Goldy was a candidate in the 2018 Toronto mayoral election, finishing third with 3.4% of the vote. On April 8, 2019, Goldy was banned from Facebook, along with other "individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack, or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are."[12]
When Goldy was in elementary school, she moved into a duplex with her younger sister and mother. Goldy described her father as abusive in a 2007 radio interview.
She became a staff writer for The Catholic Register in June 2011[18] after completing a mentorship program hosted by the newspaper in 2008–09.[19] Around the same time she began contributing columns to the National Post and appearing on panels hosted by Corus Entertainment's John Oakley Show.[20]
Goldy's first big public exposure came in September 2012 when she was hired as a reporter with the Sun News Network, which lasted until the network went off the air in February 2015.
When Sun News Network went off the air, Goldy was hired by Rebel News, a Canadian right-wing website founded by former Sun News Network Colleagues Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley.[23] She hosted a weekly political commentary show called On The Hunt With Faith Goldy.[24]
In March 2017, Goldy posted on Twitter a video of herself in Bethlehem where she expressed her shock she could hear the Islamic call to prayer in the city, and claimed "Bethlehem's Christian population has been ethnically cleansed."[26] The video was criticized as irresponsible and inflammatory.[17] It was also criticized for not mentioning that Bethlehem's mayor at the time was a Palestinian Catholic woman named Vera Baboun, who has argued policies supporting the expansion of Israeli settlements have pushed Christians out of the Palestinian territories.[27][28]
On May 31, 2017, Goldy broadcast on Rebel Media "White Genocide in Canada?", in she claimed Canadians with European ancestry were being replaced with non-Europeans because of Canada's immigration policies. In response to the broadcast, several corporate entities stopped advertising with Rebel Media.[29]
On June 21, 2017, Goldy spoke at a live event in Toronto hosted by Rebel News and called for a "counter-crusade" against Muslims. During her speech, she claimed “this is a holy war for Islam. They’re not just coming for our health care, right? They’re coming to break the cross.”[25] Rebel News posted footage of her speech with the title "It's Crusade O'Clock!"[30] During her time in Rebel News, she was considered a part of the counter-jihad movement.[31][32]
Rebel Media co-founder Brian Lilley resigned after Goldy's broadcasts were published by the website.[34][35] As Lilley announced his resignation, Goldy called a manifesto by white supremacistRichard Spencer as "robust" and "well thought-out".[4]
Goldy was fired by co-founder Ezra Levant after she appeared on The Krypto Report, a podcast on the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.[36][37] Levant said he told Goldy not to cover the Charlottesville rally and said her appearance on The Daily Stormer was "just too far".[36] Goldy later said the Stormer interview was "a poor decision."[36][37]
Career as a white supremacist activist
After her firing, Goldy continued as an activist for far-right political beliefs. She also began providing commentary exclusively to alt-right and white supremacist media outlets.
In December 2017, Goldy appeared on the alt-right podcastMillennial Woes and recited white supremacistDavid Lane's slogan, the Fourteen Words: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children".[38][39] She stated: "I don't see that as controversial... We want to survive" when questioned about her use of the saying.[39]
After reciting the slogan,[7] crowdfunding site Patreon suspended her account in May 2018[3] and she was banned from PayPal in July.[40][41] After losing her Patreon account, she began receiving contributions through an alternative crowdfunding system, Freestartr. This platform was shut out of PayPal the same month, leaving her unable to receive payments.[40][42][43]
In a YouTube video posted in April 2018, Goldy praised the writing of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, a Romanian politician who founded an ultranationalist and violently antisemitic organization called the Iron Guard, when discussing book recommendations for her followers.
