AFFIDAVIT
OF
ERNST ZÜNDEL
Court File No. T-567-96
"In late October 1993, the CSIS Source learned about a threat of serious physical violence against leaders in the Jewish community by a Heritage Front member. The threat was evaluated by CSIS, and the police were notified. Ernst Zündel wanted information on the Jewish community's leaders during this time and was provided with publicly available information (see chapter V, 5.10.6((22) Footnote 22, SIRC interview with Source.
And further at 5.10.6 at page 36, the respondent SIRC wrote:
"We asked the Source about the kinds of information collected on Jewish groups and their leaders. The Source stated that Zündel tasked Bristow to obtain specific information about the names, work places, home addresses, telephone numbers and profiles of prominent Jewish individuals and groups. (135)
Zündel said that he needed the addresses of members of the Jewish community so that he could serve subpoenas, but the Source said that Bristow did not believe this. Footnote 135 - Zündel denies this allegation.
The foregoing statements are utterly false allegations.
7. SIRC's source for this false information was Grant Bristow, co-founder
and Security Chief of the Heritage Front and alleged CSIS agent.
8. In fact, I asked Bristow for the addresses of the Jewish leaders who
had been harassing me relentlessly with threats of prosecution and deportation
as a "hate monger" both before and after I won my appeal in the
Supreme Court of Canada in August of 1992. The orchestrated harassment
against me by these Jewish leaders generated a climate of violence against
me that was palpable. Ultimately this hysteria resulted in violent demonstrations
outside my home and posters with my head in the cross-hairs of a rifle
sight, a devastating arson attack in 1995, and an attempted murder by pipe
bomb the same year. I believed and still believe that these leaders of
the Jewish organizations were and are guilty under the Criminal Code of
intimidation, watching, besetting, stalking and harassment. I wished to
charge them with these offenses and believed that I required the addresses
of the leaders involved before the police would act on my complaint.
9. I also wrote to my lawyer, Barbara Kulaszka, asking for names and newspaper
clippings of those Jews who were continually calling for my arrest and
re-charging under the hate laws and deportation, and asked for legal advice
on the feasibility of such charges being laid. I also had correspondence
with the Attorney General, the Crown Attorney in Toronto and attended at
the local police division office and Crown offices in order to try to bring
criminal charges against the Jewish leaders harassing me. Attached to this
my affidavit and marked Exhibit A is a copy of such correspondence.
10. An investigator for the respondent SIRC identifying himself as John
Smith interviewed me over the telephone only days before the "Heritage
Front Affair Report" was issued in December of 1994. On the basis
of this telephone interview, with no further checking with my lawyers,
the respondent SIRC saw fit to make these accusations against me. It did
not accept my version of events as to why I wanted the addresses of the
Jewish leaders and instead found that my request was tied to threats against
the Jewish community leaders.
11. The respondent SIRC's own report "The Heritage Front Affair"
is entered against me by the Minister of Citizenship in the hearings now
going on before SIRC. The evidence of Grant Bristow contained in that report
is the only evidence disclosed to me by the respondent Minister of Citizenship
that forms a basis for alleging that I will use violence in the future
in furtherance of my political beliefs. It is utterly false information
which has proved extremely damaging to me, as these proceedings show.
12. I am unable to subpoena Bristow as I do not know his whereabouts.
13. The respondent SIRC has already proven that they accept the credibility
of Bristow over the evidence of myself and other persons and based the
whole of the Heritage Front Affair Report, in which it defends and praises
CSIS's actions, on his version of events. They have accepted his testimony
that my request for information is tied to threats against the Jewish community
leaders. This finding was an important justification for the respondent
SIRC's exoneration of Bristow and CSIS activities because in its words
(quote accidentally omitted from affidavit filed)
14. The oral testimony I wish to call is as follows:
(a) Wolfgang Droege - Droege was and is the leader of the Heritage
Front and will testify as to the goals and strategies of the organization;
the role of Grant Bristow in founding and supporting the Heritage Front
financially; the actions of Grant Bristow with respect to the harassment
campaign against anti-racists, the carrying of guns in the back of his
car, the threats of coercion and bodily harm against members of the Heritage
Front who did not want to participate in the harassment campaign; and his
tampering with a witness in the criminal trial of Eric Fischer and his
brother. Droege will also give evidence on the failure of the respondent
SIRC to elicit crucial evidence to check what Bristow was saying.
(b) Tyrone Mason - Mason is a former member of the Heritage Front
who was kidnapped, forcibly confined and beaten in 1993 by three other
members of the Heritage Front, Eric and Elkar Fischer and Drew Maynard.
Mason will testify that Bristow counselled Mason to commit perjury after
Mason laid charges against the Fischers and Maynard. Mason will testify
that the charges against Maynard were dropped because of Crown delay and
that under a Crown deal the Fischers pleaded guilty to assault and received
a sentence of 30 days. Mason had to be put into the witness protection
programme.
(c) Elisse Hategan - Hategan is a former member of the Heritage
Front who took part extensively in the harassment campaigns against anti-racists
and has knowledge of Bristow's leading role in organizing and conducting
the harassment campaign against anti-racists.
(d) Val Meredith, Derek Lee and Tom Wappel - These three
persons are all members of the House of Commons Sub-Committee on National
Security which investigated the Heritage Front Affair in 1995 and wrote
a draft report which media accounts reported found that CSIS had broken
the law in spying on the Heritage Front and covered up evidence in its
report on the affair. This report was never released.
(e) Grant Bristow - Grant Bristow is the source of the information
that I planned future violence against Jewish leaders. I should be entitled
to cross-examine Bristow in open court to show that Bristow lied about
me in the version accepted by the respondent SIRC in its report "The
Heritage Front Affair." This is a matter of credibility which should
take place in open court and for the public to see that justice is done.
(f) Ernst Zündel - My own testimony would show that the "Heritage
Front Affair" report by the respondent SIRC falsely accuses me of
eliciting the names of prominent Jews for some illicit purpose, that SIRC
is biased against the Right wing and its ideas; that it falsely portrays
the Right wing as a monolithic entity bent on political violence and destabilization;
that the evidence of Grant Bristow regarding my requests for information
was false; that the other findings of SIRC in its report concerning me
were false and show an overwhelming political prejudice and hostility to
me and to what it terms the "extreme right wing" of which it
alleges I am a leading part.
15. This evidence should be open to public scrutiny and cross-examination
in open court.
16. I believe this evidence will show reasonable apprehension of bias and
conflict of interest by the respondent SIRC.
DATED this 9th day of May, 1996.
_________ Ernst Zündel
Sworn before me at
the City of Toronto in the
Province of Ontario
this 9th day of May 1996.
___________ Commissioner for Taking Affidavits, etc.
