CAHN was formed in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario by more than fifteen journalists, community leaders, academics, and legal experts.[3] In its first public statement in 2018, CAHN called for criminal charges to be brought against MontrealIT consultant and Neo-Nazi Gabriel Sohier Chaput, who goes by the pseudonym Charles Zeiger.[3]
In 2019, white nationalist Kevin Goudreau was served with a peace bond obliging him to stay away from CAHN staff, after he encouraged violence towards staff.[8][9]
On November 1, 2020, Chris Vanderweide, known as 'Helmet Guy' for participating in violence at Hamilton Pride 2019, was arrested by the York Regional Police (YRP) and charged with uttering threats against CAHN chair Bernie Farber and CAHN executive director Evan Balgord in a private Facebook group.[10][11] Before contacting the YRP, CAHN had contacted the Hamilton Police Service (HPS) about the threats, but HPS declined to investigate the threats due to their wording.[10][11] Afterwards, Farber called for an internal investigation into the HPS and for Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger to look into why the threats were not further investigated.[11] In response, Constable Jerome Stewart said that "The matter is before the court system in York Region and as such Hamilton Police will not provide any further comments at this time".[11]
In a September 9, 2021 CTV News interview, CAHN deputy director Elizabeth Simons described people "at the heart of" COVID-19 protests in Canada, including "anti-lockdown, anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests", as part of a "far-right", "anti-democratic", and "pro-insurrectionist" movement who hold extreme views on a number of issues.[13]
In late June 2022, the CAHN published an online booklet with the goal of educating teachers, students, and parents on how to identify and confront forms of hate in school and online.[14]
In October 2022, the Government of Saskatchewan said that it would discourage teachers from using an anti-hate toolkit created by the CAHN, adding that "The toolkit does not meet criteria such as being high quality, free from bias as reasonably possible, and having appropriate and significant Saskatchewan context".[15]