Contemporary Canadian Hate Groups

Atalante is a Québec City-based far-right skinhead group that promotes a worldview deeply rooted in white nationalism. Members of Atalante have been linked to acts of physical violence against individuals they deemed to be ‘anti-fascists’. The group is well known for participating in stunts, putting up posters and sometimes engaging in acts of charity in order to attract public support. The group’s leader was convicted of breaking and entering and mischief in 2022, years after performing a stunt targeting a Vice journalist who had written about Atalante.

Canada First is a white supremacist group which developed as an offshoot of the American Groyper movement. Deeply rooted in Internet culture, the group actively promotes the radicalization of young people’ in order to bring about a white ethnostate in Canada. Memes are a key tool in this process. The term Canada First signifies their opposition to all forms of immigration, and regularly invokes antisemitic dogwhistles about "globalist" influence over Canadian politics. Canada First members were active participants in the Ottawa Freedom Convoy. One member had previously been charged with assault with a weapon after throwing gravel at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Canada First" is also a slogan that predates the group. This slogan has also been adapted into a variety of different symbols, most notably the Canada First flag, which features the letters C and F in large bolded script and a maple leaf inside of the C.

The Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP) is a neo-Nazi and white supremacist political party that was founded in 2017. The CNP opposes the Canadian Multiculturalism Act and proposes defunding pride parades and establishing a mandatory national curriculum based on “European and Christian values.” The CNP regularly uses fascist imagery in their materials. In 2019 the CNP achieved registered federal party status from Elections Canada, and has since run candidates in the 2019 and 2021 elections. In 2021 the CNP’s leader was arrested by the RCMP and charged with the wilful promotion of hate, for which he was sentenced to a year in prison.

Diagolon refers to a network of Canadian far-right activists formed around a collective of antisemitic streamers. It also refers to a fictional country spanning from Alaska to Florida, envisioned as a tongue-in-cheek symbol for political jurisdictions with fewer COVID-related public health restrictions.

Diagolon’s ideologues espouse antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, and misogyny. The network is influenced by firearms culture, militia movements, and accelerationist movements. Diagolon is represented in a number of symbols, the most prevalent of which is "Ol' Slashy", a black flag with a white diagonal stripe from the top left to the bottom right.

The Folkish Resistance Movement (FRM) is an international neo-Nazi propaganda initiative. Chapters of FRM, including many in Canada, focus on the distribution of visual propaganda with a distinct style of design that applies a modern aesthetic to historic Nazi propaganda themes. The activities of FRM chapters includes sticker campaigns and the application of larger signage such as oversized banners.

This group or movement relies partially on media attention for recruitment. We recommend proceeding with informed caution when reporting on this group/movement in a public manner.

The Hammerskins are an international group that started in the United States in 1988 as a Nazi skinhead gang. They are one of the oldest white supremacist skinhead groups in North America, and have had a presence in Canada since founding. They are associated primarily with racist rock music, and individual members have been involved in numerous violent attacks and hate crimes. Hammerskins are still active in Canada.

La Meute (the wolf pack) is an Islamophobic hate group founded in 2015, which grew in the wake of public fears regarding asylum seekers in the latter half of the 2010s. One of the most visible groups participating in a series of demonstrations at the infamous ‘Roxham Road’ border crossing, the group eventually fell apart due to infighting. Prominent members of the group have gone on to be active in the anti-mask and anti-vaccination movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent months, there have been rumors of an attempted comeback, though this has yet to materialize in a meaningful way.

The National Citizen’s Alliance is a minor federal political party that promotes white nationalist, nativist, and Islamophobic conspiracy theories. The party has unsuccessfully run candidates in several recent elections.

The Order of Nine Angles (often shortened to the O9A or ONA) is a neo-Nazi cult that originated in the United Kingdom, most likely by British neo-Nazi David Myatt and associates. O9A groups and individuals operate across the world, including in Canada, where a follower of the O9A murdered a Muslim man working at a Toronto Mosque in 2019.

The O9A is known for promoting extreme violence among its followers, including sexual violence and premeditated murders. Its followers have been known to influence and engage with a wide variety of religious movements including New Religious groups, Muslims extremists, neo-Buddhist groups, and even Catholic and Orthodox churches. O9A followers have also been influencial in subcultural communities including including mysticism, environmentalism, New Age communities, youth-oriented internet forums, and certain heavy metal music communities - including in Canada.

The O9A uses many symbols specific to their movement. The most common is the Septinary Sigal, effectively the logo of the Order of Nine Angles.

This group or movement relies partially on media attention for recruitment. We recommend proceeding with informed caution when reporting on this group/movement in a public manner.

The Proud Boys are a neofascist men’s group started in the United States by Canadian far-right activist Gavin McInnes. Several Canadian chapters of the Proud Boys operated until late 2020, when the possibility of the Proud Boys becoming a designated terrorist group became a point of national conversation. At the time, some Canadian members had already left in favour of accelerationist neo-Nazi group. In 2022, it was reported that Canadian former Proud Boys were behind a large neo-Nazi propaganda network.

Proud Boys espouse Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, xenophobia, and extreme anti-2SLGBTQA+ rhetoric and are best known for their roles in violent actions, often playing the roles of enforcers of far-right politics. The Proud Boys appropriated several symbols that are not explicitly fascist, including their use of black and yellow polo shirts as uniforms.

Despite well-documented evidence, the group often attempts to cloud its agenda by discussing members’ activities with each other, rather than attacks on target groups, and emphasizing the group’s role as a “drinking club”.