A Chatham woman who leads an anti-Islamist group and an anti-hate group has been keeping a low profile lately, claiming she is under threat.
Janice Bultje, who used the alias of "Jenny Hill" up until recently, has confirmed she is a founding member of both Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) Canada and Fighting Hate in Canada.
"I have been under threat. Harassment of friends and family is unacceptable," Janice Bultje told Blackburn News in an emailed statement on Tuesday afternoon. "The mission of Pegida Canada and Fighting Hate in Canada is focusing on gathering information, conducting research and analysis, alerting law enforcement agencies and government officials and informing Canadians [through articles, social media, and rallies] about national security threats and exposing and reporting expressions of hate regardless of its origin, from the far-left to the far-right."
The mayors of Toronto and London, where Pegida Canada has held several rallies over the past two years, have tweeted "there's no place for them" and have strongly condemned the ideology and tactics of white supremacists demonstrating and disrupting their cities. However, Bultje insists Pegida Canada is a peaceful and racially diverse group that includes Muslims and focuses on research, documentation, and conveying information to Canadians concerning national security threats including, but not limited to, Islamism -- issues the groups claims are not covered by the mainstream media.
Bultje added that Pegida Canada was formed in 2015 and monitors radical Islamists in Canada who advocate values in contradiction to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, hate speech [racism, anti-gay, anti-semitism, etc.], and ideology, and terrorist attacks carried out by self-identified Islamic groups in the name of Islam. Pegida Canada labels itself as a group "for Canadians who wish to preserve their culture and want to stop the Islamization of the west" on its web page.
Pegida Canada wrote on its web page that Muslim voter turnout will be higher than ever this federal election as a result of the unprecedented number of Muslim candidates.
"As a founding member of both Pegida Canada and Fighting Hate in Canada, I believe in the importance of having a government that keeps the separation between Church and State and fights hate regardless of its origin, from the far-right to the far-left," Bultje said.
Bultje is also one of the names on the application to officially register the People's Party of Canada (PPC) and she has a PPC sign on her front lawn supporting candidate Bria Atkins.
"Maxime Bernier's motto of Freedom, Responsibility, Fairness and Respect speaks to what we advocate," added Bultje.
Like Pegida Canada, PPC Leader Maxime Bernier has spoken out against Islamism in Canada, but he also posted a rebuttal from his Twitter account in response to recent criticism of his party's views on multiculturalism.
"Instead of covering our policies, some media are still trying to link the PPC to racism and intolerance," he said. "This is despicable. So let me repeat: our members and candidates come from all religious and ethnic backgrounds, and there is NO ROOM for bigotry in our party."
Bultje identified Pegida Canada as a Canadian-based group independent of any groups bearing the name Pegida and operating outside of Canada as well as having no affiliation with Pegida Quebec.