Elisa Hategan

Elisa Hategan (born December 17, 1974), formerly known as Elisse Hategan, is a Romanian-Canadian author, freelance journalist, and antiracist activist. As a teenager she was a member and spokesperson for the Heritage Front, a now-defunct white supremacist organization in Canada. She broke with the group and testified against them in court,

Early life and education Hategan was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1974. When she was 11 years old, she emigrated to Canada with her father, joining her mother who had moved to Canada earlier. Her father returned to Romania, where he died in 1988, leaving Elisa with her mother in Toronto, where they lived in the Regent Park neighborhood.

Hategan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa in 1999 with a degree in criminology and psychology. after running away from home and being placed in foster care. She was "groomed to be the young, female voice of the movement".

In the same year she was charged with hate crimes for distributing a Heritage Front leaflet. The charges were later dropped after it was revealed she gave the document to anti-racist activists in order to warn them.

Hategan's articles have appeared in Maclean's magazine, Global News, Canadian Jewish News, and NOW Magazine.

In recent years, Hategan has given speeches and been active as an educator against racism, extremism, and the white supremacist movement.

Legal issues In late 2018, Hategan filed a lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Elizabeth Moore, who had been part of the Heritage Front at the same time as Hategan, and Bernie Farber. Hategan alleged that Moore, who had also left the Heritage Front and campaigned against anti-semitism afterwards, "appropriated aspects of Hategan’s life and identity for Moore’s benefit and financial gain." Ferguson called the suit "frivolous" and a "waste of time".