F. Paul Fromm

Frederick Paul Fromm (born January 3, 1949) is a Canadian former high school teacher, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and perennial political candidate.

Fromm is the international director of the white supremacist organization Council of Conservative Citizens and is the director of several far-right groups in Canada, most notably the Canadian Association for Free Expression, Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform and the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee.

He has hosted a radio show on the Stormfront web site and has ties to former Ku Klux Klan members David Duke, Don Black, and Mark Martin, a white supremacist rally organizer in Covington, Ohio. The National Post newspaper described him as "one of Canada's most notorious white supremacists".

Fromm lived in Mississauga, Ontario, for several decades before moving to Hamilton, Ontario, in 2018.

Early life and education

Fromm was born in Bogotá, Colombia, to Canadian parents and grew up in Etobicoke, Ontario, in a devout Catholic family. His mother, Marguerite Michaud, was of French-Canadian descent, while his father, Frederick William Fromm, was of German and Irish ancestry.

His father served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. After the war, he qualified as a chartered accountant and worked for an oil company in Colombia. Following Fromm's birth, the family returned to Ontario, where his father worked as an accountant for the provincial Department of Highways, now the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.

Fromm attended the University of Toronto, studying at St. Michael's College. He earned a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in English and a teaching qualification.

In September 1991, Fromm attended a public meeting about race relations at which Indigenous activist Rodney Bobiwash of the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto was speaking. Fromm called out "scalp them", prompting the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Native Canadian Centre and Toronto community-relations officials to call for the Peel board to review his employment. Fromm maintained that the remark had been misinterpreted and said that he kept his political activities separate from his teaching.

In 1992, members of the Peel board viewed a recording of a speech Fromm had delivered to the Heritage Front two years earlier. The board asked the provincial government to review his teaching certificate, warned him to end his involvement with racist organizations and urged the Ontario Teachers' Federation to formulate guidelines governing teachers' political conduct. The federation responded that professional-conduct requirements already existed and that responsibility for disciplinary action rested with the school board.

The board reassigned Fromm from secondary-school teaching to adult education in 1993. Its chair described the transfer as the strongest measure then legally available to the board and suggested that adult students would be better able than adolescents to challenge inappropriate conduct.

The Peel board dismissed Fromm in 1997 because of his continued involvement in white-supremacist activities. He subsequently faced professional-misconduct proceedings before the Ontario College of Teachers. Following hearings held between 2005 and 2007, the college revoked his teaching certificate on October 31, 2007.

White supremacist activities

Fromm was an admirer of Fidel Castro in the early 1960s, but changed his views after coming across the writings of Barry Goldwater. The Edmund Burke Society was a right-wing anti-communist group that agitated against prominent left-wing movements. The group would often disrupt left-wing rallies and events, sometimes violently. The group's main focus was opposition to the New Left and other left-wing tendencies that the Society associated with communism. In 1970, the group disrupted a speech by left-wing radical lawyer, William Kunstler, with Fromm climbing on stage and pouring a glass of water on Kunstler's lecture notes, resulting in the Chicago Seven's lawyer drenching Fromm with a pitcher of water. A melee between EBS members and Kunstler's supporters ensued, and Fromm was knocked to the floor unconscious.

With the support of members of the Edmund Burke Society, Fromm was elected president of the Ontario Social Credit Party in 1971, and was able to have other EBS members elected to the party's executive. Three Social Credit candidates in the 1971 Ontario election were avowed "Burkers".

In May 1972, Fromm was the opening speaker at a Western Guard banquet honouring Robert E. Miles, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who became a leading ideologue in the Christian Identity movement. Later, he denied ever having been a member of the Guard, saying he "never had any connection" with the organization. When confronted with his 1973 letter, he dismissed it as "a matter of semantics".

On August 4, 2008, Fox News interviewed Fromm in relation to the prosecution of right-wing Canadian author Mark Steyn. The Southern Poverty Law Center criticised Fox for identifying Fromm only as a "Free Speech Activist".

In 2010, Fromm organized small protests across the country against the admission of a group of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees arriving on the MV Sun Sea. In August he led a small protest in Calgary with members of the Aryan Guard outside of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's constituency office which "so terrified the receptionist that she locked the door and would not accept Mr. Fromm's delivery of a letter until police arrived". He also organized a small protest with Doug Christie in Esquimalt, British Columbia, where the boat was docked and also led small pickets later in the month in Ottawa and Hamilton. In 1981, Fromm founded Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE), in opposition to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. CAFE has been active defending the rights of accused antisemites, racists and Holocaust deniers against prosecution under hate crime and human rights legislation.

