James Keegstra

The family moved around due to poor farming conditions in southern Alberta during the 1930s, eventually settling in Alhambra, Alberta.

Keegstra's parents were strong believers in Premier William Aberhart's social credit views and political party, which strongly aligned with their religious beliefs.

Aberhart rallied Albertans behind the cause of C.H. Douglas' social credit theory, which blamed many of the challenges of the Great Depression and society on international bankers.

James "Jim" Keegstra (March 30, 1934 – June 2, 2014) was a public school teacher and mayor in Eckville, Alberta, Canada, who was charged under the Criminal Code with wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, the Jewish people, in 1984.

The charge led to lengthy litigation over the next twelve years, including three hearings in the Supreme Court of Canada, with Keegstra arguing that the offence of wilful promotion of hatred infringed his right to freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the offence, and Keegstra was convicted.

The events surrounding the charge received substantial international attention.

The main Supreme Court decision, R v Keegstra, became a landmark Canadian legal case upholding the constitutionality of the country's hate speech laws.

In addition to the criminal case, Keegstra was dismissed from his teaching position, and his teaching certificate was revoked.

Keegstra was born in Vulcan, Alberta, on March 30, 1934, the seventh child to Dutch immigrant parents who were devout members of the Dutch Reformed Church.

While in Alhambra, Keegstra finished high school in Rocky Mountain House in 1954.

Keegstra followed his parents in his position on social credit, attending Aberhart's Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute and becoming a Social Credit Party member in 1957.

He took an interest in auto mechanics and received his trade papers in Carstairs in 1957.

Later in 1959, he enrolled at the University of Calgary (then known as the University of Alberta at Calgary) for a Bachelor of Education with a specialization in industrial arts, which he completed in 1967.

He took summer courses afterwards in social studies to upgrade his degree.

During this time, he was employed as a high school automotive mechanics teacher in Red Deer, from 1963 to 1966, and took on social studies in Medicine Hat in 1966.

In Medicine Hat, Keegstra taught social studies "by the book" but found the content was largely "written by socialists".

In 1968, after his graduation, he found full-time employment as a general teacher in Eckville.

Initially responsible for industry and automotives, he ended up teaching a wide variety of subjects, including social studies.

In Eckville, Keegstra held various community roles: He was a deacon and Sunday school teacher and in 1974 became mayor of the community.

He was acclaimed to the position two more times—in 1977 and 1980—serving in the role from 1974 to 1983.

As a teacher, he was able to develop strong bonds with male students, often helping them fix their cars, but did not develop strong relationships with female students, as he did not hide his distaste for anything akin to feminism.

Keegstra was fired as a teacher in December 1982.

He then farmed with his brother and worked in a custodial position.

In 1982, it came to light that he was teaching his students that the Holocaust was a fraud and attributing various evil qualities to Jews.

He described Jews to his pupils as "treacherous", "subversive", "sadistic", "money-loving", "power hungry", and "child killers".

He taught his classes that the Jewish people seek to destroy Christianity and are responsible for depressions, anarchy, chaos, wars, and revolution.

According to Keegstra, the Jews "created the Holocaust to gain sympathy" and, in contrast to the open and honest Christians, were said to be deceptive, secretive, and inherently evil.

He taught his students the myth of a Jewish world conspiracy whose blueprint allegedly came from the Talmud.

Keegstra expected his students to reproduce his teachings in class and on exams.

If they failed to do so, their marks suffered.

The way Keegstra taught his students was apparently known to the school principal, who ignored complaints from parents.

It was not until the parents lodged a complaint with the school board and went to the local newspaper, the Red Deer Advocate, that the issue became public.

When Keegstra's teachings came to light, he was fired by the school board in December 1982.

He was subsequently stripped of his teaching certificate.

The issue attracted international media coverage.

In 1983, Keegstra was defeated in his bid for re-election as mayor of Eckville, by a vote of 278 to 123, with a 92 per cent voter turnout.

He spent the rest of his life farming and working in a custodial position, dying at age 80 in 2014.

He died in Red Deer, Alberta, on June 2, 2014, and was survived by four children.

Keegstra taught social studies in the high school in Eckville.