EXTREMISMHow the Far Right Is Evolving and Growing in Canada
Historically, Canada has always had a few active far-right groups, including the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and Nazis and fascists before the Second World War. But that was then. Now, the far right has a different strategy.
In early 2022, thousands of Canadians descended on Ottawa as part of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” in protest of the government’s pandemic-related restrictions. Many were opposed to the government’s power to impose lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates.
Wittingly or not, they were also taking part in a vast communications effort from various groups and individuals on the far right.
Our new book on the far right in Canada, The Great Right North, shows that events like the Freedom Convoy are representative of where the far right is going, how it is recruiting, how it is communicating internally and with Canadians at large, and how it is progressing in the national political discourse.
Historically, Canada has always had a few active far-right groups, including the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and Nazis and fascists before the Second World War.
It also saw various semi-successful attempts at federating smaller formations during the 1980s and, in the 1990s, under the umbrella of the Heritage Front, which turned out to be co-founded and led by a CSIS operative.
But that was then. Now, the far right has a different strategy.
The Evolving Far Right
Inspired by the widespread Islamophobia that followed the 9/11 attacks, old and new groups, influencers and ideologues have started blending their narratives into broader popular concerns.
New and growing far-right groups have emerged: Pegida Canada, La Meute and others, with tens of thousands of followers. Alongside ordinary Canadians preoccupied with national security, identity and the country’s ability to effectively welcome an influx of immigrants, far-right propagandists were weaving their white-supremacist, anti-government and yes, their old hate for Jewish people, who are accused of being behind it all.
Today, these views are often spread through a relatively sanitized discourse, leaving behind the symbols and the language of the previous generation of extremists and adopting a new populist, average-Joe appearance.
The COVID-19 pandemic further served as a platform to peddle globalist conspiracy theories and cultivate contempt for governments, news media, science, racialized people and any form of speech that might contradict the white supremacist discourse of the far right.
The broad appeal of hard-working truckers, “freedom” and pandemic anxiety was successfully mobilized into a mass movement that inspired far-right groups around the world.
