A British Columbia man fired from his job as a hockey coach over “disturbing” Nazi propaganda he posted online says he’s the one being treated unfairly.
Chris Sandau was recently fired from his job at the North Delta Minor Hockey Association for what he’d posted on Facebook.
His page, which is no longer online, featured images of swastikas and Adolf Hitler, and propaganda suggesting the Holocaust in Europe during the Second World War didn’t take place.
Two weeks ago, after a parent complained, the hockey association told Sandau to take the postings down.
But Sandau refused, saying he wasn’t “trying to impose my political beliefs or anything.”
The 33-year-old remains unapologetic, insisting he’s a "history buff," not a neo-Nazi.
In a written statement, hockey association president Anita Cairney called Sandau’s online materials “extreme and objectionable.”
In a termination letter to Sandau, she said his decision to continue to post “offensive materials” on social media undermined “the role of the NDMHA.”
Sandau maintains that his firing has nothing to do with his job, and that his freedom of speech is being silenced.
Those at the arena where Sandau coached disagree, saying he is no role model for children.
One woman told CTV Vancouver that she’s seen the “horrors” of Europe’s concentration camps, where the majority of the six million Jews killed in Holocaust perished.
“How (Sandau) can deny it all – I just don’t understand,” she said.
But Sandau says people should look at the matter with an open mind “rather than try to judge.”
CTV Vancouver reported that, late Wednesday afternoon, Sandau’s Facebook page was removed.
With a report by CTV Vancouver’s Scott Roberts
