John Garrity, 37-year-old former sheriff’s officer for York County, revealed in a feature article in the October 1 issue of Maclean’s Magazine, a national Canadian publication, that for 16 months he infiltrated the neo-Nazi group of John Beattie and became his trusted confidante. Mr. Garrity, who functioned under his own name, writes that he was engaged for this purpose as a private investigator by the Canadian Jewish Congress in Toronto, to whom he turned over the membership lists, files, confidential documents and recorded conversations.
According to Mr. Garrity, the movement is small in numerical strength and quite weak financially. The movement has about 15 active members in the Toronto-Oshawa-Hamilton area and 50 supporters who would extend financial aid from time to time. However, despite its pettiness and poverty, Mr. Garrity regards it as potentially a serious threat, He has tape recordings of intimate conversations between Beattie and George Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, and also of committee meetings.
Sydney Midanik, chairman of the Ontario Regional Community Relations Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai B’rith, issued the following statement: “This article was seen by us only after publication. We neither sought its publication or preparation, had no prior knowledge of it and were not consulted. Nevertheless, we can confirm the substantial accuracy of the account given insofar as it concerns the involvement of the Canadian Jewish Congress. We conveyed all information received to the law enforcement and investigative agencies.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
