FEDERAL NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and advocacy groups on Tuesday noted that Canada has seen a 200% increase in active hate groups in the last five years, making families feel unsafe in their communities, and demanded that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals must do more to tackle online hate and dismantle white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in Canada.
Singh said: “Hate and far-right ideology spread like fire online and Justin Trudeau has been slow to tackle this issue. People need to feel safe in their towns, workplaces, schools and online. We are often told that white supremacy and racism exist only in the United States. This is misleading. Far-right extremist groups are operating across Canada, right now. Trudeau’s Liberals cannot sit on the sideline, they must act immediately to counter hate groups wherever they are.”
In 2015, according to counter-terrorism experts in Canada, Canada had 100 alt-right or white supremacist groups operating in Canada. Now, we have over 300. As the number of alt-right and neo-Nazi groups grow in Canada, we now know that without action today, it will simply be a matter of time before the next attack against people.
Singh said: “Nobody should feel unsafe and worried that they could be the target of such groups. Many people face discrimination, racism and hate in their daily lives in Canada. The Liberal government must immediately use all its tools to dismantle white supremacist groups and tackle online hate by implementing measures that will make social media platforms accountable to remove hateful and violent extremism content on their platforms.”
The NDP invited Canadians to join their call on Trudeau’s Liberals to take immediate action against hate-groups by signing here: