An anti-racist group says it has identified two Canadians who marched alongside white nationalists at a deadly weekend rally in Virginia.
鈥淭he goal is simple,鈥� Anti-Pegida Quebec said in a statement. 鈥淣azi behaviour must not be accepted, tolerated or excused鈥� (T)hese people from Montreal crossed borders to commit hateful and violent acts, it鈥檚 a crime!鈥�
Anti-Pegida Quebec, which draws its name from European anti-Islam group PEGIDA, posted screengrabs from a portion of a from Charlottesville in which five Canadian men are featured. The group claims to have identified two of the men, both of whom, they say, are from Quebec.
鈥淭welve hours from our car -- we've been driving from north of the border,鈥� one of the men says in the VICE News documentary, speaking in accented English. 鈥淚n Canada, hurting people's feelings is basically illegal.鈥�
According to the anti-racist group, one of those men is a known member of La Meute, a far-right Quebec-based anti-Islam group.
In an interview with CTV Montreal, however, La Meute spokesperson Sylvain Brouillette said the outed individual claims that he is not a white supremacist but nevertheless voluntarily withdrew his membership Tuesday night so as not to implicate La Meute with his personal actions.
La Meute, which has hosted demonstrations against radical Islam and illegal immigration, mostly operates as a private Facebook group -- a necessity, Brouillette said, as members fear losing their jobs if they were to be outed. The group, he said, will still go ahead with a planned demonstration in Quebec City on Sunday.
The legality of identifying demonstration participants online depends on the context, Montreal lawyer Mark Bantey, who specializes in media law, told CTV Montreal.
鈥淥nce you're participating in a demonstration, it's fair game to publish your photo,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's fair game to identify you as a participant.鈥�
The only limitation, he cautioned, is defamation laws.
鈥淢ake sure if you are going to call people out that you've got the right people and that you don't go too far in your comments,鈥� he said.
Anti-Pegida Quebec follows the lead of the Twitter account , which has made a name for itself by posting photos of participants at white nationalist rallies in the hopes of identifying them.
With a report from CTV Montreal鈥檚 Denise Roberts
