A demonstration of the ultra group 'Proud Boys', on December 12 in Washington, USA. The Washington Post / AGENCIAS-EXTERNAS
Bill Blair, Canadian Minister of Public Security, announced on Wednesday the inclusion of 13 new groups to the list of terrorist entities in the country.
Blair said at a press conference that this constitutes "an important step in the fight against violent extremism in all its forms."
"The Canadian Government will continue to take appropriate measures to counter terrorist threats to Canada, its citizens and its interests in the world," he added.
Four of these organizations - one of them the Proud Boys - are linked to white supremacism;
the other nine are jihadist in nature.
The Canadian Parliament had voted on January 25 a motion to ask the Justin Trudeau government to add the Proud Boys to the list.
The initiative, presented by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, received the unanimous support of the political forces.
Singh called on the government to use "all available tools to fight the proliferation of white supremacists and hate groups, beginning with the immediate designation of the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity."
Blair said on that date that the investigations were already underway, but that it was necessary to analyze different evidence carefully before taking the step.
Concern in Canada for the Proud Boys increased after their participation in the assault on the United States Capitol on January 6.
Although its presence on Canadian soil is not recent.
In July 2017, five of its members disrupted a demonstration called by indigenous groups in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The incident had a strong repercussion in the country because these individuals belonged to the Army.
Proud Boys is a group that recommends the use of violence, only accepts men in its ranks, and exhibits strong nationalistic, misogynistic and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
They describe themselves as "Western chauvinists" who are fed up with apologizing for "creating the modern world."
It was founded by Canadian-British Gavin McInnes in 2016, although McInnes left the movement in 2018, when the FBI began viewing it as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism.
The Atomwaffen Division, the Imperial Russian Movement and The Base are the other entities of the extreme right - linked to racism and violence - included today along with the Proud Boys in the list of terrorist groups of the Canadian Government.
"They are intolerant, they express hatred and, as we have seen, they can be very dangerous," Blair said.
For their part, the nine jihadist groups include the following: the Islamic State of Bangladesh, the Macina Liberation Front, Hizbul Mujahideen, Ansar Dine and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara.
Inclusion on the list of terrorist entities translates, among other things, into greater monitoring of the activities of these groups, possible criminal charges against their collaborators, and freezing of assets.
The Canadian government registry will feature a total of 73 organizations following the additions announced on Wednesday.
