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The Government of Canada has listed the Proud Boys, Atomwaffen, The Base, and the Russian Imperial Movement as terrorist organizations, enabling more intense investigations and criminalizing providing material support for those groups.
This is an absolutely massive expansion of Canada's targeting of right-wing extremist groups. Atomwaffen and The Base have been very active in Canada in recent years, particularly with their efforts to infiltrate the Canadian military.
In listing the Proud Boys, however, national security officials admit they are targeting a group whose members have never been charged with terrorism offences before. From here on out, even buying a hat from the Proud Boys is a criminal act in Canada.
National security officials say the scrutiny of the Proud Boys has been ongoing for months, but admit that the events of January 6 in D.C., and recent political pressure, were very much a factor in the listing.
I'll have more on this shortly in @ForeignPolicy but what's telling is who isn't on this list. Neo-Nazi cult Order of the Nine Angles, thought to have inspired a pair of killings in Toronto (not yet proven in court) isn't there. The III% or Oath Keepers militas are not there.
Nor have we seen groups like the Soldiers of Odin, Order of the Nine Angles, or La Meute listed, despite being ideologically similar to the Proud Boys.
Since this designation is reviewable by the Federal Court, there's a real question as to whether this will survive.
Since this designation is reviewable by the Federal Court, there's a real question as to whether this will survive.
Asked whether the Proud Boys posed an imminent threat, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says "absolutely, yes."
