Benjamin Joseph Dichter (born 1975 or 1976) was a leader in the 2022 Canadian convoy protest. He is an entrepreneur, working as a journalist, truck driver, author and podcast publisher. Formerly, he has worked as a gemologist, and as a print shop owner in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He is the founder of the LGBTQ conservative group

LGBTory LGBTory is a Canadian LGBT conservative organization. The group was established in 2015, as an advocacy group for LGBTQ supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada and provincial conservative parties. While officially open to all LGBT suppor ...

. Dichter was the candidate for Toronto Centre-Rosedale in the

2014 Toronto municipal election The 2014 Toronto municipal election was held on October 27, 2014, to elect a mayor and 44 city councillors in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition, school trustees were elected to the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District Sc ...

, and the 2015 Conservative candidate for Toronto-Danforth. He lost in both elections. He has been noted for criticisms against partisan divisiveness, and his criticism against political tolerance of extremism.

Early life and education

Dichter was adopted by a Jewish family and attended the

Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto () is a private traditional Jewish day school with campuses in Toronto , Ontario. Its three branches are: Kamin Elementary School at the Hurwich Education Centre (252 Finch Ave. W), the Posluns Education Centr ...

and the York Mills Collegiate Institute.

Career

Dichter is a truck driver who has worked as a gemologist, and as a print shop operator in Toronto. He patented an invention for motorcycles, registered in 2003. Dichter has produced several podcasts, covering topics of philosophy, law, crime, terrorism, and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Some podcasts include The Quiggin Report (anti-terrorism, Islamic extremism), the Open College podcast (philosophy, history, politics), and Not On Record (crime, legal research, investigations). He is the founder of Possibly Correct Media, that publishes a podcast by the same name.

Politics

In 2014, Dichter ran for

Toronto city council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...

for Toronto Centre-Rosedale, winning approximately 1,500 out of 31,000 votes, (just under five per cent). His platform focused on budgets, infrastructure, transit, a desire to avoid partisanship politics, and a specific ambition to create affordable low-rise housing. Kristyn Wong-Tam won the riding. After the original candidate Tim Dutaud was dropped by the federal

Conservative party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

, Dichter ran as the candidate for the Toronto-Danforth riding in 2015. Dichter was the only candidate to not turn up for a climate change debate and likewise missed the debate on electoral reform. He won 5,478 votes, ranking third, behind winner Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Julie Aviva Dabrusin (born April 16, 1971) is a Canadians, Canadian Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal politician who has served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada since May 2025. She has served as a member of Parliament (MP) sin ...

and runner up New Democratic Parity incumbent Craig Scott. Dichter is the founder of

, the Rainbow Conservatives of Canada. In 2016–2017, Dichter raised criticism against political tolerance to risk, from Islamic extremists. On 13 June 2016, Dichter and members of LGBTory attended a vigil in Toronto for the victims of the

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States before Orlando Police officers fatally shot him after a three-hour standoff. I ...

; later criticizing some political and activist attendees, for hijacking the event. In 2019, at a People's Party of Canada's first national convention, Dichter did the opening keynote speech where he spoke about "political Islam" and how it has "infiltrated" the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and the Conservative party of Canada.

Maxime Bernier Maxime Bernier (; born January 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who is the founder and leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC). Formerly a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Party, Bernier left the caucus in 2018 t ...

thanked Dichter for raising questions about how Canada dealt with Islamic extremism.

Canada convoy protest

Beginning mid-January 2022, Dichter was the spokesman, and the co-organizer of crowd funding, for the

Canada convoy protest The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, COVID-19 vaccine man ...

. Dichter was listed, together with Tamara Lich, on the

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

crowd-funding campaign. A superior court ruling on a

Mareva injunction Asset freezing is a form of interim or interlocutory injunction which prevents a defendant to an action from dealing with or dissipating its assets so as to frustrate a potential judgment. It is widely recognised in other common law jurisdictio ...

motion, resulted in the freezing of accounts holding donated funds. In February 2022, Dichter agreed to move the funds into an

escrow An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transact ...

account. Dichter described his general views that align with the convoy in testimony at the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) in November 2022. He stated that he was vaccinated, but uncomfortable with mandates and ArriveCAN app and data tracking due to his work in trucking. He described his main message as spokesman was "peace, love, unity and freedom". Concerned with individuals and groups creating discord or promoting controversial messages in the protest, including James Bauder, Jeremy MacKenzie and Pat King and others, Dichter recommended official messaging to separate from others. On the topic of a couple confederate flags appearing of at the event, he expressed skepticism about the individuals and intentions. As police moved to stop the protest, Dichter called on police to let drivers remove their vehicles. He has self-published the book ''Honking for Freedom: The Truckers Convoy that Gave us Hope'' that was co-written with former journalist John Goddard. At the end of 2023, Dichter remained a named defendant in a $300 million class-action lawsuit launched by Ottawa residents.

Views and punditry

Dichter promotes use of Bitcoin, including during the Ottawa protest and afterwards, speaking about use of cryptocurrency to keep crowdsourced donations outside of government control. He has stated that the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

is "infested with Islamists". He has said that "Justin Trudeau must be stopped…no matter the cost” and has described all politicians of all parties as "all horrible, all of them". The Toronto Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre has stated that Dichters comments on Islam as potentially islamophobic. His anti-Islam views have were noted in the New York Times in 2022,

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

quoted his warning of the “growing Islamization of Canada”. He has criticized

Pride Toronto Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June each year to celebrate the LGBTQ community in the Greater Toronto Area. The centre of the festival is the city's Church and Wellesley village, while the parade and m ...

for banning police, describing it as having gone "full circle from being a civil rights cause to a celebration to a form of regressive left political weaponry". Dichter is a regular pundit on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

and on 27 January 2022, he was a guest on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program. He spoke about his journey to Ottawa ahead of the Ottawa protests, and how Alberta looked like a "third-world country" due the trucking industry being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also appeared on Russian state controlled media RT.

Personal life

Dichter lives in the Danforth area of

. He has previously lived in South America. He was aged 46 in December 2022. He has a brother, who is a police officer.

References

External links

LGBTory
- official website * Armin Rosen,
The Freedom Convoy's Renegade Jew
', Tablet Magazine, 21 June 2022 *
Tense exchange between lawyer, convoy organizer Benjamin Dichter
',

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

YouTube Channel, 3 Nov 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dichter, Benjamin Year of birth missing (living people) 1970s births Living people Canadian truck drivers Activists from Toronto Canadian conspiracy theorists Canadian podcasters Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Candidates in the 2015 Canadian federal election COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Canadian founders Canadian critics of Islam Anti-Islam sentiment in Canada Protesters involved in the Canada convoy protest