Fromm attempted to enter mainstream political activity by joining the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected treasurer of PC Metro, a network of 31 Toronto PC riding associations on April 15, 1981. He angered many people and embarrassed both the federal and Ontario Progressive Conservatives when a profile in The Globe and Mail quoted him as saying that breeding a "supreme race" for intelligence was a good idea, and as calling for Vietnamese refugees to be sent to "desert islands" off the Philippines and Indonesia rather than be accepted into Canada where they would "upset the racial balance". His comments resulted in Progressive Conservative premier Bill Davis being asked in the legislature whether he is willing "to tolerate such neo-fascist, if not fascist, ideas within the Conservative Party".

In 1983, Fromm was an active supporter of right-wing Member of Parliament John A. Gamble's unsuccessful bid to win the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservatives. Fromm's work with Gamble continued beyond his unsuccessful leadership bid, and included work in the World Anti-Communist League.

In the late 1980s, Fromm was an active member of the Reform Party, but was essentially expelled in October 1988 when leader Preston Manning sent Fromm a letter asking him to "dissociate" himself from the party, following complaints by party members about the racist tenor of a speech Fromm made at a Reform Party gathering. In the 1988 federal election, Fromm ran as a candidate for the Confederation of Regions Party in the riding of Mississauga East, and received 288 votes.

In 1997, Fromm was a candidate for the public school board in Peel Region. He received 827 votes (10.39% of ballots cast), coming in last of four candidates.

Fromm was a candidate for mayor of Mississauga, Ontario in the October 25, 2010, municipal election, running on an anti-immigration platform. Fromm reportedly made racist and homophobic comments during his campaign and displayed white supremacist and Holocaust denial literature at his campaign tables. He claimed that train stations in the city looked "like flippin' Calcutta" and that the city had been "paved over with ticky tacky houses that are mostly filled with East Indians" Fromm again ran for Mayor of Mississauga in 2014 receiving 775 votes (0.48%) and coming in 10th in a field of 15.

In the 2011 federal election, Fromm stood in Calgary Southeast as the candidate of the far right Western Block Party against immigration minister Jason Kenney, on a platform advocating a freeze in immigration. Kenney was re-elected, winning over 76% of the vote, while Fromm received 193 votes, around 0.3%.

In 2016, Fromm attempted to join the Conservative Party of Canada in order to support the leadership campaign of Kellie Leitch due to her support for immigration reform and a "Canadian values" test for prospective immigrants. Leitch's campaign co-chair Sander Grieve wrote back to Fromm, saying: "We have not processed your membership and we will not be submitting it to the party, as we believe your public statements are not consistent with the principles of the party or the policies being advanced by our campaign."

Fromm endorsed socially conservative candidate Tanya Granic Allen in the 2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election. Although she did not respond when originally asked for comment by the Toronto Star, Granic Allen later publicly stated on Twitter that she rejects his endorsement with the statement: "No place in our party for white supremacists."

Fromm was a candidate for the Canadians' Choice Party in Etobicoke Centre during the 2018 Ontario general election, receiving 631 votes (1.1%).

Fromm moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 2018, after having lived in Mississauga for several decades, and registered as a candidate for Mayor of Hamilton in the October 2018 municipal election. Fromm came in 7th in a field of 15 with 706 votes which represented 0.51% of the total vote.

In July 2019, Fromm posed for a photo with Maxime Bernier, party leader of the People's Party of Canada. He later endorsed Bernier on Twitter, writing that Bernier had "both the charisma and determination to put CANADA FIRST," and praising the former Conservative leadership contender's immigration policies as steps toward "regaining control" of Canada's border.

Recent electoral activity

Fromm ran for mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, in the 2022 Hamilton, Ontario, municipal election. He finished eighth among nine candidates, receiving 898 votes, or 0.63 per cent.

He contested the 2023 Scarborough—Guildwood provincial by-election as the Canadians' Choice Party candidate, receiving 66 votes, or 0.43 per cent.

Fromm returned to Etobicoke Centre as the Canadians' Choice candidate in the 2025 Ontario general election. He received 479 votes, or 1.04 per cent, finishing sixth among eight candidates.

In 2026, Fromm registered as a candidate for mayor in the 2026 Hamilton, Ontario, municipal election, scheduled for October 26.

Links to other prominent fascists and racists

In the 1990s, Fromm spoke at several Heritage Front events, including a celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday. He was transferred to an adult education centre by the board in 1993 pending the outcome of an investigation into his activities and then fired by the school board in 1997. Fromm organized rallies in support of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel and has shared a stage with David Irving, another individual active in the same denialist movement. Following three days of hearings, further deliberations were postponed. The hearing resumed in the spring of 2007 In 2006, he represented the Canadian Heritage Alliance at a CHRT hearing in Toronto, and supported John Beck of the group BC White Pride at a CHRT hearing in Penticton, British Columbia. Fromm has been described as a mentor to younger "far-right extremists" such as Melissa Guille and Jason Ouwendyk He identifies himself as an advocate for "white nationalists".

