New posters being plastered on numerous bus shelters in West Hamilton and Dundas are being called the latest example of the “hard right” on the rise in Canada.
That’s the word from Bernie Farber, the chairman of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
The posters read, “Defend Canada, Join the fight.” They are sponsored by a group called ID Canada.
The group’s website says “ID Canada was created as a response to Canada’s decaying identity, increased third-world immigration and the prevalence of anti-European sentiments in this country.”
It says, “Canada was never meant to be a melting pot of third-world migration. Diversity is in fact, our greatest weakness.”
Farber says, “Let nobody be fooled, this is a white nationalist group and their rhetoric alone should be enough to warn everybody.
“It’s all part of the fear-mongering that has been stoked by Donald Trump as president of the United States and it’s spilling into Canada,” says Farber.
He says Trump has given “a breath of fresh air to white supremacists and neo-Nazis” that can lead to “hardcore violent extremists.”
Canada’s minister for public safety says extreme groups such as white supremacists and neo-Nazis are an increasing concern and threat.
Ralph Goodale says the groups promote hate, which manifests itself in violent anti-Semitism or in other crimes.
Speaking in Regina, Goodale used the van attack along Yonge Street in Toronto last year in which 10 people died as an example.
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He also cited the six people who were murdered inside a Quebec City mosque in 2017 because they were at prayer.
Goodale says these evil deeds were inspired by what the perpetrators saw on the internet.
He says the federal government is working with internet providers to eliminate problem content.
Goodale says internet providers have an obligation to make sure they don’t provide a platform for spreading fear and hate.