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im repeatedly sent this NDP claim that there are "300 active far-right groups in Canada." when I've asked NDP officials to name them, they identify about 10—and even of those, several are defunct or 1-man FB pages. where's the list of 300—it exists, right? https://www.ndp.ca/stop-hate
Or is it a list of 300 in the sense that McCarthy had a list of 205 State Dept employees "known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party"? There were a few communists in Washington, just like there a few hard-right loons in Canada. But let's see the list
I've tried to validate this stat using publicly available sources. Like this 2014 paper. Somewhat dated source. But FWIW, here is the total list of attacks included in the paper for the decade preceding it's 2014 publication.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263506329_Right-Wing_Extremism_in_Canada
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263506329_Right-Wing_Extremism_in_Canada
But I must be missing something, bcuz surely a political party & the media wouldn't cite this number if it could not be backed up. this list is an invaluable resource for *fighting hate*—so social-justice advocates should be leading the charge to make it widely available
I'm not disputing the idea that we should all be vigilant in fighting extremism. But if Conservatives sent out a letter to the effect that "there are 300 hard-core communist and anarchist groups roaming Canada," I guess, yeah, I'd be looking for the list. and so would the media
a few commenters who have said that, while they have no idea where the list of 300 is either, the act of seeking confirmation for the # somehow runs contrary to the fight against hatred—& that the 300 figure helps scare ppl into action. if that's the logic, why 300 and not 3,000?
The one source ppl point to as *potentially* validating the 300-groups claim is an Ont Tech University prof who says she developed her estimate from her own research. I have asked her to send me the list, but she politely declined, and apparently no one else has it either...
I should note that, until recently, the same prof said there were "100" groups—not 300—but then she said she found 200 new groups, so it's now 300. okay. But we dont have the list of 100 groups either… https://www.canadianlabourmatters.ca/articles/far-right-extremism-growing-in-canada
weirdest thing is that no one in media seems much concerned with getting that list of 300, even tho the fight against these 300 groups is apparently the defining struggle of our era. Shouldn't @theJagmeetSingh himself be begging for its release? surely its life-saving info, no?
the research that supposedly validates the 300 claim is funded by Public Safety Canada. if taxpayer money has been used to identify the 300 groups that are plotting to turn Canada into a white supremacist fascist state, we should know who they are, no?
https://www.canadianlabourmatters.ca/articles/far-right-extremism-growing-in-canada
https://www.canadianlabourmatters.ca/articles/far-right-extremism-growing-in-canada
I see people using the term "lies" to describe the 300 stat. But it is possible that the list does exist, and that these are indeed bona fide extremist groups and not just nut-job twitter accounts. Only way to prove it—and fight hate, which we all want to do—is disclose the list
And h/t to @NewWorldHominin, who was, as far as I know, the first to notice that everyone is using that 300 figure even though no one seems to have the underlying information
