Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 13:22
Subject: How we uncovered the 'Exiles of the Golden Age'
To: Marie Landry <marielandryceo@gmail.com>
Marie --
On Monday, we published an investigation into a fascist conference in Vancouver this July.
CAHN sent a photographer to get video and pictures of everyone who attended 'Exiles of the Golden Age,' including the organizers. We found members of the Vinland Hammerskins, Active Clubs, Second Sons. We also found combat sports coaches and even a gym owner.
We identified 18 of the 50+ people from the conference, then we asked for the public's help to identify the rest.
We're a small team, and we operate on a shoestring budget. If you want to support investigations like this one, consider donating at https://www.antihate.ca/donate.
The response to the investigation has been incredible, and we've received several leads that we are working hard to verify. Thank you.
If you think you might know one of the people that attended the conference, please contact us at info@antihate.ca. All tips are confidential.
In appreciation for the response and the assistance, we wanted to share a bit about how this investigation unfolded, and give a brief peek behind the curtain.
We accomplish our work by using mostly open source intelligence, or information that's from publicly available sources. This means it's verifiable by third parties.
Some of the people from the conference were already known to us, while others weren't. In order to make the identifications, we looked at past research we had already conducted, as well as new information. We painstakingly compared and analyzed tattoos, physical features, and clothing. We combed through social media 'likes' and followers. We mapped out networks and social circles.
In some cases, the information just came together. For example, we already knew that a bunch of guys had supported one of their friends (all wearing Vinland Battlewear shirts) at a televised amateur boxing match in 2022. Turns out it was Lane Pommer, and there supporting him were several of the other organizers of this summer's conference. When Pommer showed up in our photographer's images it was a quick confirmation.
CAHN is the only organization in Canada that focuses on the far-right, and especially white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Their movement is growing. We need your support more than ever. Please help us continue our work at https://www.antihate.ca/donate.
We found other attendees through searching the social media profiles of people who weren't at this summer's event, but who were on our radar nonetheless.
Ron Pearce was identified by searching the username of another person involved in white nationalist organizing in BC. We found the two of them in a picture on Ron's Foundry Combat Sports Instagram page.
Likewise, we found Karl Storness-Bliss in the "likes" of a post made by the sister-in-law of Exiles headliner Paul Waggener, who we'd come across weeks earlier.
And then there's the guys whose faces we just have memorized from doing this work so closely for so long, like Rob De Chazal and Jesse Rankin, two long-time neo-Nazis and Hammerskins.
Our investigative work takes skills and gets results. We're the only team in the country dedicated to exposing fascist, white nationalist, and far-right activity. We provide high quality information to inspire independent advocacy and action. We've uncovered the identities of more neo-Nazis and white supremacists than any other outlet in this country, and we have no intention of stopping. But we need your help. Your generosity makes this work possible.
With gratitude,
Evan Balgord
Executive Director
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
https://www.antihate.ca/
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