Canada is the First Country in the World to Add Far-Right Proud Boys as Official Terrorist Organization
The Canadian government is the first country to include the American-based Proud Boys on its official list of terrorist entities.
Canada announced the official classification of Proud Boys as a terrorist organization in a statement on February 4, citing that the group poses an active security threat.
The Canadian House of Commons passed a motion to vigorously address the proliferation of white supremacist groups such as Proud Boys by deeming them terrorist organizations.
The group’s founder, Gavin McInnes, lives in the US but is a Canadian. Proud Boys was prominent at the Capitol Hill violent riots that left five people dead and threatened Congress members as they were certifying President Joe Biden's legal election.
The group first attracted Canadian officials’ notice and the public’s eye in 2017 during an Indigenous protest in Halifax.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the Proud Boys now join a total of thirteen groups classified as terrorist organizations, including two neo-Nazi groups, the Russian Imperial Movement and others.
He announced Proud Boys were added to the list along with three groups linked to al-Qaida, four linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Kashmiri group Levant.
Blair said the country would not allow any terrorist groups to exist within Canada.
“Canada will not tolerate ideological, religious or politically motivated acts of violence,” Blair said in a statement.
The statement states the Proud Boys is a neofascist organization that spouts anti-Semitism, political violence, and other racist ideologies.
In response to Canada's action, US Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the National Security Team is actively completing a review of violent, domestic extremism.
In her daily media briefing, Psaki said, “We, of course, have a review underway, a domestic violent extremism review that’s underway by our national security team to take a look at violence and this type of concerning group activity across the country,” Psaki noted.“I expect we will wait for that review to conclude before we make any determinations.”
Here in the US, designating a domestic organization as a domestic terrorist group has never been done. Under federal law, the secretary of state can legally establish groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
Since there is no process for designating a domestic terrorist group in the US, any attempt to follow in Canada’s footsteps would likely trigger a First Amendment challenge. Even Timothy McVeigh, who masterminded the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and injured more than 680 others, was prosecuted in federal court under laws addressing mass destruction weapons, not domestic terrorism.
In Canada, the Proud Boys' designation as a terrorist organization means the government may seize its assets and impose penalties.
