Far-right Austrian white nationalist, permanently banned from U.K., plans to attend Ontario conference

A far-right, white nationalist Austrian who has been permanently banned from the United Kingdom for promoting extremist narratives said this week he hopes Canada won't deny him entry ahead of a conference he's set to speak at in Hamilton this month.

Martin Sellner is being marketed as a keynote speaker for an Aug. 29 conference of the Dominion Society, which advocates for "remigration," the mass deportation of immigrants.

Sellner was permanently banned in 2019 from entering the U.K. on security grounds. A U.K. government letter, which was publicized by Sellner's organization, said he posed a serious threat to the country's efforts to counter extremism, according to a report in The Guardian.

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Sellner's U.S. travel permit was also cancelled in 2019 after it emerged that the gunman behind the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand donated about 1,500 euros to him. The Christchurch shooter was convicted of killing 51 people and the attempted murder of 40 more in the March 2019 terrorist attack.

German authorities gave Sellner a three-year entry ban in 2024 after a meeting of nationalists triggered large protests.

Citing privacy laws, Canadian government officials won't say if Sellner will be admitted to Canada. A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Diab's office said in an email that anyone coming to Canada must meet admissibility requirements set out in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

People may be deemed inadmissible to Canada for any one of a number of reasons, including espionage, taking part in a group involved in violence or terrorism, or being a member of an organized crime group.

On Tuesday, Sellner replied to an X post from the Dominion Society promoting his appearance at the conference, saying: "I hope they let me in."

Ameil Joseph, a Hamilton-based anti-racism scholar, said that if other countries have restricted Sellner's access, Canada should consider doing the same.

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"If he wants to talk, he can do so. He can do it online. He can do anywhere else. He doesn't need to physically come to Hamilton to a place that already has a growing white nationalist problem," Joseph said.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said in a statement she's been contacting venue owners in the area to tell them what the Dominion Society stands for so they can make booking decisions with the "full context."

"The Dominion Society's own website identifies 'remigration' as a central objective of its movement, and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has identified the organization as part of Canada's broader white-nationalist movement," Horwath said.