Radical Right-Wing Political Parties and Groups
In 2020, the number of far-right extremist groups across Canada increased by 30% compared to 2015. Most of these groups are organized around anti-religious and anti-racial ideologies, with anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish sentiments being the most common, followed by hatred of immigrants, indigenous peoples, women, LGBTQ communities, and other minority groups. Leading hate-study expert Barbara Perry says there are numerous so-called alt-right (alt-right) rallies in Canada every week and that hate groups have been forming coalitions here lately. "It reflects Charlottesville's United Right," Perry says. "It shows a disturbing trend: they have solidarity and a real movement with a shared vision."
In 2017, the number of hate-motivated criminal incidents brought to the attention of the police increased by more than 60% compared to 2014, when 2,073 such incidents were registered. Of these, 38% were violent crimes, including assaults, threats and criminal harassment. Moreover, most of the crimes reported by the police are committed by individuals who are not currently associated with a particular hate group, suggesting that the problem is more widespread than one might think. These police figures are based on incidents that have been verified by investigations and depend heavily on the willingness of victims to report the crime. It is estimated that 80 to 85% of hate crimes go unreported.
In 2020, a report sponsored by the Public Safety Foundation of Canada showed that there has been a 320% increase in far-right acts of terrorism in the past five years, supported by an increasingly interconnected and internationalist right-wing extremist community. It argues that a central factor in this increase in activity is the use of social media, which enables a wide range of right-wing extremists to mobilize through recruiting new members, broadcasting disinformation and propaganda, harassing opponents, and coordinating activities, including publicity stunts, protests, and acts of violence. The social networks used include popular platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as a constellation of fringe forums, including ultra-libertarian platforms with lax content moderation policies, such as Gab, and purpose-built extremist centers such as Iron March and Fascist Forge. This report represents the interim results of a two-year study to deepen understanding of the social media implications of right-wing extremism (RWE) in Canada. This work is part of a larger project to study RWE in Canada, led by Ontario Technical University (OTU) in partnership with Michigan State University and the University of New Brunswick.
In 2019, the Canadian Center for Combating Bias and Extremism identified "about 300 far-right groups operating in Canada, as well as ongoing cases of non-violent racist behavior and violent attacks by the far right." The demographics of far-right groups are changing. While many adherents are still young people, according to the Center, "the far right is now also becoming a movement of middle-aged adults - often highly educated and middle-class employed." The report also reveals that the government and political parties at various levels in Canada are also engaging in anti-immigrant speech and politics, such as talking about Islamists as the biggest security threat and how it's "offensive" for someone to wear a hijab.
