Hate-Motivated Violence: Ideologies and Acts by Right Extremists in Canada
While since the start of the century, political violence in Canada has largely been approached in terms of Islamic extremism, hate-motivated crime existed in Canada well before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Several right–wing groups have always promoted their racist and fascist discourses, while using various forms of violence to get the media’s attention. This study explores this phenomenon by analyzing the main methods used and the discourses conveyed in the commission of acts of hate violence in Canada between 1977 and 2010. The mixed methodological approach is based on 214 hate crimes reported during the study period. The results show, on the one hand, a form of traditionalism regarding the types of actions chosen and, on the other hand, an inverse relationship between the frequency of actions regarding different discourses and the gravity of the method used for committing hate crimes.