Running Time: 51 mins
Year: 1995

synopsis

There is a war being waged in Canada for young minds. It’s happening on the streets and in the schoolyards, erupting in violence and hate. Hard times-and harder hearts-have brought simmering racist attitudes to the surface.

The Heritage Front, Aryan Nations, Church of The Creator, and the Canadian Chapters of the KKK are all recruiting young people to their cause. The young recruits are not the unemployed working class teenagers that you might expect. They come from all social strata: squeaky clean suburban kids, streetwise skinheads and middle-class university students.

What they share is an uncertain future in a world that is far more morally complex than anything their parents knew. Their solutions are often simple, violent and unapologetically hateful. They are looking for someone to blame. Today, the average age of a typical Canadian racist is 18 to 20.

Hearts of Hate is a frightening wake-up call. Illusions of Canada as a peaceful, tolerant society are profoundly challenged. Exploiting new communication technologies, these bigots are no longer occupying the political fringe and are far from laughable. In fact, these young people and their racist mentors don’t look much different from you, or me, or our own kids.

Credits

Director Peter Raymont
Produced by White Pine Pictures in association with the CTV Television Network, with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Ontario Film Development Corporation, and the Rogers Telefund