Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale would like you to believe that so-called “right-wing neo-Nazi extremism” is an imminent threat to Canada, while conveniently ignoring groups that have attacked Canadian soil.
That is not to say that people with racist and neo-Nazi beliefs don’t organize. The ungainly reality is that they do, and they’ve been responsible for numerous hate crimes throughout Canada.
Yet if these organizations were such a national threat, Goodale could count on Canadians to name a few. Yet most Canadians can’t.
As Goodale points out, the only Canadian casualties that can be attributed to neo-Nazi or white supremacist ideologies are on an individual basis.
“They may have behaved themselves as singular individuals doing very evil deeds but they were inspired by something and largely that relates back to what they saw on the internet,” said Goodale.
They’re people like Alexandre Bisonette or Alek Minassian. They’re individuals who turn their twisted ideas into the real world and wreck havoc on the lives of the innocent.
However, individual’s who are inspired by the internet to commit horrific crimes are an entirely different matter from organizations funding and promoting attacks on Canada.
On a daily basis millions of people are exposed to the same content that both Bisonette and Minassian used to fuel their killing sprees, but only an astronomically small percentage of them ever act it out.
That’s simply because people with violent intentions will always try to find some way to justify their actions.
The reality is that these individuals were not inspired by “what they saw on the internet” but instead, they looked at the internet as a way to validate their plans.
Goodale conveniently points to ISIS’ and Al-Qaeda’s use of the internet as a tool for recruitment but fails to recognize that both of those groups are international terrorist organizations with funding, weapons and the explicit intent to kill Canadians.
The Minister must be entirely deluded if he thinks ISIS’ open calls for terrorism in Canada or the group’s Amaq News Agency are equivalent to watching Ben Shapiro or sharing incel memes online.
The fact is that ISIS has organized and launched real attacks on Canadian soil, including the 2014 attack on Parliament Hill and have claimed responsibility for the Danforth shooting attack by Faisal Hussain.
There are numerous other tangible organizations that I could point to that have, or continue to operate in Canada.
Before 9/11, the largest terrorist attack ever committed was planned by the Khalistani terrorist group Babbar Khalsa on Canadian soil with the help of the International Youth Sikh Federation. The Air India 182 Bombing lead to the death of 268 Canadians, 27 UK citizens and 24 Indian citizens.
Or how about the Marxist extremism of the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) who used bombings, kidnappings and murder to secure its ideology in the 1960s?
I’m sure the minister is concerned about left-wing extremism as well.
I think Goodale is acting on the politically motivated pressure of groups like Anti-Hate Canada and other “social justice” activists who seek to create false boogeymen to justify increased government clampdowns on the fundamental freedoms of Canadians.
We live in a dangerous world and Canada is under threat. There’s no doubt about that, but Goodale does no service to Canadians by propping up fake monsters when there are already so many lashing at our feet.
Even his own ministry, the RCMP and Canada’s intelligence can’t seem to agree on the scale of so-called right-wing extremism in Canada.
“Within the broader context of extremism in Canada, the number of right-wing extremists who promote or are willing to engage in politically-motivated violence is extremely small,” read one email by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Even the Public Safety Canada website doesn’t have any neo-Nazi groups named on its terrorist entities list. So what exactly is the minister going on about?
If Goodale thinks the solution to stopping individuals like Bisonette and Minassian is to control what people are allowed to view or read on the internet, he’s wrong.
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Toronto woman arrested after 16-year-old recruited into sex trade
A Toronto woman has been arrested for allegedly recruiting a teen into the sex trade.
According to Durham Regional Police, Szilvia Balog, a 20-year-old woman has been arrested after a six-month-long human trafficking investigation.
She will now be facing multiple charges including unlawful possession of child pornography, pointing a firearm, uttering threats, administrating a noxious item, and a plethora of charges alongside the setup and execution of sex services with a minor.
In July of 2019, a 16-year-old victim reported to police that she had been recruited through Snap Chat and procured into the sex trade throughout Ontario.
Police are still looking for three other suspects and the investigation is ongoing.
Investigators have released the charged individuals photo to ensure that there are no further victims.
Anyone with new information is asked to contact D/Cst. Chapman of the Human Trafficking Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5604.
Anonymous information can be sent to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.
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Andy Ngo responds: Twitter punishes you for telling the truth
On “Trans Day of Remembrance” this year, numerous politicians and celebrities used the occasion to virtue signal on social media. They repeated the claim-turned-mantra from LBGT activist groups that there is an “epidemic” of trans homicides motivated by transphobia and racism in the U.S.
Chelsea Clinton, doing what the Clintons do best, weighed in vapidly on Nov. 20: “Since 2013, more than 150 trans people have been murdered in the U.S., the majority Black transgender women. On #TDoR2019, we remember and honor the lives lost, hold their loved ones in our hearts and must commit to doing all we can to end this epidemic of violence and hate.”
Though the sentiment is valid, the claim she repeats is not. There is no “epidemic” of violent homicides against trans people in the U.S. How do I know? From data released by the Human Rights Campaign and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
I responded to Ms. Clinton: “The U.S. is one of the safest countries for trans people. The murder rate of trans victims is actually lower than that for cis population. Also, who is behind the murders? Mostly black men.”
