Reginald Douglas Collins (8 September 1920 – 29 September 2001) was a British-born Canadian
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. He was also a
Holocaust denier
Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims:
*Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...
who was frequently accused of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
.
Military service
At the start of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he joined the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
. As a sergeant in the
Gloucestershire Regiment, he was captured in the
Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk () was fought around the French Third Republic, French port of Dunkirk, Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies of World War II, Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle ...
in 1940, later being awarded the
Military Medal
The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...
for bravery during this campaign.
During his four years as a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
, he made no fewer than ten escape attempts. He was able to escape from a German POW camp in Silesia and stealthily made his way to Hungary. After being captured there, he made another daring escape, this time making his way to Romania. There he was imprisoned once again, but when Romania capitulated in 1944, he was freed and returned to Britain, serving in combat with British forces in northwest Europe during the war's final months.
The exact nature of his exploits while a POW have not been without controversy, however, with some questioning the veracity of his numerous escapes from Nazi-controlled prisons.
From 1946 to 1950, Collins worked as a political intelligence officer with the
British Control Commission's
de-nazification
Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
department in Germany.
Journalist
Collins emigrated to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
in 1952 and worked for several decades as a reporter or columnist for several Western Canadian newspapers including the ''
Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The C ...
'', ''
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...
'' and ''
Vancouver Province''.
In November, 1953, Collins, while working for the Calgary Herald, exposed
George Dupre's claims of being a war-time spy as a hoax. The disclosure came soon after publication of ''The Man Who Wouldn't Talk'', a book about Dupre by American journalist
Quentin Reynolds.
The following spring, in 1954, Collins testified on behalf of
Westbrook Pegler in the case of ''
Reynolds v. Pegler'', a defamation case arising from comments written in 1949 by Pegler against Reynolds. Collins gave evidence as to Reynolds's reputation as a writer, arising from Reynolds's book about Dupre. Reynolds's counsel,
Louis Nizer, attacked Collins's credibility during cross-examination for his failure to give credit to other sources of evidence that exposed Dupre. Another witness from Calgary felt compelled to testify on behalf of Reynolds to counter Collins's testimony.
In 1960, eight trade unions sued Collins for libel when he was the ''Vancouver Sun''s labour reporter. The same year, the newspaper's managing editor, Erwin Swangard, fired Collins for his outside freelance work. Collins successfully sued for wrongful dismissal. He was reinstated and returned to work after four months. He collected his back pay, walked into the editor's office and quit and then went to personnel to demand holiday pay. In 1963, he sued ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' for libel and won.
Collins returned to the ''Vancouver Sun'' in the 1970s. He quit for the last time when then-publisher Clark Davey tried to restrict his freelancing.
Collins worked as an interviewer/editorialist for
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
in Vancouver from 1958 to 1968. From 1981 to 1985, he was the news director/talk show host for
CJOR radio in Vancouver.
In 1980, during
Terry Fox
Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, having had one leg amputated due to cancer, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for can ...
's Marathon of Hope, Collins wrote a story falsely claiming that, rather than running a daily marathon, he had actually been driven in a car across
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
Since last leaving the ''Vancouver Sun'', Collins also worked for the ''
Vancouver Courier
The ''Vancouver Courier'' was a Canadian semi-weekly local newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by the Van-Net chain owned by Glacier Media Group. In 2007, it was Canada's largest distributed community newspaper, with a we ...
'', the Columbian (a newspaper formerly published in New Westminster, B.C.), and
CKVU-TV. Between 1983 and 1997, Collins wrote a column for the North Shore News, a small weekly
community paper
Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regu ...
in
North Vancouver, B.C.
Awards
Collins was the recipient of two awards for journalism. He received the National Newspaper Award (1953) for his report on Dupre. He received the MacMillan Bloedel Award (1975) for reports on alleged corruption at UBC.
In 1993 he was awarded the
125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, given to approximately 42,000 Canadians "who have made a significant contribution to their fellow citizens, their community, or to Canada."
Politics
Collins was acclaimed on 18 October 1988, as the
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...
's candidate for the
Capilano—Howe Sound
Capilano—Howe Sound was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from parts of Capilano and Cariboo—Chilcotin ridi ...
electoral district in the
1988 federal election.
The party leader,
Preston Manning, had vowed not to sign Collins's nomination papers unless he first agreed to sign a pledge that he supported the party's position against racism. Collins refused to sign the pledge. Manning rejected Collin's nomination papers, saying he was concerned Collins's candidacy might have a negative effect on the party's fortunes in other ridings.
Accusations of racism and antisemitism
During his 14-year association with the North Shore News, Collins wrote regular columns against immigration and ethnic minorities in Canada. His writings became increasingly controversial and led to accusations of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. In 1997, a complaint against him was brought before the British Columbia
Human Rights Commission
A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights.
The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...
for a column in which Collins
questioned the Holocaust and denounced ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...
'', which he derided as "Swindler's List," as propaganda. The case was dismissed.
A further complaint was laid in 1999 citing four of his columns, including the column raised in the previous complaint. This one was upheld, and Collins and his publisher were ordered to pay $2,000 in damages. The complaint was upheld upon appeal.
Vancouver-based jacket company Taiga praised Collins in one of their winter catalogues, inspiring comedian
Nathan Fielder to start a jacket company, Summit Ice, that promotes Holocaust awareness.
Author
Collins' first book, ''P.O.W.'', published in 1968, was his account of his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II. It included a foreword by
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...
.
Beginning in 1979, he wrote several more books, primarily dealing with his views on immigration, culture and society, and later on his fight over the human rights complaint against him.
Bibliography
* ''The best and worst of Doug Collins'', Whitecap Books, 1987
* ''Here we go again!'', Colpress, 1998
* ''Immigration: the destruction of English Canada'', BMG Pub., 1979
* ''Immigration: Parliament versus the people'', Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform, 1987, c1984
* ''P.O.W.: A Soldier's Story of His Ten Escapes from Nazi Prison Camps'', Simon & Schuster of Canada, 1969, c1968
References
External links
Human Rights and Discriminatory Publications Indexby the Canadian Jewish Congress, compilation of resource materials on the Collins case.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Doug
1920 births
2001 deaths
Canadian male journalists
Recipients of the Military Medal
British emigrants to Canada
British Army personnel of World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Gloucestershire Regiment soldiers
British Holocaust deniers
Canadian Holocaust deniers
Canadian recipients of the Military Medal
British World War II prisoners of war