People attend a vigil for victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting in Montreal on Monday. (RYAN REMIORZ / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
As it turns 150 years old in 2017, Canada faces a surge in hate crimes amid growing nativist anger against Chinese migrants, Muslim refugees, and public officials for their alleged role in worsening the country’s socio-economic conditions, said community leaders and analysts.
After years of hibernation, extremism and xenophobia in Canada are waking to the new fiery anti-globalisation tide that has swept Donald Trump into the US White House and Britain to vote to leave the European Union. As in other parts of the world, a new generation of Canadian politicians and activists is riding on populist anger fuelled by a mix of declining public trust in elected officials, past ethnic animosities, and unbalanced media reporting.
In separate interviews, Ryan Scrivens, a PhD scholar studying right-wing extremism, politicians, community workers, church leaders and anti-fascist activists said liberal Canada should prepare for an uncertain socio-political climate that will become more hostile towards diversity and minorities with the possibility of ethnically targeted violence.
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WNU Editor: The author focuses on British Colombia .... but in my part of Canada (Quebec and eastern Ontario) .... hostility towards immigrants/refugees/non-white-francophones in Quebec/etc. are at levels that I (as an immigrant) have never seen .... especially from French Quebec. And while the Canadian media is playing up the image that we are unified society that favours multiculturalism .... especially after the mosque massacre in Quebec City last week .... my reality on the ground is the complete opposite. As for BC .... I do have a close friend who lived in Richmond. She moved there in 1995 and loved living there. But because she and her husband could not afford a home .... as well as other issues (work, not feeling comfortable in the community that they were in, etc.) .... they moved to Alberta two years ago. Is she bitter on how Richmond has changed .... yes .... and what is surprising is that she herself is an immigrant from Hungary.