Canada’s Minister of Public Security Admits Right-Wing Extremist Groups Are a Threat
Credit to Author: Billy Eff| Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2019 21:05:23 +0000
This story first appeared on VICE Quebec.
In recent years, Canada has seen a rise in far-right extremists, including groups like La Meute in Quebec and the Three Percenters in the West. But few politicians or police forces have spoken out about this concerning trend, with Islamic terrorism still controlling much of the narrative.
But in a speech at the University of Regina on Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale warned against far-right , neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
In particular, he mentioned the case of Alek Minassian, the alleged perpetrator of the ram-sweeper attack in Toronto in April 2018 that killed more than 10 people, as well as that of Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six people in the Great Mosque of Quebec in 2017.
“They may have behaved themselves as singular individuals doing very evil deeds but they were inspired by something and largely that relates back to what they saw on the internet” said Goodale, adding that ISIS and al-Qaeda are not the only sources of extremist violence.
According to Goodale, the federal government is working with several Internet service providers to address the problem of the proliferation of extremist content, saying that ISPs do not want to have the reputation of being suppliers of “this kind of disgusting stuff.” The minister also argued that these providers have an obligation to ensure that they do not provide a platform for hateful content.