The rightwing Social Credit Party of Canada has ousted James Keegstra, a high school teacher and Mayor of the village of Eckville, Alberta, who taught his classes that Jews are the root of all evil in the world and that the Holocaust never occurred.
Martin Hattersley, national leader of the Social Credit Party, said he requested and received Keegstra’s resignation only 10 days after the teacher was elected to the party’s executive at its recent convention and three days after a federal judge upheld Keegstra’s dismissal from the Alberta school system.
According to Hattersley, a lawyer from Edmonton, Alberta, the party delegates "did not realize it was the same Jim Keegstra" when they elected him third vice president. Keegstra’s views are "not compatible" with present day party politics, Hattersley said.
He acknowledged, however, that the theory of an international Jewish conspiracy, propounded by Keegstra, was popular with some Social Credit factions in the 1930s when the movement was transplanted to Canada from Britain and "there quite likely are other Social Credit members today who hold these views privately."
DISAVOWS OUTSIDE FACTIONS
But Hattersley insisted that the national party is "an open party (which) cannot take stands critical of any race or peoples. " He disavowed any party affiliation with outside factions that distribute Social Credit and anti-Semitic literature.
Keegstra, 48, taught social studies for 14 years at the high school in Eckville, a hamlet of 763 persons about 100 miles from Edmonton, the provincial capital. He became a figure of national controversy last December after some parents complained about his anti-Semitic indoctrination. There are no Jews in Eckville.
Keegstra was dismissed for failure to follow the prescribed curriculum after several warnings from the school board. His appeal for reinstatement was rejected by a Court of Queens Bench Judge after lengthy public hearings.
David King, the provincial Minister of Education, told the Alberta legislature last week that he was considering steps to revoke Keegstra’s teaching license. The Social Credit Party, which was in power in Alberta for more than 35 years, ending in 1971, presently has no seats in the legislature.
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