Tuesday, October 9, 2018

CSIS sees ‘significant’ jump in far-right activity online


OTTAWA—One month after the deadly shooting rampage at the Grande mosquée de Québec, Canada’s spy agency quietly put together a “preliminary assessment” of the threat far-right extremists pose in Canada.

The report, heavily censored and stamped “SECRET,” noted right-wing extremism and violence is nothing new in Canada — in fact, it was present in the earliest days of colonization.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) traces far-right violence back to race riots in Nova Scotia in the 1780s, racial segregation in Ontario schools in the 1840s and violence against Chinese and Japanese immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, “not to mention” generations of discrimination against Indigenous peoples.

“At the heart of all right-wing extremism is hatred and fear,” CSIS wrote in an analysis obtained by the Star under access to information law.

But in recent years, the report noted, the target appears to have shifted.

“Within the range of groups is a subset which either overtly, or under the guise of non-violent, cultural or religious preservation, focus their online hate towards Islam, Muslim immigrants, multiculturalism and those Canadian politicians who are seen as supporting Muslim-friendly legislation.”  (more...)


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