Limmud Toronto 2018

At age sixteen, Elisa Hategan was recruited by Canada's most powerful neo-Nazi, white supremacist group, the Heritage Front - a domestic terrorist group later revealed to have been created with the assistance of Canada's spy agency, CSIS. Weeks later she is introduced to the world's most infamous Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel, who provides her with attention, shelter and work. Within a year, Elisa evolves into an extremist groomed for a leadership role in the global far-right movement. Her loyalty earns her the attention of Grant Bristow, co-founder of the Heritage Front, who is training a secret faction of skinheads and neo-Nazis in terror tactics targeting political opponents. Rapidly drawn into their web of hatred, the teenager witnesses a campaign of terror from which there seems no way out. Forced to confront her sexual orientation and Jewish ancestry, Elisa realizes that she must fight back. At only eighteen, her testimony would lead to the criminal convictions of prominent white supremacists and lead to the end of the Heritage Front. In her presentation, Hategan tells her story, discusses the global resurgence of anti-Semitism, and outlines the recruitment and radicalization tactics of extremist political movements who prey on young minds.