Canada Designates the Proud Boys a Terrorist Organization, Making Buying Proud Boys Gear a Crime
The Canadian government has just become the first to designate the Proud Boys founded by Canadian writer and far-right commentator Gavin McInnes a terrorist entity, which makes giving them money or buying Proud Boys paraphernalia a crime in Canada.
While constantly denying that they have white nationalist or racist ties, the Proud Boys have regularly been associated with far-right activities and street violence in the last several years particularly as highly vocal foes of Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement. And after gaining widespread media attention first in a mention by then-President Donald Trump during a televised debate last fall, and then when its current leader was arrested in Washington D.C. ahead of the January 6 riots, the Canadian government is declaring the organization a hostile terrorist one.
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It was spelled out right there on the sweatshirts: “MAGA Civil War January 6, 2021,” the font a kitschy tribute to a Marvel blockbuster. The three men wore their commemorative merch with Trump hats and self-satisfied grins, the violent insurrection for which they’d dressed coming to fruition nearby as a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol.
In the wake of Wednesday’s deadly riot, images of the sweatshirts presumably ordered days or weeks before the president’s supporters converged on Washington, DC circulated widelyon Twitter as evidence of how much preparation had gone into the event. For anyone paying attention to far-right online communities, this proof was unnecessary: The Capitol rioters had been organizing openly online for weeks, and several national media outlets had run stories warning about potential violence. Supporters certainly would’ve had time to order gear from one of coun