Media

Tech Against Terrorism Podcast
June 12, 2025

In this episode, host Lucas Webber is joined by Ben Makuch, national security reporter and contributor to The Guardian and Peter Smith, an independent researcher and journalist with the Canadian Anti Hate Network. They unpack where accelerationist narratives started, and how the rise of the digital age has helped spread them. They also examine why this ideology appeals to violent actors - and the challenges law enforcement faces in countering the threat.

Listen here. 

In Bed With the Elephant - Ricochet
June 5, 2025

PressProgress
May 16, 2025

Experts on far-right extremism, meanwhile, say the church’s close associations with the Freedom Convoy and role as a kind of hub for far-right activists make that relationship even more concerning.

“It’s very concerning if an OPS liaison invited a far-right activist with connections to the so-called Freedom Convoy to protests,” Canadian Anti-Hate Network Executive Director Evan Balgord told PressProgress.

“I just can’t imagine that level of trust being extended to anybody who would be demonstrating on behalf of 2SLGBTQ+ protests, or against the far-right,” Balgord added. “I think it speaks to a bias that on-the-ground activists feel is very obvious. If the OPS are evenhanded in this practice, they need to speak up.”

“This alleged behaviour of the OPS needs to be investigated.”

Read here.

TorontoToday
May 7, 2025

Peter Smith, a researcher and reporter who covers far-right extremism for the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, called the number of people who participated in the demonstration “concerning.”

While the same groups have staged similar demonstrations locally in recent years, they tend to be much smaller, with just a handful attending, he said.

“I think it’s undoubtable that the movement is growing and that [it] has been getting more extreme,” said Smith.

The Toronto Fitness Club is one of a growing number of far-right groups that also focus on athleticism, which are often referred to as active clubs, according to Smith. 

While active clubs often promote fitness and combat training, and appear to advocate for tougher immigration policies or a return to traditional values, Smith said their core focus is pushing for white nationalism. 

“These are not just a bunch of people who have questions about immigration,” he said. “If you're not Scottish, French, Irish or English, [they want you to] to go back to where you came from.”

Smith said he believed the main focus of Saturday's protest was to get photos and video that could be circulated online to try to get media attention and recruit more people to the movement.

“It’s a very dark ideology that has been finding more purchase with people … and we have to really work to stamp it out of our communities,” he said.

Read here.

Ricochet
April 27, 2025

“Far-right media uses misinformation and disinformation to dehumanize their opponents, suggest that there are sinister motives behind progressive policies, or blame marginalized groups for societal problems,” said Evan Balgord, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, in an interview with Ricochet.

“Politicians can then find support by responding to these narratives and encouraging them, or face less resistance when they suggest policies that will hurt marginalized groups.”

This benefits one major political party in Canada above all others.

“If a future government cuts off media funding, or access, or closes the CBC, traditional, centrist media will have a hard time funding itself. For-profit far-right media, which is very, very skilled at getting people angry and scared, and fundraising on that basis, will take up more of our media landscape,” Balgord said.

Read here.

PressProgress
April 4, 2025

Evan Balgord, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, notes the full group chat member list reads like a who’s who of right-wing media personalities and far-right activists. “Some of these people are quite extreme in my opinion,” Balgord told PressProgress.

“Bethan Nodwell, for example, is a self-identified white nationalist who has denied the Holocaust,” Balgord pointed out. “Shadoe Davis, another member of the chat, promoted the neo-Nazi Holocaust denial documentary series ‘Europa: The Last Battle’, which is a spanning piece of propaganda that blames Jewish people for starting the Second World War as part of a larger plot to lead to the foundation of Israel, while Adolf Hitler’s Nazis were merely defending themselves and Europe.”

Balgord added other names on the group chat member list are “associated with the white nationalist network Diagolon.”

Read here.

The Uniter
April 3, 2025

“The United States is a cultural powerhouse,” Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, says. “The old saying goes ‘when the United States sneezes, Canada catches a cold.’”

This is no different today than it was when the phrase was first coined. Balgord described the Canada-United States border as ideologically porous, allowing ideas and values to spread quickly between the two countries. With the US being such a cultural Goliath, many more of their ideas seep into our cultural mosaic than ours into theirs.

“We can see far-right propaganda and talking points get picked off by Canadians and get picked up in our politics,” Balgord says.

“And it’s not just that we are ideologically porous, but when far-right organizations here in Canada or far-right operatives see things working in the United States, it’s a proof of concept. Far-right groups and movements here see what is working ... and use the same talking points, because they are ideologically aligned, and they want to win.”

Read here.

CBC Manitoba
March 21, 2025

Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said groups like M.K.Y. target the vulnerable.

"They're vulnerable because they're socially isolated. Maybe they're vulnerable because they are not entirely well," he said, adding that it "could be for mental health reasons as well."

Read here.

Ricochet Media
March 18, 2025

2SLGBTQ+ people have also been targets of Conservative campaigning through messaging and policy stances that align with far-right ideologies. Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said that there is currently “no evidence that the Conservative Party of Canada is aware of the other white nationalist ‘Canada First’ movements,” suggesting that the slogan may have been inspired by the United States Republican “America First” slogan. Balgord notes that many of Poilievre’s statements closely mirror Donald Trump’s discriminatory language.

“He calls diversity, equity, and inclusion programs ‘garbage,’ he blames things on ‘woke,’ and says he’s ‘only aware of two genders,’ doing his part to erase the existence of transgender and gender nonconforming persons,” Balgord said.

Balgord also warns that, regardless of Poilievre’s intentions, such rhetoric could strengthen far-right movements.

