Article content continued

“Maybe they want to do that because they’re supporting another party,” Bernier told the National Post. “I think, doing that, they are not doing a favour to their organization. Because it’s not credible.”

“The statements, to me, are totally ridiculous,” Masse said. “They exaggerate and distort stuff that I wrote like 15, 20 years ago and they take citations out of context to make me say things that I did not say. And especially implying that I’m some kind of neo-Nazi. It’s just, like, totally crazy.”

Still, the Jewish-Canadian group said it holds a “lengthy dossier” of Masse’s comments, even beyond those linked to in the media release. It pointed out that Le Pen, for example, has been convicted multiple times of denying the Holocaust, a crime under French law. Masse’s defence of the politician had been published in 2002.

“As a nonprofit, nonpartisan human rights organization, B’nai Brith is well known for regularly identifying the promoters of hatred, racism and antisemitism from all sectors of Canadian society,” CEO Michael Mostyn said in a statement to the Post. “One would expect that the leader of a federal party would immediately expunge senior staff members who have expressed such radical and repulsive views when it is called to their attention. We were shocked that, upon presenting this information to Mr. Bernier, he defended his top advisor, Mr. Masse.”