The Rise of Racism and Far Right in Canada: A Sociological Analysis

This essay delves into the escalating issues of racism and the far-right movement in Canada, exploring their historical roots and contemporary manifestations. It examines the influence of global extremism, particularly in the wake of events in Europe and the United States, on Canada's multicultural environment. The essay discusses the characteristics of far-right groups, their anti-Islam and anti-migration stances, and their activities, including online platforms and public demonstrations. It references specific incidents of hate crimes and violence, such as the Quebec City mosque shooting and the Toronto van attack, highlighting the state's response through apologies. The analysis also draws on academic sources to explore the demand and supply sides of far-right party success and challenges to Canadian society. The essay emphasizes the need to address these issues and maintain multiculturalism to combat racism and extremism effectively, offering a comprehensive overview of the sociological and political dimensions of this critical topic.

Running head: THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
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1THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
Canada is known for the multiculturalism and it is assumed unsusceptible from the
extremism. A huge number of people the from far right group has been living in Canada for a
long period of time. Far rights groups are like other groups existing in the world which are
following a stalwart nationalism. The flood of extremism around the world specially in the
western countries like United States of America or Europe affected the multiculturalism of
Canada. This paper we will discuss about the rise of racism and far right in Canada and the
present scenario of the country effecting by these two problems.
The far right politics are relied upon the left right spectrum and it is different from the
standard political right. It is known for the autocratic aptness and extreme nationalism. The
examples from the history can be taken as the Nazism and the Fascism and in today’s world it
can be termed as the Neo Nazism and Neo Fascism. The ideology behind these groups can lead
to forced assimilation, domination on rights, violence, persecution, mass destruction and
genocide where the inferiority is taken into consideration for a threat to the state, religion, native
groups and conservative institution of the society (McElhinny, 2016).
The far right was actually existed in Canada especially when the migrant crisis and
refugee issue occurred in Europe in the year of 2015. The attacks on Germany and France by the
radical Islam and on the other European countries as well developed the fear of Islamic States
and Canada was affected too. It has been considered by many people that the increase rate of
hate crimes originated from the election of Trump. The far right group has not created by the
Trump election but it is true that it encouraged the activities of these groups in Canada. The far
rights groups for example Jewish Defense League, Pegida, La Meute, Northerb Guard, Atalante,
ID Canada are existing under the boundaries of Canada ranging from Quebec to the British
Columbia. The characteristics of these groups are focused on two heads one is the anti-islam

2THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
viewpoint and the other is anti-migration. Some groups like La Meute has declared clearly
recently with the views that it will fight against the illegal immigration and radical Islam on the
other hand the showing a more conservative viewpoint groups like Pegida has declared against
the Islam. There are number of other groups existing in Canada who are actively participates in
the online system and the activities of this group are concerned to forums for example the
International White Supremacy Platform. It is important to mention here that the far right groups
existing in Canada are mostly influenced or directly linked to the groups which were originated
outside Canada and very few groups has the Canadian origin (Golder, 2016).
The far rights groups are supported by the likeminded people all over the country and the
common objective is to eliminate the threat from the country by different activities. These groups
are different from each other on the basis of the violence used and scope. Different group
activities such as meetings, protest, online participation, street march on dangerous location,
putting signs in the open areas to grab the attention of people. The groups in Canada has
identified that the activities of radical Islam is very much dangerous and it created a fear of the
immigrants in Canada who are responsible to destroy the Candian culture(Perry & Scrivens,
2016). The Islamic law is identified as a threat to the nation. On social media platforms there are
end number of contents which showed the fear of Islam and the splintar group in the country.
Other contents related to anti-aboriginal, anti-Semitism, a man threating a Canadian man for the
skin colour these are some of the examples which people are witnessing through online. Quebec
City in Canada in the year of 2017 accounted a violent shooting on a Mosque at the time of
prayer which resulted in deaths of 6 innocent persons and injured to many people in the Mosque.
The year of 2018, Toronto has also witnessed a violent attack on the pedestrian by Alek
Minissian which resulted in deaths of 10 individuals and most of them were female.

3THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
In response to the activities related to racism it has seen as a common practice by the
state to make apology. It had been seen from the year 1980 in Canada for the cases related to
apologies and McElhinny observed that racist attacks cannot be healed by the apologies and
considered the age as the age of apologies. It has been observed that the elimination of racist
activities and in order to maintain the social aspect must establish the multiculturalism in
Canada. The issues and challenges in Canada must be addressed properly. Far right groups must
justify whether it is the human rights are taken into consideration or not. Economic sector of the
country is also affected with the social activities which must be taken into consideration
(McElhinny, 2016).
The far right parties are known as the quickest enhancing party family in Europe so the
electoral success of the party must be based on the demand side and supply side. Golder in his
article has analyzed about the demand side as which are identified as the injustice observed by
the people which creates the demand for the far right parties. Supply side of the far right parties
are taken into consideration the choices of far right parties and benefits to the political system on
the basis of achievement by the far right parties. Social challenges in the country must be
analyzed on the basis this analysis (Golder, 2016).
Perry and Scrivens in order to identify the challenges in Canada had examined the right
wing extremists activities. The right wing extremists are considered to be a threat to the nation
by the security authority of the country. Several interviews have conducted to identify the
activities of the right wing extremist and it taken into account the several factors for the right
wing activist. Right wing extremist are subjected to exploitation by the strengths and weaknesses
of these group (Perry & Scrivens, 2016).

4THE RISE OF RACISM AND FAR RIGHT IN CANADA
References
Golder, M. (2016). Far right parties in Europe. Annual Review of Political Science, 19, 477-497.
McElhinny, B. (2016). Reparations and racism, discourse and diversity: Neoliberal
multiculturalism and the Canadian age of apologies. Language & Communication, 51,
50-68.
Perry, B., & Scrivens, R. (2016). Uneasy alliances: A look at the right-wing extremist movement
in Canada. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 39(9), 819-841.