Kamel El-Cheik

Founder of #1millionmarchforchildren, National Organizer and March Organizer for Ottawa, Hands off our Kids spokesperson

Note: Much of the material in this section is from 2023, so some of this may be out of date. However, Kamel hasn’t changed his views substantially since then. If anything, he’s gotten worse.

Kamel El-Cheik (referred to here as Kamel, but he is also known by other names) is a homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, anti-Hindu activist who founded and leads the #1MillionMarchforChildren movement. In interviews about the #1MillionMarchforChildren, Kamel has been introduced in right-wing media as an “Ottawa businessman”, however, his business was not described. In Facebook comments, Kamel has stated that he manages “a team of 3000 people,” however the nature of these (totally legit) claims are not elaborated on in any instances that we could find.

“This is a movement for the children and straight families”

Kamel is one of four “spokespeople” for “Hands off our Kids”, a homophobic, anti-LGBTQ+ organization that also boasts Post Millennial writer David Krayden and anti-LGBTQ+ activists Mahmoud Mourra and Bahira Absulsalam as official spokespeople (at least, until Bahira split off because very few people can work with someone as narcissistic as Kamel for any length of time). Hands Off Our Kids’ website claims that it is not “mainly focused” on “protection of children against LGBTQIA+ ideology in school system” rather than fighting “back against the LGBTQ community”. However, in copywrite promoting the organization by Absulsalam ostensibly written by Kamel, Hands Off Our Kids affirmed that “This is a movement for the children and straight families.”

Predictably, Kamel’s support for parental rights is most often dependent on heterosexuality with his other brands and personal opinions. He frequently includes “Stright Pride” in his social media posts and has compared heterosexual peoples’ plight to racialized groups. In a July social media post promoting the 1MillionMarchforChildren with the hashtag, Kamel assured the public that an associated campaign would “be PRIDE TARGETED, [sic] as the “gay imam [sic] that came to ottawa [sic] high schools fabricated fatwas [sic] (referring to a gay Imam that was invited to speak at the Ottawa Carleton District School Board)”.

A recurring theme in Kamel’s media appearances is the idea that he wants to unite the entire country — or the 98 to 99 percent of the country that he thinks is straight (sorry, Kamel, there’s way more of us than that) against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Taking a page out of the fascist playbook, he preaches the urgency to unite against a small, relatively powerless minority, something that has never ended badly in 20th century history.

Anyways, we’re sure that Kamel’s protest is just a respectful expression of concern from parents and families and will be not hateful. Incidentally, here’s a video of him screaming “he’s a pedophile” at someone at last year’s march.

Racism and anti-LGBTQ+ Views

Kamel frequently spreads antisemitic conspiracy theories - including during his protests. During a speech outside of the entrance to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board protesting curriculum acknowledging LGBTQ+ people and the board’s observance of Pride month, he alleged that George Soros, a Jewish Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor whose likeness has become a common placeholder for conspiracies about Jewish influence, is personally invested in stopping his 30-to-50-person rallies.

In years-old social posts through his lifestyle brand “Kamel Forum”, Kamel made clear distinctions between Israel and the Jewish people. However, posts from the brand currently conflate the two through repeatedly invoked dog whistles. In one post that, Kamel said that Israel can’t be criticized because of “a radical Zionist movement exploiting the 2 religions (Chistianity and Islam) to achieve its goals”. The post opens with a quote by Kevin Alfred Strom, an American Neo-Nazi and pedophile convicted of possessing child pornography. (We assume the irony of this sourcing is probably lost on Kamel.)

In the same post, Kamel falsely alleges that George Soros, who has been critical of Israel and is a major donor of companies that support business boycotts the country, is Israeli, and blames people’s support for Israel for enabling Soros to fund Black Lives Matter and “the gender dysphoria [sic]”.

Kamel often conflates transgender people with pedophiles and child predators, even sharing social media posts claiming the trans colours on the Progress Pride flag represent pedophiles.

Kamel has also made derogatory statements towards Hindus. In one Facebook post, he said of Hindus that they “worship cows, some eat cow feces and urine [sic].”

