| Updated February 3, 2021
Canada has named 13 new groups as terrorist organizations, including far-right extremists the Proud Boys.
Public Safety Canada listed the Proud Boys as an “ideologically motivated violent extremist group” along with neo-Nazi groups Atomwaffen Division and The Base, and Russia-based nationalist group the Russian Imperial Movement.
Three Al Qaida, five Islamic State affiliates and Islamist militant group Hizbul Majahideen were also added to the list.
“The threat of ideologically motivated extremism has been identified as the most significant threat to domestic security in Canada,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair at a news conference Wednesday.
The decision to designate Proud Boys a terrorist group comes after it played a role in the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The group’s leader was arrested two days before the riots there and several other members were arrested in the following days.