Thinking About Right-Wing Extremism in Canada

Abstract

This chapter includes background information about our three-year study on right-wing extremism (RWE) in Canada. The chapter consists of three core sections: (1) defining the radical right; (2) analytical framework; and (3) methodologies. First, we include a section on how we define RWE in Canada, comparing our definition with the ways in which how national and international scholars and practitioners have defined it. We suggest that RWE in Canada is a loose movement, animated by a racially, ethnically and sexually defined nationalism. This nationalism is typically framed in terms of white power and is grounded in xenophobic and exclusionary understandings of the perceived threats posed by such groups as non-whites, Jews, immigrants, homosexuals and feminists. Second, we provide a detailed description of how we understand RWE in Canada. We will draw upon, among other theoretical approaches, Donald Black’s (2004) conceptualization of terrorism as social control, placing emphasis on the organizational characteristics that simultaneously strengthen and limit the sustainability of RWE groups, as well as contextual factors that shape group cohesion. We will posit that the following factors are key to understanding how and whether hate groups endure: Heightened saliency/immediacy of the perceived grievance, as is evident from the intensity of the rhetoric of the hate group; Presence and visibility of the target group(s); Heightened organizational capacity of the hate group; Historical or contemporary patterns of mainstream racism, xenophobia or ethnocentrism; and Identifiable resistance to racism, xenophobia or ethnocentrism (e.g. law enforcement activity, human rights activity, etc.). Third, we provide a detailed description and rationale of our research methods: website analysis, court records and media scans, as well as interviews with law enforcement and intelligence communities, community activists and hate group activists.