Straights Against Straights Against Gays Against Groomers

In fact, Kamel is so homophobic that the 2023 Million March suffered a split between Kamel and Dana Metcalfe, a former lead organizer, because she wasn’t homophobic enough.

Kamel has spoken out against the allowance of Gays Against Groomers, an organization led by gay activists opposed to transgender rights, in supporting the #1MillionMarchforChildren. Kamel made this clear in an Arabic interview in Sadaal Mashreq (rough English translation here) that this was an ideological decision, as he strictly opposes accepting homosexuality. In the same interview, Kamel accused Dana Metcalfe of taking advantage of his brand and working with Gays Against Groomers and/or Gays Against Grooming (an affiliated organization) without his consent.

Kamel would eventually denounce the website set up by Metcalfe, who he himself worked with to mobilize the 1 Million March, calling her website for nationwide #1MillionMarchforChildren protests “a political group trying to hijack the campaign.”

Connections with the Extreme Far-Right

Before the #1MillionMarchforChildren, Kamel was known as an organizer for protests against Ottawa school boards condoning activities celebrating Pride month. Kamel has organized in association with Save Canada, a now defunct Christian nationalist anti-LGBTQ+ organization co-founded by prominent members of the white supremacist network Diagolon.

Kamel’s Collaborations with Save Canada have included giving close live-stream access to Chris Dacey, a former adult film performer turned far-right streamer and activist with Save Canada and Diagolon. During a protest at the front entrance to the Ottawa Catholic School Board organized and hosted by Kamel, Save Canada spokesperson Josh Alexander, described by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism as an “ally” of Diagolon, sang the national anthem.

In addition to his association with and support of Diagolon and its leader, National Socialist Network-supporter Jeremy Mackenzie, Alexander has also marched in organized demonstrations with white supremacists - including Adolf Hitler fan Dan Sleno and longtime white supremacist and anti-Muslim activist Leigh Stewart - both now involved in the Diagolon movement.

Rubbing shoulders with Islamophobes

Ironically, considering that Kamel likes to portray himself as a representative of the Muslim community and regularly invokes his faith as a justification for his extreme bigotry, he has no problem association with extremely Islamophobic groups and media outlets.

Recently, it was reported that he did an interview with the RAIR Foundation USA, which has been listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Muslim hate group.

Kamel is a supporter of Christine Anderson, a German AfD MEP who is a former activist in the anti-Islam Pegida movement. When Anderson visited Canada in early 2023, she was denounced across the political spectrum. However, that didn’t stop Kamel from attending her events later that year when she returned for her “Make it your business” tour.

In addition to being spotted attending Christine Anderson’s rally, Kamel also expressed his excitement and admiration for his new friend Christine on Jeff Evely’s podcast, though he seemed a little disappointed that Christine didn’t make time for him.

In 2023, Kamel and #1MillionMarchforChildren co-organizer Dana Metcalfe appeared on Islamophobic streamer Kevin Johnston’s internet talk show. In 2021, Johnston was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation and hate speech toward a Muslim businessman he called a “terrorist” and “baby killer”. Johnston has not yet served his sentence in full.

Of course he supports actual groomers…

In addition to rubbing shoulders with the far-reaches of the far-right, Kamel has also voiced his support for alleged serial rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate, a man who has groomed dozens of young women. Kamel is an enthusiastic fan of Tate, having tweeted at him many times, though Tate has yet to respond (which probably really hurt Kamel’s feelings considering how important he is in his own mind).

In fact, Kamel has even invited Andrew Tate to collaborate and promote his Million Person March.

The whole premise of the Million March — that children are the property of their parents — takes a very dark turn when you realize that the lead organizer is a fan of a sex trafficker who grooms young women. As anyone who is serious about fighting child abuse knows, most abuse against children is perpetrated by their parents or someone who knows them, not some random teacher, drag queen, or queer kid who just wants to make it through high school without being bullied.

Kamel has been a fan of Andrew Tate for a long time, having posted on “Kamel Forum” that “This forum officially supports Andrew Tate”, elaborating in comments that “I have been following this guy since he blew up on TikTok” and that “This man said all the right things”. Examples of things Tate said in this era on Tiktok and other streaming platforms include that women are men’s property and that rape victims “bear responsibility” for being raped. Likewise, Tate’s advice on Tiktok for his viewers included to deal with a partner accusing them of cheating by threatening them with a machete, choking them, and verbally abusing them, saying “bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up bitch.”

