Canadians tend to think of far-right extremism and white nationalism as a strictly American problem, adopting an “it couldn’t happen here” mindset, or seeing it as a lunatic fringe that should just be ignored. But these movements are gaining a foothold in mainstream culture, and the structure for that to happen has been in this country since its inception.

White supremacy arrived in Canada in the fifteenth century, with the first Europeans. Since then, Canada has waged a cultural and literal genocide against Indigenous peoples, including the horrors perpetrated as early as 1831 at Christian church- and government-sponsored residential schools, which were designed to strip children from their families and their culture, with the last federally run residential school closing in 1996. In 1911, the government passed an order-in-council to ban Black immigrants from entering Canada (it was never invoked). In 1921, the Ku Klux Klan formed its first Canadian chapter. In 1946, Viola Desmond was arrested for refusing to leave the whites-only section of a movie theatre. The last segregated school in Canada didn’t close until 1983.

The late 2010s brought with them the “alt-right” era, a term coined by white nationalist Richard Spencer to differentiate his views from traditional American conservatism. Originally characterized by online trolling, the “alt-right” was a random and reactionary series of chats, pages, memes, and shitposting accounts—mainly from the US—as well as a loose collection of more serious actors like the Proud Boys and Atomwaffen. Over the years, its membership has become increasingly public, participating in rallies and engaging in acts of violence in the real world. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a new iteration has emerged in Canada: Diagolon.