Although they’ve long gained infamy in online political arenas, it’s likely that the first time many people became aware of the Proud Boys was when Donald Trump told them to “stand back and stand by” after President Joe Biden called for him to denounce white supremacists during their first presidential debate .
But while the group is often savvy enough to distance themselves from the label of white supremacy and the idea that they’re instigators of violence, statements from within alt-right circles and directly from the group’s founder and leaders, as collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center , indicate substantial evidence that both are apt descriptions.
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And as far as the Canadian government is concerned, the lengths that the group is willing to go to for their ideology are sufficient to classify them as a terrorist organization.
For those who aren’t familiar with the group, the Proud Boys are a reactionary group founded in 2016 by disgraced *Vice* co-founder Gavin McInnes (not pictured).
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center , they describe themselves as “western chauvinists” who believe that western culture is inherently superior. They also consider racism a myth and feminism a ploy to “de-masculinize men.”
Although they try to skirt any perceptions of racism and homophobia by saying that any man can join them as long as they agree with these beliefs, their goals and the statements of their leadership figures have led the Anti-Defamation League to consider them “misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration.”
They’re typically identifiable by the tattoos that confirm their membership, as well as the branded black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts and paramilitary gear they’re often seen wearing.
And not only does the Canadian government agree with that assessment of them, but their level of organization has compelled authorities to add them to the nation’s list of terrorist groups.
As the CBC reported , this was part of a general update that saw the Proud Boys added to the list alongside neo-Nazi organizations such as the Atomwaffen Division and the Base, as well as a Russian paramilitary group called the Russian Imperial Movement that also has ties to international neo-Nazi organizations.
With this policy update, all four of these groups are now officially identified as “ideologically motivated violent extremists.”
In a statement announcing this declaration, Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Bill Blair, stressed that classifying the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization was not a political decision, nor was it based on their role in the Capitol riot on January 6.
According to CNN , he said the decision was instead based on evidence from intelligence organizations and the law.
As he put it, “What I can tell you is over the past several months, basically since 2018, we have seen an escalation and there is an escalation towards violence for this group.”
With each of the new inclusions on their list of terrorist organizations, the Canadian government is seeking to make organized political violence — particularly against marginalized communities — as difficult as possible.
As the CBC reported Blair as saying, “Their violent actions and rhetoric are fuelled by white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny, and unfortunately, often in combination of all of the above. On several different occasions we have seen the tragic results that this type of extremism can bring to Canadian soil.”
This was a reference to the fact that a shooter entered a Quebec City mosque in 2017 and killed six people, as well as the misogynistic motivations behind one man’s decision to drive a van on a Toronto sidewalk that ended up killing 10 people.
So what happens now that the Proud Boys are considered a terrorist group in Canada?
According to the CBC, this designation doesn’t necessarily make it illegal to be a member of the group, but it does empower banks to freeze their assets and allows police to criminally charge anyone who provides any material or financial contributions to them.
In the words of Sarah Teich — a counter-terrorism researcher from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute — “It makes it much, much harder for these groups to operate in any meaningful way in Canada. Canadians can no longer interact with them in any substantial way, and if they do, they could face a criminal offence.”
For rights organizations in Canada, the decision comes as a positive development in this particular case, but potentially raises concerns that broadening the definition of terrorism could endanger protest and free speech rights.
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As Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network told CNN, “I think the minister (Blair) met some of our concerns today which we appreciate, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to look how terrorism is discussed, how the labels are applied and so on.”
For him, the concern is the possibility that other protest groups — particularly those championing the rights of Canada’s indigenous peoples — could end up tarred with the same brush as the Proud Boys.
h/t: Southern Poverty Law Center , CNN , CBC
