Mark Vandermaas

Mark Vandermaas, 'Blue Beret Vigil,' Day 9, London, Ontario, Canada, July 02/11Mark Vandermaas
London, Ontario, Canada
519.457.0709
mark@israeltruthweek.org

Mark Vandermaas is a former member of the Canadian Forces who has served with a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Middle East where he personally saw the remnants of war. His parents suffered under Nazi occupation in Holland and watched Jews taken away to be murdered. His father escaped from a Nazi work camp.
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He is the founder of the Caledonia Victims Project and Israel Truth Week; editor of VoiceofCanada.ca, and he was the leader of the Ipperwash Papers project. He also manages the HelplessByBlatchford ‘rule of law’ project site.Mark became a ‘rule of law’ civil rights activist/educator after feeling a strong sense of duty to speak out against racially-based policing and rule of law failures during the violence of the Canadian Caledonia Crisis. Mark has consistently spoken out on behalf of aboriginal victims of OPP racial policing practices in both Caledonia and Ipperwash as well as for the non-aboriginal residents who represented the majority of victims.
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He also educates on the role radical anti-Israel groups, anarchists and other anti-capitalists have played in fomenting the lawlessness in Caledonia.Mark Vandermaas, 2012 Israel Truth Week Conference, London, ON, CanadaHe is also an advocate for truth to counter the lies, myths and underlying anti-Semitism intrinsic to the ‘Israel Apartheid’ campaign to delegitimize Israel.
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At the time the Caledonia crisis erupted in 2006 he was living in London, Ontario - equidistant between Ipperwash to the west and Caledonia to the east; two communities ripped apart by landclaim lawlessness.Christie Blatchford, 2010: Helpless: Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear And Anarchy, And How The Law Failed All of Us
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Although those opposed to his efforts to expose and oppose the racial policing practices that victimized Caledonia have accused him of being an ‘outsider’ Mark was born in nearby Hamilton, lived in a Brantford orphanage to the immediate west of Six Nations, grew up in Grimsby and, during his later real estate career with RE/MAX in the Hamilton area, sold homes in Cayuga, Hagersville and Caledonia - communities which would one day all be victimized by illegal occupations, extortion, intimidation and mischief beginning with Caledonia in 2006.
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After his arrest  on Dec 16/06 with CANACE Executive Director Gary McHale while attempting to raise a Canadian flag in Caledonia – an incident detailed in Christie Blatchford’s landmark 2010 book, HELPLESS: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, And How The Law Failed All of Us (see National Post excerpt #2), Mark put his real estate career and award-winning online real estate college concept on hold to become a full time, volunteer ’rule of law’ civil rights activist working to bring a permanent end to race-based policing in Ontario.
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Ontario Provincial Police arrest 'Caledonia 8' member Mark Vandermaas, Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, Dec 03/11, for 'trespassing' on a public road through the Douglas Creek Estates 'natives-only' no-go zone.
Arresting victims based on race and political views rather than the perpetrators of violence is the order of the day for the Ontario Provincial Police in Caledonia, and Mark works with other civil rights activists to vigorously, but peacefully oppose this shameful practice in the spirit of Dr. King’s teachings of non-violent, passive resistance.
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During one particularly egregious incident in 2012 (photo right), Mark was assaulted while simply attempting to walk down the road carrying a sign saying, ‘HEALING BEGINS WITH APOLOGIES.’  The police arrested him (to ‘prevent a breach of the peace’)and allowed his attacker to go free.
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On Dec 03/11 Mark was a member of the ‘Caledonia 8‘ who lined up to be arrested one-by-one for ‘trespassing’ for quietly attempting to walk down a public road through the racially-segregated, violent Caledonia occupation site known as the Douglas Creek Estates. (All charges were later dropped against the Caledonia 8.)
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On February 18/12 Mark and seven members of the Caledonia 8 became the first non-natives in 6 years to walk onto the Douglas Creek Estates without permission from the native militants who, despite their crimes and intimidation against innocents, continue to occupy the property with the blessing of the Ontario government.
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In 2011 Mark conducted a 26-day ‘Blue Beret’ vigil (photos, top &  below) at a London, Ontario mosque which had raised money for, and sent a ‘delegate’ on, the Canadian Boat to Gaza which unsuccessfully  attempted to break the Israeli blockade of weapons to the Hamas terror organization.
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120423 Israel Truth Week founder Mark Vandermaas (white shirt & tie, behind podium) lights candle w/Zachor Coalition, National Holocaust Remembrance ceremony, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Canada.

120423 Israel Truth Week founder Mark Vandermaas (white shirt & tie, beside podium) lights candle w/Zachor Coalition, National Holocaust Remembrance ceremony, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Canada.

In 2012, in response to the intimidation of Jewish students at the University of Western Ontario (now, Western University), Mark founded Israel Truth Week and held the first Israel Truth Week Conference at Royal View Church in London, Ontario on March 21/12.
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On April 23/12 Mark received the greatest honour of his life when the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem called him to the stage as part of the Zachor Coalition to light a candle at the National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was called in the name of two churches who, along with the Society’s sponsorship, made it possible for him to bring a busload of mainly Christian passengers from London, Hamilton, Niagara and Caledonia to the ceremony.
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Israel Truth Week (2012-Present)

Blue Beret vigil vs. Canadian Boat to Gaza, June 23-July 18/11

110627 Mark Vandermaas letter to Hamilton Spectator: 'Genocidal anti-Semitism is the issue'

Mark Vandermaas w/supporters on Day 11 of 'Blue Beret' vigil, London, Ontario, Canada, July 03/11Handouts for the Blue Beret vigil…

  • Blue Beret Vigil handout #1: ‘OUR GOALS TODAY’ [PDF]
  • Blue Beret Vigil handout #2: ‘Provoking Violence? Lessons from Dr. King and the Little Rock Nine‘ [LINK] [PDF] [VIDEO, 9:24] (Mark Vandermaas speech, March for Freedom, Caledonia Lions Park, Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, May 24/09)
  • Blue Beret Vigil handout #3: ‘Why I carry a Palestinian flag in my pocket‘

Caledonia Crisis, 2006-Present

  • 110322 Mark Vandermaas talks about Caledonia's innocent victims - both native and non-native at 'Caledonia:No More Nightmares' event, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Caledonia Victims Project: About – Mark Vandermaas
  • ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ event, Ottawa, March 22/11: Mark Vandermaas presentation, Part 1 – Caledonia’s Victims [VIDEO #1, 15:05] [PDF, 36p w/citations]
  • ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ event, Ottawa, March 22/11: Mark Vandermaas presentation, Part 2 – Caledonia Myths & Policy Issues: ‘Vexatious Land Claims‘ and Caledonia: a National Security Issue [VIDEO #2, 14:50] [PDF, 36p w/citations] (includes info re support for 100505 Mark Vandermaas presentation to 2010 'New Directions in Aboriginal Policy' Forum, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta: 'Listening to Victims: A Fresh Approach to Healing and Reconciliation'native militants by radical unionists, anarchists, anti-capitalists, anti-Israel groups and terror group supporters)
  • ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ event, Ottawa, March 22/11, Mark Vandermaas presentation, Part 2 cont. – Caledonia Myths & Policy Issues: An Illegal Peacekeeping Mission on Canadian Soil [VIDEO #3, 9:39] [PDF, 36p incl. citations, begins p12]
  • New Directions in Aboriginal Policy forum, Mount Royal University, May 05/10, Mark Vandermaas presentation: Listening to Victims: A Fresh Approach to Healing and Reconciliation [PDF, 21p]