On the social networking service VK, the Canadian Nationalist Front calls for a ban on “third world immigration,” Blood & Honour envisions “white victory” and photos show the Soldiers of Odin meeting in Calgary.
Canadian far-right groups purged from mainstream social media sites last year have found a new home on less discerning online platforms willing to host them and their racist views.
Although a crackdown that followed the March 15 attack on New Zealand mosques saw them purged from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, they have resurfaced on Russia’s VK, Gab and Canund.
But while their online presence hasn’t been stamped out, it has been significantly diminished, according to experts.
“In some ways, this approach has worked,” said Canadian right-wing extremism expert Prof. Ryan Scrivens of the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice.
“It’s minimized their online presence and reach, and it’s disrupted their online networks and ability to attract the level of attention they once had on mainstream platforms.”
But it has also pushed them into “darker spaces of the internet,” where they can still attract followers, said Scrivens, whose research focuses on extremists’ use of the internet.
“Unfortunately, this is the best strategy we have right now for dealing with extremism online,” he said. “They shouldn’t be on mainstream platforms for laypeople to stumble across, but it’s clear that by removing them from these spaces, they’re bound to go somewhere else.”
Canada’s extreme right uses the internet “to create an online culture of fear, hatred and mistrust,” according to Canada’s 2018 annual Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada.
“Since 2014, Canadians motivated in whole or in part, by right-wing ideologies have killed 9 and wounded 21 on Canadian soil,” according to a section of the report that was cut prior to its publication but obtained by Global News under the Access to Information Act.
Under pressure following the New Zealand right-wing extremist attack that killed 51, Facebook took down a half-dozen Canadian far-right pages, citing its policies on extremist content and hate groups. Twitter followed suit the next day.
The neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour and Combat 18 were targeted two months later after the government added them to Canada’s list of designated terrorist organizations.
Russia’s VK has become their fallback.
Kevin Goudreau and his Canadian Nationalist Front have VK pages and are also on white nationalist sites like Stormfront, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute’s White Supremacist Threat Monitor.
His VK page includes a proposal for members of Antifa to be “shackled and or shot (in the leg) on site,” according to MEMRI. “I need a machine gun,” he wrote in another post.
On various sites, he solicits donations and tries to recruit. But while MEMRI said he had managed to return to Facebook under an alias, the account no longer exists.
His online output eroded further last August when Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman asked the Ontario court to impose a peace bond on Goudreau.
The court agreed with Warman and banned Goudreau from posting threats against anti-racism activists, including Warman.
A resident of Peterborough, Ont., Goudreau put a positive spin on the Facebook ban, claiming it had not had an impact.
“I’m on many more platforms and dozens of platforms I didn’t even know existed,” he said.
He said it had forced him to do things the traditional way.
“I have closer contact by phone now and more meetings in person,” he said. “I get out there more and meet people more than I have in a decade; I love it, sort of a new lease on life. More positive outlook now, getting banned was a huge favour and boost for us.”
But Warman sees it as a step in the right direction.
“I think the idea isn’t to imagine you can ever completely de-platform a neo-Nazi like Goudreau because there will always be outliers like VK,” said the lawyer, who has long battled the online far right.
“I think the idea is simply to remove as much of the social media megaphone as possible by removing the main communication channels like FB, Twitter, etc.
“Playing whackamole is fine, and the big social media companies should, but how to dismantle the VKs of this world is something you could look at in combination.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – RCMP say the body of a second person has been found inside their vehicle after a road washed away amid pouring rain on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Police say two vehicles went into the Sarita River when Bamfield Road washed out on Saturday as an atmospheric river hammered southern B.C.
The body of the other driver was found Sunday.
More coming.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The B.C. Greens say Sonia Furstenau will be staying on as party leader, despite losing her seat in the legislature in Saturday’s provincial election.
The party says in a statement that its two newly elected MLAs, Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell, support Furstenau’s leadership as they “navigate the prospect of having the balance of power in the legislature.”
Neither the NDP led by Premier David Eby nor the B.C. Conservatives led by John Rustad secured a majority in the election, with two recounts set to take place from Oct. 26 to 28.
Eby says in a news conference that while the election outcome is uncertain, it’s “very likely” that the NDP would need the support of others to pass legislation.
He says he reached out to Furstenau on election night to congratulate her on the Greens’ showing.
But he says the Green party has told the NDP they are “not ready yet” for a conversation about a minority government deal.
The Conservatives went from taking less than two per cent of the vote in 2020 to being elected or leading in 45 ridings, two short of a majority and only one behind the NDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio is making a difference, 4,175 kilometres away from home.
The 32-year-old Canadian international midfielder, whose parents hail from Colombia, has been working with the Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization, a charity whose goal is to help disadvantaged youth in the South American country.
Osorio has worked behind the scenes, with no fanfare.
Until now, with his benevolence resulting in becoming Toronto FC’s nominee for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award, which honours an MLS player “who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community” during the 2024 season.”
Other nominees include Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter and CF Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
The winner will be announced in late November.
The Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization (CCCO) is run entirely by volunteers like Monica Figueredo and Claudia Soler. Founded in 1991, it received charitable status in 2005.
The charity currently has four projects on the go: two in Medellin and one each in Armenia and Barranquilla.
They include a school, a home for young girls whose parents are addicted to drugs, after-school and weekend programs for children in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, and nutrition and education help for underprivileged youth.
The organization heard about Osorio and was put in contact with him via an intermediary, which led to a lunch meeting. Osorio did his due diligence and soon got back to the charity with his decision.
“It was something that I wanted to be a part of right away,” said Osorio, whose lone regret is that he didn’t get involved sooner.
“I’m fortunate now that to help more now that I could have back then,” he added. “The timing actually worked out for everybody. For the last three years I have donated to their cause and we’ve built a couple of (football) fields in different cities over there in the schools.”
His father visited one of the sites in Armenia close to his hometown.
“He said it was amazing, the kids, how grateful they are to be able to play on any pitch, really,” said Osorio. “But to be playing on a new pitch, they’re just so grateful and so humble.
“It really makes it worth it being part of this organization.”
The collaboration has also made Osorio take stock.
“We’re very fortunate here in Canada, I think, for the most part. Kids get to go to school and have a roof over their head and things like that. In Colombia, it’s not really the same case. My father and his family grew up in tough conditions, so giving back is like giving back to my father.”
Osorio’s help has been a godsend to the charity.
“We were so surprised with how willing he was,” said Soler.
The TFC skipper has helped pay for a football field in Armenia as well as an ambitious sports complex under construction in Barranquilla.
“It’s been great for them,” Figueredo said of the pitch in Armenia. “Because when they go to school, now they have a proper place to train.”
Osorio has also sent videos encouraging the kids to stay active — as well as shipping soccer balls and signed jerseys their way.
“They know more about Jonathan than the other players in Colombia,” Figueredo said. “That’s the funny part. Even though he’s far away, they’ve connected with him.”
“They feel that they have a future, that they can do more,” she added. “Seeing that was really, really great.”
The kids also followed Osorio through the 2022 World Cup and this summer’s Copa America.
Back home, Osorio has also attended the charity’s annual golf tournament, helping raise funds.
A Toronto native, he has long donated four tickets for every TFC home game to the Hospital for Sick Children.
Vancouver’s Berhalter was nominated for his involvement in the Whitecaps’ partnership with B.C. Children’s Hospital while Montreal’s Sirois was chosen for his work with the Montreal Impact Foundation.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
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