Five days later, I was informed by Twitter that I had violated its policy against “hateful conduct.” For stating a verifiable empirical claim, Twitter determined that I “promote violence against, threaten or harass other people” based on protected characteristics. I was given the option of deleting the tweet and facing a timed suspension, or appealing the decision while remaining indefinitely locked out of the platform. I chose the latter option.
My appeal was rejected.
Twitter’s decision to force me to accept a false reality in order to use its platform is chilling to those who value truth above dogma, as uncomfortable as the truth may be. The dogma of our day is the trans ideology—an authoritarian worldview replete with science and evidence denial. Among many things, it claims that sex is a construct and that trans people are being hunted down across America
So far this year, there were 22 homicides involving trans or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. That number has held relatively steady since the HRC, America’s largest LGBT lobbying group, started releasing annual reports four years ago. According to the HRC, there were 26 homicides in 2018, 29 in 2017, 23 in 2016 and 21 in 2015. The HRC provides the most comprehensive data set for trans homicides in the country. The FBI does not release numbers of trans people who are killed.
Though every homicide is a tragedy and victims are due justice, lying about the scale is politically exploitative and reckless. It prevents the public from accessing real problems honestly in order to advocate for real solutions. Worst of all, it harms the very people who need protection.
The average homicide rate of cis males in the U.S. is around seven per 100,000 from 2015–2018, according to FBI figures. The rate for cis females during this timeframe is 1.9. The rate for trans homicides since the HRC began tracking in 2015? About 1.7. (This rate was calculated based on the 2016 UCLA Williams Institute estimate of there being about 1.7m trans adults in the U.S.)
For a developed country, the U.S. has high homicide rates. That is undisputed. But if the rates of cis men being killed isn’t spoken about as an “epidemic,” then neither should the rates for trans homicides, which is significantly lower compared to the cis population.
And while much attention is focused on the victims being mostly black trans women, no attention is given to the fact that the majority of known homicide suspects and convicts are also black. This intra-racial violence is consistent with other homicides in the U.S.
Additionally, there is no evidence to support the narrative that trans people are being killed because they are trans. The overwhelming majority of trans homicides involve victims being killed in the course of high-risk behaviours like street prostitution and drug dealing. Cis women and cis men involved in these activities face similar risks.
While it may feel good to earn praise by hiding uncomfortable truths, those who ultimately suffer in this instance are trans people themselves. They are told to fear people around them, that they could be killed at any moment and are helpless in the face of omnipresent hatred. This is not compassion or empowerment.
I’m now back on Twitter, but only because I was forced to accept that on this platform, a journalist will be punished for telling the truth.
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Liberal MP gets Twitter lashed for wishing people 'great month of December!' instead of 'Merry Christmas!'
Editor’s Note: This article has been edited to include tweets from 2018.
Liberal Member of Parliament (Ontario, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek) Bob Bratina received a lot more comments than likes and retweets for his Twitter post wishing his constituents a “great month of December!” instead of a “Merry Christmas!”
On Sunday Bratina tweeted a holiday-neutral, first-day-of-the-month greeting to people in his riding, “Wishing everyone in Hamilton East – Stoney Creek a great month of December!”
By the end of Monday, the tweet had 307 mostly negative, mocking comments compared to three retweets and 18 likes, a phenomenon called being ratioed (when a post gets overwhelmingly negative comments, meanwhile receiving far less positive engagement and shares).
Some Canadians on Twitter had fun lampooning Bratina’s politically correct festive cheer.
Others just wished Bob a “Merry Christmas!”
Interestingly, Bob has previously happily wished others a Happy Christmas in 2018.
The response online is not a surprise as December tends to bring out the so-called War on Christmas, where politically correct politicians and other members of the chattering class become Grinches, attempting to excise Christmas from greetings and celebratory events in attempts to be “more inclusive.”
Last Friday a guest host on CTV’s talk show The Social suggested Canadians towns should change the name of Christmas or Santa Clause parades with “Winter” parades. A couple of weeks ago a US town erased Christmas from its festivities, changing the “Annual Tree Lighting” to “Frost Fest”.
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Amazon slow to stop vendors from selling Holocaust Christmas tree ornaments
Outrage on social media over a recent discovery that Amazon is carrying products that many people are appalled by–Holocaust ornaments. It was the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum who first raised awareness of the tasteless line of products which include a decaled can-opener dawning a picture of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp as well as Christmas tree ornaments that show train track leading into a camp’s entrance.
The Museum contacted the retailer and demanded such products be taken down from the website to which Amazon concurred. Shortly thereafter the Museum discovered more products including a computer mouse pad that displayed the freight cars used to transport Jewish people and anybody the Nazi’s considered to be “undesirable”.
The Museum, which is located on site in Auschwitz, Poland described the products as “disgusting” and “disturbing”. Amazon has confirmed that they will keep watch for such products in the future and have them taken down and in certain cases, have the sellers’ accounts deleted. This prompted a public response from the museum to thank Amazon.
However, since then more Holocaust products have been posted, despite Amazon’s policy that “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account.”
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