership over to
Marc Lemire. Under Lemire's leadership, the membership of the group declined rapidly, and by 2005 it existed in name only. Now it is defunct. Droege and other members of the Heritage Front responded that evening by attacking members of ARA outside of
Sneaky Dee's, a known ARA hangout, resulting in Droege and other Heritage Front members being charged with assault. In 1995, Droege was convicted of the assault and sentenced to five months in prison. He also spent time in jail for
contempt of court and other violations relating to the Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal.
Grant Bristow, a
mole for the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), infiltrated the group and became one of its leaders. According to the CSIS and Bristow, their aim was to gather intelligence on the far right and to suppress its violent activity. Bristow's role in the group was made public in 1994 by the
Toronto Sun, and became the subject of an inquiry by the
Security Intelligence Review Committee, which published a report on the matter in that same year. ==See also==