Village Reviewing Facility Rental Policy Following Appearance by Action4Canada Founder

The Village of New Maryland is reviewing its facilities rental practices after a public meeting at the New Maryland Centre, just south of Fredericton, drew a wave of complaints.

The July 31st event, organized by ultra-conservative political campaigner Tanya Gaw, attracted both supporters and protestors

Fredericton resident Angus Fletcher was among a group of protesters who attended the meeting.

Fletcher said there were about seven protesters in a room that was “fairly packed” with perhaps 50-70 attendees. 

“For the most part, we stood at the back and observed, and, you know, occasionally quipped, or coughed loudly or whatnot, as a presence, to demonstrate opposition and be a little bit annoying,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher also said that far-right agitators should expect opposition if they hold events in the Fredericton area.

Event disrupted

When Gaw began describing Canada as an essentially Christian nation — a theme in her talks — one of the protesters shouted a comment about the Indigenous nature of the land, before starting to leave, according to Fletcher. 

“That person was then accosted by five or six members of the group and eventually left, after which the group [of Gaw supporters] called the RCMP,” Fletcher said. 

A spokesperson for the Oromocto RCMP said any altercations had ended by the time police arrived. There were no injuries or arrests, and no charges will be laid, according to Cpl. Terry Densmore.

Fletcher said her talk promoted a return to “Christian supremacy” in Canada. 

It’s unclear whether Gaw is affiliated to any specific church or religious organization. Her group, Action4Canada, didn’t respond to queries by publication time. 

Fletcher said it’s important for anti-fascists to make their presence known and to disrupt far-right mobilizations in New Brunswick and elsewhere. 

“If they build critical mass, then I think that their harassment of queer folks and of immigrants could intensify and I don’t think that we should allow it.”

Calls for cancellation 

On the day of the event, the village posted a statement on Facebook distancing itself from the far-right campaigner. 

“Unbeknownst to us, event organizers have invited a guest speaker that has previously openly and publicly expressed points of view that are not consistent with what our Council nor what we believe our community would support.”

In the statement, councillors pledged that the village would review its facility rental policy “to ensure these types of activities are avoided in the future.”

The statement noted positions espoused by Tanya Gaw on topics such as critical race theory, “part of a dangerous and harmful Marxist agenda intended to destroy the foundation of our nation.”

At one point, the village council’s statement called for locals to attend the event, if they had a problem with it, before the statement was edited to remove that section.

“We encourage all residents of our community that share our concern about these matters to join Council members and attend tonight’s event at the New Maryland Centre,” the deleted section stated.

The village eventually deleted the entire statement after it attracted perhaps hundreds of outraged comments. 

Screenshots show vocal opposition to Tanya Gaw’s appearance, though some comments reflect support for Gaw or suggest any cancellation would amount to censorship. 

Fletcher said the council appeared to be “scrambling to do something.” He felt encouraged that the village decided to acknowledge the error, instead of doing nothing.

However, he said it would be better to seek advice from local LGBTQ+ groups. “I think those groups would probably have had good advice about how to proceed as well,” he said.

Fierté Fredericton Pride learned about the event the night before it took place, and launched opposition with allies. 

Activists “worked hard to try to convince Council to cancel the meeting or, in the alternative, to let FFP help them to craft their public statement, which they did not do,” according to Jenna Lyn Albert, an FPP board member.

Village prepares for ‘similar situations’

The mayor later issued her own statement, apologizing not for the event but the upset it caused among residents. 

“We had rented the space in good faith and later, and closer to the time of the event, learned the event was not what was presented,” the mayor’s statement said, in part. 

Council will meet with staff and seek legal advice to be prepared for “similar situations arising in the future,” it said.

Gaw is one of the founders of a far-right political network called Action4Canada (A4C), which states that it has more than 100 chapters across the country. 

She recently held a speaking tour with stops in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, many of the events taking place at churches. 

A4C has published videos from those talks on Rumble, a platform popular with the far right, but no footage was available of the disrupted event in New Maryland. 

Her talks mix ordinary conservative politics — such as opposition to legal cannabis — with extreme-right talking points and appeals for donations and support with letter-writing and other political action.

In one video reviewed by the NB Media Co-op, Gaw tells her audience that Canada is “under attack” in an apparent reference to non-Christian immigrants, described as “the enemy” or worshippers of “false gods.” 

Invoking the violence of the Crusades, she insists that Canada is a “Judeo-Christian” country fundamentally at odds with Islam. She rejects diversity as a “strength,” stressing instead her vision of a homogeneous Christian state.

“This is not a multicultural nation,” she declares at one point during a two-and-a-half hour talk at the Glad Tidings Church in Moncton. Official multiculturalism has been in place for more than 50 years in Canada. 

Gaw also rejects Indigenous treaty rights, at one point stating that “unceded territories and all that is a pile of garbage.” That’s a decidedly hard-right position in a country where treaty rights are baked into constitutional law, referenced in sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. 

Fletcher noted that although many of Gaw’s views may seem ridiculous, the far right poses a real threat, particularly for marginalized people. 

“They can seem silly and worthy of discount due to the heavily conspiratorial nature of these views,” he said. “But I think that they are serious, and that the people who hold them are serious, and that they intend to act on those views.”

Other themes in Tanya Gaw’s talks include a rejection of gender diversity, climate change, and vaccinations.

Rental policy in question

Gaw's appearance in New Maryland raised questions about reasonable limits on public speech. Along with human rights legislation, there are laws against hate speech on the books, but the latter are rarely invoked. 

UNB law professor Kerri Froc previously told CBC that denying a rental based on political views could prove hard to defend in court. 

Even so, proponents of far-right politics using public space to grow their ranks will meet organized opposition, Fletcher said. 

“These are people who fairly openly talk about how they want more numbers to be able to do their organizing and I would prefer not to find out what they would do with them,” he said.

Mayor Wilson-Shee said the village council’s goal is to “make sure that no one is discriminated against in our community, and that we do support freedom of speech, within the guidelines of the Human Rights.”  

No timeline is currently available on those recommendations. 

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).