Canadian politicians unanimously support call to label Proud Boys a terrorist group

Jan 26 2021, 3:45 am

Canadian politicians have unanimously supported a motion calling on Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to label the Proud Boys a terrorist organization.

The far-right group was founded by Canadian Gavin McInnes. Some of its members participated in the Capitol Riot in Washington, DC when Trump supporters stormed government buildings while law-makers were affirming US President Joe Biden’s win.

New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh introduced the motion, and it received support from the other political parties.

The NDP started an online petition asking the government to label the Proud Boys a terrorist group earlier this month, and it became so popular the site hosting it briefly went down.

“Members of the Proud Boys joined a group armed with deadly weapons as they led an assault on the U.S. Capitol – this was an act of domestic terrorism,” the NDP’s petition says.

However, not everyone is in favour of adding the Proud Boys to Canada’s list of recognized terrorist organizations. Vancouver-based author and activist Harsha Walia called anti-terror legal infrastructure “rotten by design” on Twitter.

“It is fundamentally regressive law and targets Black, Indigenous, Muslim, Sikh, left communities by design,” Walia said, referring to Canada’s anti-terror framework.

Megan DevlinMegan Devlin

+ News
+ Politics
+ Canada