A closer look at extremism in Alberta

Alberta is home to a disproportionate number of extremist movements — including far-right groups and people travelling abroad to join armed groups such as ISIL — according to a new report billed as the first of its kind.

The upcoming study, Extremism and Hate Motivated Violence in Alberta, runs nearly 100 pages and provides a taxonomy of the province’s extremist groups. It includes provincial membership estimates for violent or potentially violent ideological movements, and assessments of whether the groups are growing or shrinking.

The Organization for the Prevention of Violence (OPV), which produced the report, received a $1.2-million grant from the federal government last year as part of a plan to counter hate and violent extremism in Alberta, which has seen a rise in police-reported hate crimes. The report is poised to be made public next month.

The organization also developed an intervention program to steer people away from extremist movements.

OPV executive director John Mccoy said he’s unaware of any other studies that identify and quantify extremist groups in Alberta.

“What our research (shows) is that there is a diversity of threats out there related to violent extremism, and there are many different ideologies that can create this problem,” said Mccoy, a professor who teaches terrorism studies at the University of Alberta.

“There are a number of ideologies where Alberta is disproportionately represented, in terms of the numbers that we’re producing,” he said.

The report relied on interviews with more than 170 law enforcement members from the RCMP and every municipal police service in Alberta. Researchers also interviewed about 120 people whose communities are affected by hate and extremism, 50 service providers specializing in violence and at-risk youth, and 21 “formers” — people previously involved with extremist movements or their loved ones.

Mccoy said one major conclusion is that individuals on the edges of extremist groups — often radicalized on social media — are the biggest threat.

“The individuals that we’re seeing are really on the margins of extremist

movements,” he said.

AL-QAIDA, AFFILIATES AND SPLINTER GROUPS

(AQAS)

The report found Alberta has been home to “both intimate and established networks” tied to alqaida and affiliated groups, and “highly isolated cases that are connected with AQAS networks wholly online.”

“Today, the trend is very much towards the latter,” the report says.

From the late 1990s to the mid2000s, low-level fundraising, money laundering and promotion/propaganda work took place in the province, the report said, supporting foreign fighters in the Middle East, North Africa and Bosnia.

Since 2012, it is estimated that between 30 and 40 people from Alberta travelled overseas to fight for armed groups — a number Mccoy said is disproportionate to Alberta’s population. He said the majority of those joined ISIL.

Those fighters include former Edmonton residents Mahad Hirsi, Hamsa Kariye, Heri Kariye and Omar Aden, who are believed to have travelled to Syria in 2013. All four fighters were reportedly dead by the end of 2014.

Roughly 20 people are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq from Calgary — including 10 or so who shared a loose connection with a now-closed mosque in downtown Calgary.

Now, the primary local concern is people inspired by the movements committing a “homegrown” attack. The report cited a Sept. 30, 2017, vehicle attack on a police officer and pedestrians in Edmonton — still before the courts — saying it mirrored the “playbook” of groups like ISIL. No terrorism charges were laid.

While returning foreign fighters present a threat, those fears have yet to be realized, the report says.

ANTI-AUTHORITY

EXTREMISTS

The report estimates there are about 150 to 250 Freemen on the Land in Alberta — lower than previous estimates.

The report found most Freemen come to the ideology that government is illegitimate after a “negative interaction” with the law. The majority are non-violent. However, the report found 10 to 15 Alberta Freemen have “demonstrated a behavioural propensity for violence.”

The report suggests the movement is in decline.

LEFT-WING EXTREMISM

The report found left-wing extremists have not been involved in any major violent incidents in Alberta, nor do researchers believe they present a “significant threat to public safety.”

PATRIOT AND MILITIA

GROUPS

Motivated “primarily by xenophobia and anti-government views,” many members also share anti-islamic sentiments, the report said. Some engage in survivalist activities like “prepping” and firearms training. Some take part in ostensible charity activities, as well as “street patrols” that the report says “primarily target visible minority, newcomer and refugee communities — Muslims in particular.”

While there are reports of militia groups taking part in military-style training in rural Alberta, the OPV said those “remain unsubstantiated to date.”

Examples of the groups include the Three Percenters, Sons/ Soldiers of Odin, the Canadian Infidels/clann, True North Patriots and Northern Guard. Many formed in 2015 — driven by the elections of the provincial NDP and the federal Liberals, and the economic downturn.

The report stressed there is no evidence the groups are involved in violence or “would represent a significant threat to public safety or national security.”

Interest fell off in 2018, and their numbers are now estimated at between 300 and 500.

WHITE SUPREMACY/ ASSOCIATED IDEOLOGIES

In 1930, the Ku Klux Klan had 50 chapters in Alberta with 7,000 to 8,000 members, the report estimates. By the mid-1930s, the Klan had been reduced to a few small, largely rural groups.

Organized white supremacist groups were largely dormant in the province until the late 1980s, when membership numbered around 100. In the intervening years, a number of skinhead, neo-nazi and “Aryan” groups were active in the province. Particularly violent years fell between 2008 and 2012, with 10 “noteworthy” incidents, including assaults on immigrants and visible minorities in Calgary and Edmonton, at least five homicides and “bouts of infighting” between white supremacist groups.

Now, the primary active groups in Alberta are Blood and Honour, Combat-18, the Christian Identity Movement and a variety of “identitarian” groups.