Court rejects bequest to U.S. hate group

Far-right activist Paul Fromm's Canadian Association for Free Expression launched the appeal.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of a lower court invalidating a bequest of nearly $275,000 to a U.S,-based white supremacist organization.

In a brief decision released on July 30, the court agreed with the trial judge that such a bequest to the National Alliance would violate public policy.

“[The trial judge] made this determination on the basis that the purposes of the National Alliance and the activities and communications it undertakes to promote its purposes, are illegal and contrary to the public policy of Canada and New Brunswick… We are in substantial agreement with the essential features of the carefully considered reasons of the application judge,” the three-man court ruled.

The case involved a bequest by Robert Harry McCorkill, a retired chemist who died about 11 years ago in Saint John, N.B. McCorkill (also known as McCorkell) was a supporter of the National Alliance, a Virginia-based organization that espouses white supremacist views.

McCorkill’s estate consists largely of a valuable coin collection and some cash.

His sister, Isabelle McCorkill, contested the bequest.

The case was brought before the Court of Appeal by the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE), an organization headed by Paul Fromm. Fromm has long associated with extremist groups and CAFE’s website is currently asking supporters to write to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ask that she free “political prisoner” Ernst Zundel, a notorious neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denier who was active in Canada for decades and deported to Germany in 2005.

CAFE’s application to the court was opposed by McCorkill’s sister, the province of New Brunswick and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

CIJA Chair David Cape said “a transfer of this size would have provided a significant boost to a hate group that has struggled financially in recent years.

“Last month’s horrific, racist attack on a Charleston, S.C., church is a sobering reminder of the need to use legal tools to counter those who foment hatred. We commend the courts for their diligent work in arriving at this precedent-setting decision, which has the potential to have a significant impact on hate groups in future.

“We will continue to explore ways of countering threats to the Jewish community through the Canadian legal system, with the aim of reducing the capacity of hate organizations to target any minority group,” Cape added.