Exploiting a genocide to build his brand

In spite of the fact that he is rarely seen at Palestine rallies, Kamel really likes to exploit the work of the Palestine solidarity movement to build his personal brand.

In a recent TikTok reel, Kamel lies and tells his supporters that the “Pride community” was counter-protesting against Palestinian protests. In truth, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has staunchly supported Palestine over the past year (Of course, he would have to actually go to Palestine rallies instead of proclaiming himself to be a leader in the movement on TikTok to understand that). It was kind of a big deal; Queers for Palestine was the single largest delegation at the Capital Pride parade in 2024 — and probably outnumbered the so-called million march a few weeks later by 10 to 1.

Speaking of, Kamel supported the Zionist boycott of Capital Pride because his inch-deep support for Palestine is no match for the yawning chasm that is his homophobia and transphobia.

Incidentally, does anyone remember Pride this year being replaced with something called My Child June? We had to look it up, apparently it’s a month-long protest that according to Kamel, stopped Pride from happening in June this past year and totally defeated Pride. Or something.

Other Organizers and Official Supporters

Henry Hildebrandt

The leader of the Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario, Henry Hildebrandt is a religious figure is known for three things:

1. His opposition to COVID-19 public health measures.

2. His support for the Million March because he cares so much about the welfare of children.

3. That time 20 years ago that he went to war with the Children’s Aid Society to defend the rights of his congregation to beat their children and then refused to help investigate the death of his newborn niece.

Naturally, as someone who supports child abuse, Henry is right at home in the Million March. He’s been working closely with Kamel to promote Million March 2024 and brought about a dozen of his congregants to Parliament Hill, which nearly doubled their attendance (don’t question the math).

Jeff Evely

Volunteer Organizer and Promoter,

Jeff Evely was a promoter of the #1MillionMarchforChildren protests and an administrator of the official Million March Volunteers chat. On September 12, 2023, he was removed as administrator and removed from the volunteer chat following internal disputes. He hosts the Veterans 4 Freedom podcast, which Kamel and Dana both appeared on to promote 1MillionMarchforFreedom. Evely has also hosted open and devout white nationalists on the podcast.

Since then, he has hosted Kamel on his podcast multiple times and has been described as a “Movement Provincial Executive” and “Education Ambassador for Nova Scotia” for the Million March, which sounds like the sort of job title that your mom might give you so you feel important. Jeff also likes to make Islamophobic comments on twitter, which you would think would be a point of tension between him and Kamel but it’s been well established that Kamel doesn’t have a problem hanging with Islamophobes.

A firm opponent of the sexualization of children, you might remember Jeff from the time he printed off pictures of genitals on a giant sign and danced around with them outside a children’s event. Fortunately (and unsurprisingly), it was just Jeff and a few of friends standing in the rain while they get massively outnumbered.

Veterans 4 Freedom

Evely is a key spokesperson of Veterans 4 Freedom, a far-right anti-government group composed of former Canadian Armed Forces members. Veterans 4 Freedom’s prominent members include vocal antisemites and the aforementioned Jeremy Mackenzie, the leader of a white supremacist network who was denounced by Pierre Poilievre for discussing sexually assaulting his wife on a podcast. Vocal V4F member Saxon Murray has appeared on white nationalist streaming programs and affectionately referred to Adolf Hitler as “Uncle Adolf”, whole another V4F member’s streaming show has featured repeated appearances from vocal white nationalists and anti-Muslim activists like Chris “Sky” Saccoccia, a Holocaust denier that has referred to Black and Middle-Eastern people as “subhumans”.

Dana Metcalfe’s ex James Topp is also a member of the group, and Metcalfe has also been friendly with Mackenzie in the past. The terrorism-tracking organization MEMRI put out a report on Veterans4Freedom last year.

This website is a work-in-progress. Do you know more information about #1MillionMarchforChildren organizers, promoters, and supporters that might be of interest? Send Community Solidarity Ottawa an email at communitysolidarity.ottawa@gmail.com