Paul Tuns:

Calvin Robinson acknowledges the audience at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington D.C., on Jan. 25.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, which has a history of targeting pro-life and pro-family organizations as hate groups, published a “smear piece” against black preacher Calvin Robinson, a featured speaker at the youth conference following the National March for Life in Ottawa this May.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) published an article titled “Anti-Abortion Lobby Bringing Priest Who Gave Nazi Salute To Canada For Youth Conference.” The reference is to Robinson making what the article itself admits was a “mocking” gesture mimicking “the gesture made by Elon Musk” during Trump’s Inauguration.

Robinson, who is scheduled to address the youth conference at the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre on May 9, told the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington on Jan. 25, “My heart goes out to you” as he thumped his chest and extended his arm forward with his palm down. Days earlier, Musk made the same gesture while enthusiastically addressing a crowd of Trump supporters.

When video footage of the incident went public, the Anglican Catholic Church revoked Robinson’s priestly license and there was widespread condemnation on the Left for Robinson, a conservative with a large online following.

Robinson said he used the gesture to troll “hysterical liberals” who had just previously condemned Musk as a Nazi “for quite clearly showing the audience his heart was with them.” Robinson grinned and the audience chuckled when he made the gesture. He later said on social media, “For the record, in case it needs saying: I am not a Nazi.”

Campaign Life Coalition says that the CAHN article is an attempt to cancel not only Robinson but the pro-life event.

CLC director of communications Pete Baklinski said CAHN “falsely accused” Robinson of giving a Nazi salute even though the article acknowledges it was meant to mimic Musk, not Adolph Hitler. Baklinski said: “CAHN is clearly not a good actor here,” explaining, “It published this piece even after admitting to us in emails that they ‘certainly understand that Fr. Robinson is not a secret National Socialist’.” Therefore, Baklinski said, “The headline is a complete lie. Robinson did not give such a salute.”

Baklinski said, “It seems that CAHN wants to get CLC canceled by spreading lies about Robinson.”

CLC said it is aware that CAHN has “already contacted the location where we are hosting our event,” the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre, to pressure “them with the information they know to be false about the meaning of Robinson’s allegedly gesture.”

CAHN executive director Evan Balgord told Blacklock’s Reporter his organization contacted the Events Centre only for a comment to their story about Robinson. Balgord also denied that CAHN published the piece or made the inquiry with the Events Centre at the behest of the Liberal government.

CLC has hosted the Rose Dinner, youth banquet, and youth conference at the Events Centre since 2007. The Interim has previously reported that CAHN has received at least $440,000 in federal taxpayer funding.

It is not the first time CAHN has spread misinformation about CLC. In February 2024, it issued a retraction about falsely claiming CLC was behind a pro-life poll in Alberta. In September 2024, it issued a clarification for calling CLC a far-right “Christian nationalist” group in its federally funded pamphlet “40 Ways to Fight the Far-Right.”

Since at least 2022, CAHN has repeatedly criticized Campaign Life Coalition’s pro-life and anti-gender ideology activism as “far-right,” “Christian nationalist,” “misogynistic,” “homophobic,” and “transphobic.” In 2024, it condemned CLC’s participation in parental protests of pride celebrations in schools.

Baklinski said, “CAHN would like to see nothing better than for the pro-life movement to be shut out of the public square and shut down permanently.”