National Unity Party (Canada) - 1930s

1930s

The party was formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. It was known in English as the Christian National Socialist Party. Arcand was a Quebec-based fascist and anti-semite. An admirer of Adolf Hitler, Arcand referred to himself as the "Canadian führer".

In October 1934, the party merged with the Canadian Nationalist Party, which was based in the Prairie provinces. By the mid 1930s, the party had some success, with a few thousand members mainly concentrated in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.

In June 1938, it merged with Nazi and other racist clubs in Ontario and Quebec, many of which were known as Swastika clubs, to form the National Unity Party at a national convention held in Kingston, Ontario. At a time of English-French Canadian tension, Arcand tried to create a pan-Canadian (English and French) nationalist political movement. It was based on the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany. Arcand then proceeded to Toronto where his new party held a rally of 800 supporters at Massey Hall. However, the anti-fascist Canadian League for Peace and Democracy held a simultaneious rally of 10,000 people at Maple Leaf Gardens in opposition to Arcand.

The group was known colloquially as the "Blue Shirts", and commonly fought with immigrants, Canadian minorities and leftist groups. The group boasted that it would seize power in Canada, but the party exaggerated its own influence.