Raphael Bergmann is the founder and original leader of the London, Ontario based neo-Nazi Northern Alliance.
The Freedom Party of Ontario took a civil libertarian stance on hate speech and the rights of individuals to express politically abhorrent opinions. In 1999, the London, Ontario police wrote to Raphael Bergmann and Tyler Chilcott, two alleged members of the extremist group the Northern Alliance, stating that as they belonged to an "extreme right-wing" group they were "required" to report to the police to explain their opinions. The FpO's leader, Lloyd Walker requested that Solicitor-General David Tsubouchi provide a list of "extreme" political beliefs that could result in such police action. No response was provided by the government, and nothing more came of the matter. . Bergmann and Chilcott were never FpO members and that the party did not support their views, simply their right to express them.
Bergmann eventually left the group in 2000 which left Jason Ouwendyk as the group's spokesperson. That same year he organized a “Straight Pride” parade in Toronto to protest the annual Gay Pride event. In one of his more colorful efforts, Bergmann dressed as a clown and attempted to march in a Gay Pride parade. At a certain point in the parade, he planned to remove the clown suit to reveal himself as the character, “Straight Man.”
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