Anti-hate group concerned by terrorist label
MPs’ declaration could set dangerous precedent when it comes to dissent
OTTAWA—If the far-right group Proud Boys was looking for a sympathetic ear, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network is probably not the first place it would go.
But the anti-racism organization says it’s concerned about the recent unanimous declaration from the House of Commons that the Proud Boys should be designated terrorists.
“I think we’re all pretty concerned about the window shifting of what is a terrorist organization changing on the whims on the politics of the day, on the news cycle,” said Peter Smith, an activist with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, in an interview with the Star.
“The Proud Boys are definitely a hate group, and they’ve definitely been violent, and they’ve been violent in Canada. But what is a terrorist has an imperfect but … very specific legal definition,” Smith said.
For elected politicians to label anyone as a terrorist is “dangerous
for anyone who is engaging in any kind of dissent,” he said.
Last week, members of Parliament unanimously passed a non-binding resolution that the Proud Boys — a loosely organized group of “western chauvinists” that played a key role in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol building — should be officially recognized as a terrorist organization.
A formal declaration would have far-reaching consequences for the group’s Canadian members. Designating an organization
as a terrorist entity would allow banks to freeze its members’ assets, police to seize their property, and make it illegal to knowingly aid the group in any way.
But national security and legal observers expressed concerns that MPs — in the absence of intelligence or evidence, and outside of the legal process of listing terrorist entities — are pushing to have a specific group designated as terrorists.
The Proud Boys are an allmale brotherhood, created by far-right media personality Gavin McInnes, whose members have been tied to violence and civil unrest in the U.S. and Canada. But Smith said anti-fascist and anti-hate activists are also concerned about making terrorism designations more political. “The process has to be improved,” he said. “But we feel removing it from its typical legal process is just pushing that even further.”
The motion to push the Liberal government to list the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization came from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and gained support from all sides of the House of Commons. In an interview Tuesday, Singh repeatedly rejected concerns that the vote further politicized the practice of listing terrorist entities.
The motion was non-binding, meaning it did not commit the government to act, but a decision is expected soon on adding additional far-right extremist groups to the terrorist entities list.
Singh said that while designating a group “terrorist” requires evidence, Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have for years ignored signs that white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups are a domestic threat in Canada.
“In this case, white supremacy has gone ignored. And for years and years, white supremacists and extreme right-wing groups being major threats to Canadians. And we just saw an insurrection in the States,” said Singh. “We should focus on that….
“Absolutely the identification process should be based on evidence, should be based on experts assessing the evidence and making decisions,” he said. “But what if the experts and the evidence being presented is ignored, and no one is saying that we’ve got to go after white supremacists?
“Then politicians have a responsibility to say, ‘Wait a second, there’s been no attention given to a real threat to Canadians; nobody is doing anything about it.’ ”
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair is ultimately responsible for recommending which groups should be added to the terrorist entity list. He said that those recommendations will not be based on politics, but evidence.