The University of Toronto has told a group espousing white nationalist views that it won’t be allowed to hold a rally on campus next month.

“We reached out to them (Tuesday) to indicate that we’ve been made aware of their Facebook event . . . and that they do not have permission to hold it on our grounds,” said a university spokesperson, Althea Blackburn-Evans.

The Canadian Nationalist Party, which intends to “discuss the nationalist movement in Canada,” said on a Facebook page this week that it was going to hold a rally Sept. 14 at the university.

Travis Patron, the party’s founder, told the Star on Tuesday that he will choose an alternative location if his group was denied a permit for its Toronto Nationalist Rally. Patron was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

News of the event emerged after the death of a woman when a car rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

In response to the proposed rally on U of T campus, a counter-protest called “Unity Rally to Silence White Supremacy in Toronto” was created, with more than 4,200 people listed as going on Facebook as of Wednesday afternoon compared with 61 people saying that they would be going to the nationalist rally.

“When I stumbled across the event listing for a Toronto Nationalist Party rally on campus on the heels of Charlottesville (it) made me absolutely sick,” said Shannon McDeez, an organizer of the counter-protest. “I am aware that this type of hate does exist in Canada, regardless of how we are perceived.”

McDeez said the event will go ahead in light of the university’s decision.

“I am happy with the news that U of T does not support or condone this type of gathering and propagation of white supremacist messages,” she said. “White supremacists will never exist comfortably in our city as long as we maintain the momentum of individuals who have united against hatred.”

When a group attempts to book space on campus, the school decides if it is appropriate to host based on whether there are safety issues and the potential for hate speech. The university’s booking policy says “contestable sentiments that are offensive to some will be expressed on a campus populated by passionate and engaged students, staff and faculty.”

The policy itself does not refer to hate speech, but says that “respect for human rights and liberties” are important values.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ryerson University announced that it cancelled an event called “The Stifling of Free Speech on University Campuses,” a panel including controversial psychology professor Jordan Peterson and Faith Goldy, a commentator for the Rebel, a right-wing news site.

Goldy was in Charlottesville on Saturday to report on the rally. She called the Charlottesville Statement, a document written by white nationalist protesters, “robust” and “well thought out.”

“After a thorough security review, the University has concluded that Ryerson is not equipped to provide the necessary level of public safety for the event to go forward,” said Michael Forbes, a university spokesperson.

“There is often a tension at universities resulting from our commitment to be a place for free speech and our commitment to be a place that is civil, safe, and welcoming. In light of recent events, Ryerson is prioritizing campus safety.”

U of T president Meric Gertler released a statement Wednesday, saying that “bigotry, hate, intolerance and violence have no place on our campuses.”

“Recent tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, are an important reminder of the need for all of us to speak out against violence and hate,” Gertler said. “We extend our deepest sympathies and heartfelt support to those affected. The academic community must continue to condemn acts of violence, intimidation, and the fostering of hate.

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“As we prepare to welcome students, faculty and staff to our campuses for the start of another academic year, it is important that we reaffirm our collective and unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are among the University of Toronto’s core values.”

A spokesman for Conservative leader Andrew Scheer says his promise to yank federal funding from universities that fail to uphold free speech wouldn’t apply to U of T’s decision.

Scheer made the free speech pledge during his bid for leadership of the party this year and repeated it during his victory speech after he was elected in May.

Last spring, U of T hosted a talk by Ken O’Keefe, who has been described as an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier. After the talk, the university stated that the event violated its policies.

Last October, a “rally for free speech” in support of Peterson, who criticized the use of nonbinary gender pronouns in a YouTube video, became confrontational and physical between his supporters and counter-protesters.

In February, a conference that featured Peterson and Ezra Levant of the Rebel was disrupted by protests after a fire alarm was pulled and attendees evacuated the building.

Both events had a heavy police presence.

The Canadian Nationalist Party was created in June, according to Patron, 26, and is not registered with Elections Canada or Elections Ontario.

Patron’s party, which “plans to be on the ballot for the 2019 election,” includes in its platform the intention to limit immigration, abolish the Indian Act, form a “national citizen militia” to “defend traditional Canadian values” and calls the drop of Canada’s “European” population from 97 per cent in 1971 “the suppression of the founding Canadian people.”

Patron told the Star that the event was created on Facebook on July 3, weeks before the events in Charlottesville.

“I want to make clear that we are not connected to the Virginia rallies or the whole white nationalist movement in the States,” Patron said. “We are not a white supremacist movement, we are national identitarian movement. Part of that involves ethnicity and part of ethnicity certainly does involve race. It’s important and we shouldn’t ignore it.”

The Canadian Nationalist Party has been a topic of discussion on Stormfront, a white supremacist discussion board.