On March 21, 2009, Fromm participated in a "White Pride" march organized by the Aryan Guard, a neo-Nazi gang in Calgary, Alberta.

Recent far-right activity

In March 2019, the hate-crimes unit of the Hamilton Police Service investigated Fromm after a website associated with him reproduced the manifesto attributed to Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant. A link to the document was also posted through Fromm's social-media account. Fromm described the manifesto as "cogent" and said that violence was not the correct approach, but claimed that political elites had made it nearly inevitable.

In September 2019, a Hamilton City Council committee unanimously rejected Fromm's request to address council about what he characterized as free-speech concerns arising from the city's response to demonstrations in public places.

In August 2020, Fromm donated $131 to Derek Sloan's unsuccessful campaign in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. The donation became public in January 2021. Sloan said that his campaign had processed the contribution without recognizing Fromm's name and that he asked the party to return it after learning of it.

In July 2022, Fromm participated in a small demonstration outside the Toronto constituency office of federal diversity and inclusion minister Ahmed Hussen. The demonstrators opposed an educational toolkit produced by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and carried Canadian Red Ensign flags. According to the network, the participants included Fromm and other longtime far-right organizers.

In November 2023, Fromm addressed a gathering in Truro, Nova Scotia, associated with the Maritime chapter of the Active Club Network, an international network of neo-Nazi groups organized around physical fitness and combat training. According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, the organizers credited Fromm with helping to establish an earlier generation of the Canadian white-nationalist movement.

Opposition Fromm's "Alternative Forum" meetings have been the targets of demonstrations, and have been disrupted and occasionally shut down by protesters.

On August 19, 2006, dozens of anti-fascist youths surrounded Fromm's Port Credit, Ontario townhouse, challenging Fromm to come outside. Although he reportedly remained inside, approximately half a dozen neo-Nazis were present outside his home. Over 50 police officers were on call to protect Fromm and his supporters. The area was plastered in flyers advertising Fromm's home address and far-right political affiliations. The protest ended without incident.

On his way to an April 19, 2007 Ontario College of Teachers hearing into his conduct, Fromm was involved in a scuffle with Jewish Defense League (JDL) members in an elevator. Protesters claimed that Fromm shoved them, but Fromm asserts that the JDL members lunged at him. Police arrested two protesters, charging them with assault, assaulting police, and obstructing.

In 2015, Fromm said in an interview posted on YouTube that he was denied entry into the United States by the Department of Homeland Security.

Libel case Fromm and his Canadian Association for Free Expression were sued by Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman for libelling the anti-racist activist in various online posts. On November 23, 2007, Ontario Superior Court Justice Monique Métivier ruled in Warman's favour, ordering Fromm to pay Warman a total of $30,000 in damages and to post full retractions on all the websites on which he posted the defamatory comments within 10 days. Métivier found that Fromm posted statements about Warman "either knowing the fundamental falseness of the accusations he levelled at Mr. Warman, or being reckless as to the truth of these". Métivier added that "The steady diet of diatribe and insults, couched in half-truths and omissions, all lead up to the finding of malice such that the defamatory statements are not protected by the defence of fair comment".

On December 15, 2008, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the original $30,000 defamation judgment against Fromm and added a $10,000 penalty in legal costs. Fromm posted a financial appeal complaining, "We are $17,500 behind in our legal bills – to say nothing of the possible $40,000 debt, if this judgment stands".

Electoral record

Votes %

Source: City of Hamilton, 2022, "2022 Official Election Results"

Votes % ±%

Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.

Public School Trustee, Peel Board of Education, November 10, 1997 municipal election Mississauga Wards 1 & 7 Janet McDougald 2,862 (32%) Joan Parker 2,332 (29%) Gail Green 1,938 (24%) Paul Fromm 827 (10%) Liberal GUARNIERI, Albina

Progressive Conservative PALLETT, Laurie

New Democratic Party GROZDANOVSKI, Walter

Independent DI PALMA, Adel

Metropolitan Toronto Separate (Catholic) School Board Trustee, November 13, 1978 municipal election Metro Ward 11 (314 out of 335 polls reporting) Francis Hogan 2,814 Paul Fromm 1,813 Joyce Frustaglio 1,762

Metropolitan Toronto Separate (Catholic) School Board Trustee, December 6, 1976 municipal election Area 11 Paul Fromm 2,515 Ed Webster 1,903

Metropolitan Toronto Separate (Catholic) School Board Trustee, December 2, 1974 municipal election Area 11 Ed Webster 1,502 F. Paul Fromm 1,168 Gerry McGilly 1,136