In late 2021 or early 2022 a group of “frens” from southern Ontario got together, drawing on their experiences with previous nationalist groups, to form their own neo-Nazi active club for southwestern Ontario.  Beginning with stickering campaigns and now having moved on to meetups and training in boxing/MMA, they are becoming more active with potential for more of their form of hate, threats, and “activism” on the horizon. With that said, it’s time to unmask some of them before they do.

As to not repeat anything that’s already been said about them, it’s recommended you read these two articles about Nationalist-13 and their network to accompany this post, I’ll add more links at the end of this post:

1. “Hamilton’s neo-Nazis claim to the part of the ‘fastest growing nationalist community in Canada” (LaFleche, 2023)
2. “Former Canadian Proud Boys behind neo-Nazi propaganda network” (Smith, 2022)

In summary, former Canadian Proud Boys and friends (some American) help operate a network of neo-Nazi propaganda channels on social media, including ‘Canada First’ and the ‘Western Chauvinist’.  The Proud Boys brand is banned in Canada as a terrorist entity so it was after that and an ideological split that the Canadian PB’s eventually became more overtly Nazi. This led to failed attempts at networking in person and eventually led to the formation of Nationalist-13 with members in Hamilton, Brantford, and the area.

Neo-Nazi active clubs are “decentralized local organizations dedicated to sport, martial arts training, propaganda and street actions.” (GPAHE, 2023).  In Canada the main Active Club brand was run by the Vinland Hammerskins, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Nationalist-13.

Operating independently likely shielded their group from the fallout of the Active Club brand’s legal troubles in Canada. They organize in person meetups with their group in Hamilton and occasionally with two other regional active club type groups; Toronto Fitness Club and Frontenac Active Club (Quebec). Toronto Fitness Club is a new group that seems to be former members of other Toronto area nationalist movements and newbies. There also seems to be some push to move their group closer to Diagolon, especially to Diagolon leaders like Alex Vriend (aka Ferryman), which warrants monitoring in the future.

Fast facts: 

• Nationalist-13 has around 15-20 members
• 13 in their name stands for AC or “Aryan cult”
• Members are from Hamilton, Brantford, Niagara, St Catherines, and Southwestern Ontario
• Steel City Nationalist Club (Hamilton) and Bell City Nationalists (Brantford) were two failed splinter groups comprised of members of Nationalist-13.
• The Proud Boys were listed as a terrorist entity in 2021
• Active Club Canada has three members with current terrorism charges, Patrick MacDonald, Kristopher Nippak, and Matthew Althorpe.
• Nationalist-13 support Diagolon and appear to be trying to improve that relationship

Members:

“If the big bad NS punchers wanna take their shot, here we are” – Nationalist-13 Telegram.

Brandon Lapointe – previously identified as one of the former Canadian Proud Boys running a neo-Nazi social media network, Brandon is also the former leader of the local Hamilton Proud Boys.  Brandon appears to either be the leader or a co-leader of Nationalist-13, appearing in most group photos and appearing to run the Nationalist-13 social media accounts, as well as stickering campaigns to push hate and recruit for their group. Brandon has also gone to meetups with Active Club Canada, and was part of the short lived Steel City Nationalist Club.

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Tim Kelly – small round angry unfunny comic from Brantford, also previously identified as a former Proud Boy that is part of a neo-Nazi social media network, Tim was considered a “Proud Boy elder” with connections to other Proud Boys leaders like Enrique Tarrio. Tim was seen at the convoy occupation of Ottawa in 2022 hanging out with Diagolon neo-Nazi Alex Vriend, and he was part of the short lived/failed Bell City Nationalist Club out of Brantford.

Some extra reading about Tim Kelly:

• “The continued collapse of the Proud Boys: A brief look at Gavin McInnes, Tim Kelly, and Matt Linder” (ARC, 2018)
• “Tim vs Tim! Tim vs Tim!” (ARC, 2019)

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Gabe Costen – also goes by Gabe Baker, like Tim and Brandon is also a former Canadian Proud Boy who was named along with them in previous articles. Gabe appears in many of the group meetups and in training compilation videos.

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“Kurt Hitchens” – Though we are unable to confirm if this is his real name, it is what he goes by on multiple platforms and old social media accounts.  Kurt is a wildly racist man who’s been responsible for some of the stickering campaigns across Hamilton with both Nazi and Active Club recruiting propaganda.  He’s gone to many of their meetups in person for training and sparring, and was part of the short lived failed Hamilton group the Steel City Nationalist Club.

 

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Rob Corrigan – from St. Catherines and one of the younger members, he’s a regular sight at their group meetups and training video compilations.  He also has a relative who’s very likely part of the group or connected to them in some way, but we aren’t identifying them at this point.

 

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Tamara Grant – from Hamilton and the wife of Brandon Lapointe, mother of Ethan Brewer Grant. She appears in some group photos and used to run a now deleted small racist Telegram page with Brandon.

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Ethan Brewer Grant – son of Tamara Grant, stepson of Brandon Lapointe, from the east coast of Canada and only recently came to Hamilton.  Among the first things he did while in Ontario was to hang out with his stepfathers group.  Ethan is also into creating music, so it’s a concern that his stepfather is grooming him to be a fascist rapper.

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Keith Ono – Keith, who’s from Kitchener, is another former Canadian Proud Boy, honourably discharged from Canadian Armed Forces, and is now into fitness/MMA.  Has “Hold Fast” tattooed on his knuckles, a gun on the side of his head, and a red sun tattoo on his neck which could indicate Japanese heritage in his family.

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Nicolas Bennett – Nicholas is a tattoo artist and former Proud Boy from London and Goderich, who was also named as being part of the neo-Nazi network of social media channels with the others.  He calls himself Aryan Theocratic Socialist (translation: Nazigoof loser), and he’s part of a mostly online Nazi cult church based in the United States. His role with Nationalist-13 is more of a support one. Some extra reading on him:

• “London, ON Proud Boy Nicolas Bennett Behind Extremist Telegram Channel” (ARC, 2020)

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Steven Barker – from Hamilton and friend of Brandon Lapointe, is one of the regulars that comes to the group meetups for sparring and propaganda pictures in Hamilton, has almost no social media presence but has appeared on the groups Telegram page. Has a Totenkopf tattoo on his left hand with “heil” on the knuckles.

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Final thoughts:

While this isn’t every member of Nationalist-13, it’s only a matter of time before we confirm the rest.
If you know anything about anyone in this group, reach out.

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Extra images:

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Further reading:

• “Hate propaganda spread through neo-Nazi icons and memes”, (LaFleche, 2023)
• “The Proud Boys Never Fully Went Away” (Hart/Davies, 2022)
• “Neo-Nazi Fight Clubs Have Gone Dark Since Terror Arrests in Canada” (Lamoureux, 2024)
• ”Neo-Nazi Active Clubs Spreading Globally, Allying with Similar Extremists, and Taking to the Streets”, (GPAHE, 2023)