Goldy has been out of public life since 2021, stating that "I am a wife, wholly devoted to my private life."[47]
2018 Toronto mayoral campaign
Supporters of Faith Goldy protest outside of Corus Quay in September 2018.Faith Goldy's share of the vote in the 2018 Toronto mayoral election, in each ward
On his Rebel News show, Ezra Levant said Goldy had gone on a "racist bender" since he fired her and called Goldy's mayoral campaign "a Twitter vanity project" designed to promote her personal brand.[51]
After posing for a photo with Goldy at a political event on September 22, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was repeatedly asked by the opposition New Democratic Party to denounce Goldy. On September 26 Ford tweeted: "I have been clear. I condemn hate speech, anti-Semitism and racism in all forms—be it from Faith Goldy or anyone else."[52][53][54]
Goldy was not invited to the first Toronto mayoral debate held September 24 by Artsvote Toronto. Artsvote said all candidates were asked to complete a qualifying form explaining their arts platform, which Goldy had not done. Goldy briefly walked onto the stage during the debate and complained about the organizers before police escorted her away.[55][56] Goldy was also not invited to the second debate.[57]
She also established a close relationship with and was supported by ultra-right anti-Muslim Jews such as Laura Loomer and the Jewish Defense League, as she is also a strong supporter of Israel.[64]
Failed lawsuit against Bell Media
Bell Media declined to air campaign advertisements Goldy had paid for on its channel CP24 during the campaign. Goldy filed a lawsuit against the company and hired high-profile Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby to represent her. Rogers Media also declined to air Goldy's campaign ads on its radio stations.[65]
On April 29, 2019, Toronto's compliance audit committee launched an audit of Goldy's campaign expenditures.[67] The complaint was made by Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network,[68] following a YouTube video Goldy posted on October 25, 2018, that asked “defenders of democracy worldwide” to fund her failed lawsuit against Bell Media. Ontario's Municipal Elections Act says campaign contributors must be Ontario residents.
When Goldy argued for the audit's dismissal, she was accused by Toronto municipal elections lawyer Jack Siegel of copying verbatim an argument he wrote in an unrelated case. Siegel volunteered to represent Balgord, and told Canadaland that Goldy's "entire public persona is something that I fundamentally oppose" and that "because she 'borrowed' my material so effectively, she recruited me to the other side."[68]
Chartered accountant William Molson, an auditor tasked by the City of Toronto to review Goldy's election expenses, concluded on January 13, 2022, that Goldy had breached election finance laws.[69]
Molson found Goldy had not reported more than $56,000 in campaign donations during the legal fundraising period, and collected an additional $101,118 after the legal window for donations had closed. The audit also found Goldy illegally accepted donations from people who were not Ontario residents, mixed her personal and campaign finances, and did not co-operate with the committee-ordered audit.[70]
Goldy told the committee her accounting errors came from her lack of experience with municipal election campaigns. She promised to refund any illegal donations. She also said she had no desire to return to politics or a media career, and was "wholly devoted to my private life." On February 8, 2022, the committee voted to send the audit to a provincial prosecutor.[70]
Goldy is set to appear in court on seven campaign finance charges on April 12, 2023. Each charge has a maximum penalty of $25,000.[47]
Views on politics and race
I do not bathe in tears of white guilt. That does not make me a white supremacist.
Goldy told the far-right YouTube channel Red Ice "racism is used to pathologize a healthy and natural instinct within people. When anyone tells you you’re a racist or white supremacist, tell them that’s a term of oppression and you do not subscribe to it."[13]
Her beliefs has resulted in criticism, including a petition to rescind her Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award.[74]GQ labelled her as "one of Canada's most prominent propagandists" of the white genocide conspiracy theory.[39]
Anna Silman, a former classmate of Goldy's at Havergal College, wrote in New York magazine's The Cut that Goldy's brand of White supremacy is "destabilizing, confounding, uncanny... it's concerned with 'optics.' It doesn't wear a hood or wave a swastika. It portends to be relatable and nonthreatening. It says things it doesn't mean; it denies those it does."[13]
On April 8, 2019, Goldy was banned from Facebook, along with several white nationalists and "individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack, or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are."[12]
In spring 2019, facing legal action by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Goldy formally retracted and apologized for spreading an erroneous claim about the group on Twitter.[75]
^ abcStern, Alexandra Minna (2019). Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press. p. 101. ISBN978-0807063361. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023. As a home for the small but active alt-right sisterhood, Radio 3Fourteen brings together female alt-righters with their followers on social media. Regulars include ... Canadian white nationalists Lauren Southern and Faith Goldy
^Pannaci, Amanda (14 February 2015). "Sun News Network goes dark". Ryerson Review of Journalism. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
^Warnica, Richard (19 August 2017). "Rebel without applause". National Post. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
