Members of a conservative Langley-based family values group plans to hold public protests Saturday in Langley and other Metro Vancouver communities over a UN immigration declaration.
Culture Guard, a group mostly known for opposing the SOGI 123 resources and their use in B.C. schools, has organized a Saturday protest on the 232nd Street highway overpass in Langley, one in Chilliwack at the Vedder overpass, and one in Burnaby at the Willingdon overpass.
The Soldiers of Odin B.C. Facebook page has also promoted the events, and urged people to protest at local city halls while wearing yellow safety vests – an echo of the yellow vest protests in France, which are largely about gas taxes and other economic issues.
This weekend’s protests are aimed at the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, set to be signed by Canada and numerous other nations on Dec. 10 or 11 in Morocco.
The compact includes a number of recommendations, including measures aimed at halting human trafficking and people smuggling, reducing the use of detention centres for refugees and migrants, and minimizing the causes of mass human migration, such as war and poverty.
It was created in the wake of a mass refugee crisis largely caused by wars in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, which displaced millions of people.
It is also entirely non-binding. The compact is not a treaty and none of the signing nations will be bound to its recommendations.
Despite this, it has drawn fire from everyone from Conservative national leader Andrew Scheer to conspiracy theorists on the far right.
Although Culture Guard’s post notes the document’s non-binding nature, it suggest the compact could “fundamentally change Canada” and could “make immigration a universal human right.”
On the Soldiers of Odin B.C. page, commenters suggested even more conspiratorial ideas about the compact.
“Keep these Migrates [sic] OUT especially ISLAM…” wrote one commenter. “I have read that in the next 5 years they want to place 239 million Muslims various countries around the world.
Another wrote: “It’s to dilute blood lines and create a new people with one language one religion and one currency.” The commenter linked the compact to the false New World Order conspiracy theory.
Culture Guard has linked itself in the past to the Hells Angels biker gang. Simpson said she invited members of the criminal group to an anti-SOGI rally she organized in Vancouver last spring. Soldiers of Odin were also involved in that protest.
READ MORE: Hells Angels invited to rally by anti-SOGI organizer
The Soldiers of Odin are an offshoot of an extreme right-wing anti-immigrant group in Europe. The Canadian chapters of the group say they are not racist, but they have been involved in a number of controversies, including clashes with anti-racism demonstrators.
The group has also caused controversy in Alberta. The provincial United Conservative Party kicked out one candidate after he had his photo taken with members of the Soldiers at a party fundraiser.