Spies, researchers probe anti-Muslim backlash
Jihadi-inspired extremism has dominated discussion of terrorism in Canada in recent years. But the shootings at a Quebec City Islamic centre may well represent the flipside of that coin: the hate-killing of Muslims. It is too early to know what prompted the crimes butaccused shooter Alexandre Bissonnette’s social-media history suggests he was a fan of far-right, antiimmigrant French politician Marine Le Pen. Canada’s spy agency and academic researchers have been quietly probing the phenomenon of right-wing extremism, and the concerns will figure into federal plans for a national office of counter-radicalization.