James Alexander McQuirter

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James Alexander McQuirter (born circa 1959) was the Grand Wizard on the Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s. In 1981 he was charged, along with Wolfgang Droege and other white supremacists, with plotting to overthrow the government of Dominica.[1] McQuirter joined the white supremacist Western Guard as a teenager and first met Droege at the age of 16 in 1975.[2] In 1976, he and Droege attended the "International Patriotic Congress" organized by American Klan leader David Duke and were recruited as Canadian organizers for Duke's Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1978, McQuirter and Armand Siksna were charged with conspiracy to distribute hate literature following a police raid on Siksna's Toronto apartment.[3]

McQuirter and Droege subsequently moved to Vancouver to join McQuirter's father in the used car business as well as organize for the Klan.[3] In 1978, McQuirter returned to Toronto and joined the National Party of Canada's executive council but, in 1979, he allowed his membership in the party to lapse due to disdain for leader Don Andrews and resumed his activity with the Klan full time. At its peak, the Canadian chapter of the Klan was estimated by researcher Stanley Barrett to have approximately 2,500 members coming from every province of Canada.[3]

Operation Red Dog, the plot to overthrow the government of Dominica and install a white supremacist haven initiated with an American mercenary and Klan sympathizer who came into contact with Droege in 1979. The Dominican government learned of the plot in 1981 and arrested Patrick John the Dominican who was to be the coup d'etat's figurehead. The FBI arrested Droege in New Orleans.[3]

With the KKK falling into disarray, McQuiter quit in the summer of 1982 with the intention of founding a more moderate organization. In August 1982, McQuirter was charged with conspiracy to murder another Klansman, Gary MacFarlane because of his abuse of his partner and the perception that he was a security risk to the Klan. McQuirter pleaded guilty.[4] He was sentenced in 1983 and served a prison term until 1989 when he was released to a Toronto half-way house.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Dominica jailer denies plotter mistreated", Globe and Mail, March 24, 1982
  2. ^ Warren Kinsella, Web of Hate:Inside Canada's Far Right Network", HarperCollins (updated paperback edition), 1994, page 249
  3. ^ a b c d e Warren Kinsella, Web of Hate:Inside Canada's Far Right Network", HarperCollins (updated paperback edition), 1994, page 253-260
  4. ^ "Sentence suspended for murder plot", Globe and Mail, May 27, 1983