Canada Designates Numerous Far-Right and Islamist Extremist Groups as Terrorist Organizations

The Canadian Department of Public Safety has designated a slew of far-right and Islamist extremist groups as terrorist organizations. The designation of so many far-right groups, which include the Proud Boys, the Atomwaffen Division, the Base, and the Russian Imperial Movement, is unprecedented for a government. The latter category includes Ansar Dine, Front de Libération du Macina, and Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal-Muslimin, among others. While it is not necessarily a crime to be a member of a listed group, there can be serious criminal and financial consequences for groups that are designated terrorist entities. The designations allow for the government to lay terrorism charges to people connected to the group more easily, and prevent those within the group from fundraising, selling merchandise, and owning property on the group’s behalf. Significantly, Canada designated not just the groups themselves, but offshoots. The National Socialist Order, for example, is designated alongside the Atomwaffen Division. Also of significance, Canadian officials stressed the use of the term “ideologically motivated violent extremism” rather than right-or left-wing extremism. The Canadian government’s actions come on the heels of the riot on Capitol Hill in Washington and its ties to extremist groups like the Proud Boys, which was cause for debate in the Canadian parliament. Read more at Vice and CBC News.