“There will be plenty of movements under the far-right umbrella that will be emboldened if Poilievre wins. They will be pressuring the government to undo or fight against anti-discrimination and anti-bullying efforts that benefit 2SLGBTQ+ persons,” Balgord says.

Read here.

St. Albert Gazette
January 28, 2025

According to at least one member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, this isn't an isolated incident and demonstrations like this have been popping up in Canada more recently.

"These protests calling for mass deportations have been going on, using that type of language in Canada, for probably the last year," said Peter Smith, a researcher and reporter with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network."

"In one sense, they're using language that is really common among a few kind of global far-right protest movements that are going on right now. Specifically, there's an Australian group called the National Socialist Network, which also held protests this weekend," Smith said, noting that they used similar language in their protest in Southern Australia.

He also said there was a protest with similar "mass deportations now" signs held in Kitchener, Ont. He can't be certain, but guesses "there would have been some type of coordination" between the group in Kitchener and the group in St. Albert.

Read here.

Canadian Press
February 6, 2025

Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said the Statistics Canada data on police-reported hate crimes is “not representative of reality” because Canada doesn’t collect “any kind of accurate or representative data on the amount or type of racism and other forms of hate that are experienced by groups.”

“That said, all the imperfect data suggests, and organizations that represent particular communities will agree, that things are getting worse,” he said.

Shack said it’s critical for laws to be enforced and for communities to be kept safe, both through community-based solutions and by ensuring that police have the resources that they need.

“I don’t think that our public institutions have done enough to push back against it and to make it clear and unequivocal that that kind of stuff does not belong in this country,” he said. “There needs to be a unified approach across all levels of government.”

Read here.

Toronto Star
December 10, 2024

Peter Smith, a reporter and researcher with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, says the recent acceleration of hate toward South Asians “started on the far right … and has elbowed its way into the mainstream,” becoming more prevalent on applications such as X, Instagram and TikTok.

The idea that immigrants are “taking over” or stealing jobs from white Canadians is a core tenet of the Great Replacement, a racist conspiracy theory that says there is a co-ordinated global effort to replace white people in North America and Europe.

The far right has seized upon anxieties about different groups over the years — whether it was Muslims in the mid- to late 2010s, as terrorist attacks by ISIS were constantly in the news, Chinese people during the pandemic, or the “globalists,” often seen as a code word for Jews. In recent years, the far right has been focused on gender identity and inclusion of transgender people in schools, Smith says.

Read here.

Queeries Podcast (TVO)
December 4, 2024

Where does freedom of religion end and freedom from discrimination begin? In 2019, one trustee’s incendiary remarks sent shockwaves across the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Michael Del Grande argued that if Toronto Catholic schools were to protect queer and trans people from discrimination, then they should do the same for pedophiles and cannibals. His comments and the ensuing legal battle put a spotlight on the ideological divide around queer and trans inclusion. Teachers, students, parents and politicians are locked in a fierce debate over the future of Ontario’s Catholic schools. Who is really shaping the conversation on sex and gender? Does queer and trans inclusion infringe on freedom of religion? Co-hosts Matt Nethersole and Tiff Lam explore how human rights, sexuality, gender, religion and politics are colliding in Ontario’s Catholic schools and beyond.

Listen here.

Canadian Press
November 1, 2024

Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said Sehgal's plight is part of a larger, growing problem.

Balgord said he has recently observed a lot of hate targeting Canada's South Asian diaspora in response to politicians discussing immigration and student visas in Canada.

He said Sehgal's customer needs to reflect on his actions.

"I hope he learns from this experience, changes his beliefs, and comes forward and apologizes," Balgord said.

Read here.

Pivot
October 17, 2024

Des liens entre les groupes conspirationnistes et le mouvement anti-LGBTQ+, on en retrouve partout au Canada. Cette confluence existe depuis avant la pandémie et on peut en retracer la filiation au « premier convoi », soit au mouvement des gilets jaunes à la sauce canadienne et aux divers groupes anti-immigration, explique Hazel Woodrow, du Centre canadien anti-haine.

« Il y a beaucoup de connexions, autant idéologiques qu’en termes d’individus impliqués. Beaucoup de personnes de ce milieu participent aux activités et manifestations depuis maintenant dix ans », rapporte-t-elle.

La chercheuse du CCAH explique que ce qui relie ces groupes, c’est le populisme et le conspirationnisme de droite. Le populisme fait en sorte que ces gens ont tendance à discréditer la parole des expert·es.

« On voit cette dynamique avec la politique 713 », qui a été révisée par le gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick pour empêcher les élèves d’utiliser les pronoms de leur choix à l’école sans l’autorisation de leurs parents, dit-elle. « On a des associations professionnelles qui disent que cette révision est mauvaise pour les enfants trans, et ce mouvement va rejeter d’emblée ces avis. »

Hazel Woodrow remarque que ce populisme conspirationniste est très efficace pour le recrutement. « Je pense que dans ces groupes, les gens ont des causes qui leur tiennent plus à cœur, comme la taxe carbone, la COVID ou les enjeux d’identité de genre », dit-elle, « mais ils continuent à se présenter aux actions des uns et des autres ».

Read here.

Xtra
September 30, 2024

Hazel Woodrow, a writer and researcher with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, says this messaging establishes a worrisome dynamic between parents and the leaders of far-right groups.

“Essentially what they are communicating to parents is: ‘Schools are such dangerous places. And your children aren’t safe there. And everybody else is lying to you about that. And we’re the only ones that will tell you the truth about that,’” explains Woodrow.

“Once people believe that it becomes a lot easier to isolate them from the other supportive structures in their community.”

Read here.