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Hatred unmasked: Tracking the rise of right-wing extremism in Canada

May/June 2022 Issue

From the Editor

Grow through what you go through

Addressing and sorting through the Freedom Convoy's wreckage is a job that belongs to all white people in Canada.

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In this Issue

Writing links to the past

The Monitor sits down with award winning poet, playwright and author Terry Watada to discuss his work and the importance of Canada facing the troubling history of Japanese internment.

We need to talk about 1907

One hundred and fifteen years ago this September, downtown Vancouver was beset by thousands of protesters rallying against Asian immigration to Canada. Examining this event offers important lessons for understanding the modern-day Freedom Convoy.

The wellness-to-white-supremacy pipeline is alive and well

Wellness influencers like Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows threw their support behind the trucker convoy—and considering the white supremacist origins of wellness, that’s no surprise.

Uprooting the racism in our ranks

Race-motivated hate crimes have surged during the pandemic. But these crimes only scratch the surface of the multiple forms of racism that racialized communities have endured during the pandemic.

Freedom from what?

On January 28, the city of Ottawa changed forever as a hate-fuelled convoy set up camp for what would become a 26-day occupation.

Hate on display: How two years online helped shape a full scale occupation

What happened in Ottawa offers a window into the antagonism fed by two years of living in self-affirming bubbles, writes Erin Gee

Is the ‘Freedom Convoy’ a sign of inequality-fuelled escalation of violent class conflict?

Resentment over growing wealth and inequality in Canada helped to generate sympathy toward the Convoy insurrection

Standing up to blaring hate

When the first trucks rolled in on January 28, I knew something bad was coming our way. What I didn’t realize at the time was that nobody had a plan to stop them.

We keep us safe

When the Freedom Convoy came to Ottawa it was community members who organized to keep one another safe.

Breaker breaker

Lessons from communities across Canada that blocked truck convoys

Contributors

Authors appearing in this issue

Róisín West

Róisín West

Róisín (they/she) is the Senior Editor of the Monitor and Behind the Numbers. They write about disability and accessibility, civic engagement, and media. Find them on Twitter at @RoisinWest.

Shane Burley

Shane Burley

Shane Burley (he/him) is a writer and filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It (AK Press). His work has appeared in places such as Jacobin, AlterNet, In These Times, Political Research Associates, Waging Nonviolence, Labor Notes, ThinkProgress, ROAR Magazine and Upping the Anti.


Tobin Ng

Tobin Ng

Tobin Ng (they/them) is a journalist and fact-checker who writes solutions stories that centre marginalized communities. Their work explores the innovation and resilience of BIPOC and trans folks. Follow them on Twitter at @tobinng.

Erin Gee

Erin Gee

Erin Gee (she/her) is a co-host of the Bad + Bitchy Podcast. Her writing has appeared in Chatelaine, Harper’s Bazaar, the Vancouver Tech Journal, and Billboard. In 2021, she was named one of Refinery29’s Gamechangers.

Stephanie Fung

Stephanie Fung

Stephanie Fung (she/her) is a member of Asian Canadian Labour Alliance BC. She is a communications organizer with UNITE HERE Local 40, B.C.'s hospitality workers' union.

吴珏颖 karine ng

吴珏颖 karine ng

吴珏颖 karine ng (佢/she) is an uninvited settler unlearning and relearning on the unsurrendered and occupied lands and waters of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She is a core member of ACLA BC, a K-12 public school teacher, and an executive member of the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective and the Vancouver Union of Elementary School Teachers and Adult Educators.

Anna Liu

Anna Liu

Anna Liu (she/her) is an executive board member of Asian Canadian Labour Alliance Ontario. She is a union organizer and holds a MA in labour studies.

Chris Ramsaroop

Chris Ramsaroop

Chris Ramsaroop (he/him) is a member of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, and is an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW). Currently he teaches as a course instructor at both the University of Toronto and University of Windsor. He loves roti and peanut butter.

Arushana Sunderaeson

Arushana Sunderaeson

Arushana Sunderaeson (she/her) is a Development Associate (stewardship and processing) at the CCPA National office in Ottawa. Find her on Twitter at @ArushanaS.

Zexi Li

Zexi Li

Zexi Li (she/her) is the lead plaintiff in the Class Action Lawsuit against the so-called Freedom Convoy. She is a public servant expressing her views and experience as a private citizen living in Ottawa.

Doan Truong

Doan Truong

Doan Truong (she/her) is a Vietnamese illustrator and printmaker based in what is now known as Vancouver, Canada. She works experimentally by transforming digital illustrations into traditional printed art forms using different printmaking techniques and her works depict her point of view on social, political, and cultural issues. Find her work at doan-truong.com.

Stacy Lee Kong

Stacy Lee Kong

Stacy Lee Kong (she/her) is a writer, editor and the founder of Friday Things, a pop culture newsletter. Her bylines have appeared in publications including Maclean’s, the Globe & Mail, Reader's Digest and enRoute and she has worked at some of the largest magazine brands in Canada, including Flare, Canadian Living, House & Home and Chatelaine. Find her on Twitter at @stacyleekong.

Photo credit: Roberto Caruso

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell (he/him) is a former executive director of the CCPA. He is Adjunct Professor, York University, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change; Senior Fellow, Toronto Metropolitan University, Centre for Free Expression.