Saturday Afternoon: Interview with British Canadian John Beattie

Sept 15, 2012

John Beattie tells how he created the British Peoples’ League for the first time in 1975, helped by his wife. John is proud of his Scottish-English family roots in Toronto, and remembers with pleasure that it was an all-white city during his childhood and youth.  He talks about the importance of keeping safe our White and national/ethnic identities – in his case among the British Canadians, but tied together with the British everywhere.

We get the story of John’s “nazi” past (1965-71), straight from the horse’s mouth.  Highlights include:

• John is agitated by a brochure “Who is tampering with the Soul of America?” written by Ron Gostick;
• He reads it to a meeting of the Social Credit Party where Canadian Jewish Congress members are present;
• These members adopt Beattie as the leader of a new political party they insist on calling The Canadian Nazi Party;
• Ronald Bottaro and John and Chris Dingle become Beattie’s bodyguards, but admit later on a CBC radio Don Sim’s show they were actually agents for the Canadian Jewish Congress;
• Beattie was carried along by the “excitement” and all the booze that was provided;
• His handler was John Charles Garrity, who wrote about it in Maclean’s Magazine;
• The rent check that proved there was no real nazi party organization or headquarters;
• Beattie’s account of the Paul Fromm/Ernst Zundel hearing in 2000.

Picture above right: June 1966, William John Beattie, protected by police, harangues a crowd of 4000 in Allan Gardens Park in Toronto.