On Saturday morning, I attended an exceptionally clear presentation by Kathryn Lake Hogan for the OGS Kingston Branch on the KKK in Canada (Ontario).
Her website, Looking4Ancestors, mentions a four-week winter workshop for genealogists who want “clearer answers, stronger evidence, and a research process that actually works”. Four two-hour weekly sessions start on 5 February. It’s very reasonably priced. Check it out at https://www.looking4ancestors.com/2026/01/smarter-genealogy-strategies-that-go.html
At the end of her presentation, Kathryn was reluctant to estimate the fraction of Ontarians who were members of, or supported the KKK. She did mention one estimate of 5,000 to 10,000 KKK members in Ontario in the 1920s.
Using back-of-the-envelope arithmetic, Ontario had a population of roughly 3 million, half male, 70% of British origin, and 70% Protestant. That’s about 750,000.
The reality is that perhaps one percent of male, British Protestant Ontarians were KKK members. Undoubtedly, a larger percentage would be sympathetic to the KKK, or some of the KKK’s beliefs. By focusing on the minority, let’s take care not to stigmatize the majority.