We talked to a Quebecer who joined the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville

Anti-racist groups in Quebec are on the hunt for a handful of men they say traveled from Canada to join the white supremacists in Charlottesville over the weekend, and appeared briefly in an opening scene of a VICE News documentary that was released on Monday.

Anti-Pegida and other media outlets have identified two of them — both from Montreal. One, Shawn Beauvais MacDonald, was a member of far-right Quebec group La Meute until Tuesday when the group kicked him out after finding out about his activities south of the border. Anti-Pegida is taking cues from similar efforts in the U.S. to name and publicly shame those who supported the white supremacists and Neo-Nazis.

Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald spoke with VICE News Canada about his beliefs and why he chose to participate in the rally that turned violent and resulted in the death of a woman, two police officers, and dozens more injuries.

I went to Charlottesville to protest the systematic erasure of Western history, and to defend the first amendment, which as a Canadian I envy very much.

There might have been hundreds of Canadians. Or maybe just a few, and perhaps the few in the picture with me are mostly American? That’s all I will say about that.

I’d have to research the historical precedent for such a memetastic chant, personally I heard “you will not replace us”. I did not see any guys in wizard pajamas but I did see some swastikas. I knew that the point of the rally had nothing to do with them so I was unfazed.

I don’t know enough about them to make a comment. For all I know their modern iterations are different from their classical counterparts. Honestly I feel that they are controlled opposition used to bury the point of these rallies by making themselves such a gaudy focal point that distracts the media by fitting their narrative.

I think he is the only ones that made a reasonable assessment of what happened in Charlottesville, and that a lot of what he says has made sense despite sometimes having a poor way of saying it.

I think that all monuments need be preserved regardless of whether they offend. Because as soon as you take one down you find reasons to take them all down.

Can’t remember where, but on the internet.

I’ve read some satirical articles, last I heard it had been taken down for being too offensive.

No, but I’m proud of being white and feel that as a race we need to take pride in ourselves and our cultural accomplishments and stop living in the manufactured shame academia has bestowed upon us.

Read the VICE News Guide to Charlottesville here, and watch VICE News Tonight’s full episode of “Charlottesville: Race and Terror” below.

Yes, and I understand their decision and support it. The way my involvement with the rally is presented is incongruent with what they stand for. Despite all the accusations they face, they fight for a noble and just cause.

I doubt there is that many, I just find most of them to be sad and hateful people.

They are misguided idiots. Tools of a globalist system that they ironically seek to oppose, and considering their consistent violent tactics should be considered a terrorist organization.

It was rough a few times, this is why I wore a helmet, not because I wanted to involve myself in violence but because I knew would be subject to violence.

I do not believe it was a premeditated act of terrorism. From what I see it was manslaughter. Whether or not he did it out of spite or out of fear I do not condone his acts.

Yes I would. I think that the people responsible for violence are whoever organized the police force. I have been at rallies in Montreal and the SPVM always does an amazing job of keeping both sides separate. In Charlottesville it felt as if they wanted to force a confrontation. If I need to point a finger, I would point it at antifa. They are the ones that came with dangerous projectiles such as bottles filled with ice and/or cement, that pepper sprayed people, that threw urine and attacked people with sticks and bats. They are the ones that failed to disperse when the state of emergency was called.

No.

I only met Duke and Cantwell. I haven’t looked deeply into their personal histories but can say they both have a great energy and treated me with respect. They speak on topics I am not well informed about so I cannot agree or disagree with them without doing my own research. Ultimately I see them raising awareness for the preservation of Western European people and the North American settlers that come from that stock, and they do not promote violence in order to preserve that identity.

(In a VICE News documentary, Cantwell openly talked about killing people if necessary and a warrant has since been issued for his arrest.)

With files from Rachel Browne