HellsBelle

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.

IT WAS STILL LIGHT OUT when the attacks occurred. In just forty-five minutes, a slim, dark-haired man wearing a Jets jersey sexually assaulted three nurses and a teenager in and around Winnipeg’s largest hospital, the Health Sciences Centre (HSC), on July 2, according to police.

While officers searched for the suspect, hospital workers finished their shifts and walked back to their vehicles, unaware a predator was at large. Later, police would report that a third woman was assaulted that night in the area, by the same man. Staff didn’t learn what happened until the following day.

For HSC employees, these assaults weren’t an aberration. They were a tipping point after years of increasing violence against hospital staff. In a 2024 survey, one-third of physicians at HSC reported experiencing an average of eleven safety episodes in the previous year, almost double the provincial rate. A safety episode can include threats, violence, sexual assault, and harassment. HSC alone accounted for nearly half of all reported assaults on Manitoba doctors. Physicians described being punched, kicked, spat on, and bombarded with verbal abuse. The danger follows them outside the hospital into walkways and parking lots, where some have been chased and attacked coming to and from the job.

GANGSTERS FROM MS-13, a Trump-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, intimidated Hondurans not to vote for the left-leaning presidential candidate, 10 eyewitness sources told The Intercept, in most cases urging them to instead cast their ballots in last Sunday’s election for the right-wing National Party candidate — the same candidate endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ten residents from four working-class neighborhoods controlled by MS-13, including volunteer election workers and local journalists, told The Intercept they saw firsthand gang members giving residents an ultimatum to vote for the Trump-endorsed conservative candidate or face consequences. Six other sources with knowledge of the intimidation — including government officials, human rights investigators, and people with direct personal contact with gangs — corroborated their testimony. Gang members drove voters to the polls in MS-13-controlled mototaxi businesses, three sources said, and threatened to kill street-level activists for the left-leaning Liberty and Refoundation, or LIBRE, party if they were seen bringing supporters to the polls. Two witnesses told The Intercept they saw members of MS-13 checking people’s ballots inside polling sites, as did a caller to the national emergency help line.

Jordan Peterson, the popular and polarizing psychologist, is held in high esteem by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has twice appeared on Peterson’s podcast, which draws millions of listeners worldwide.

A Tyee investigation has found that Smith’s admiration for Peterson went well beyond her affinity for him as a fellow conservative culture warrior.

Documents obtained through freedom of information request show that Smith, and her chief of staff, Rob Anderson, directly intervened with Alberta’s Advanced Education Ministry in an attempt to help Peterson’s higher-education business venture.

On Aug. 1, 2024, Smith met with Peterson “to discuss how his organization can work with the province to have their online training platform accredited.”

Darwin knows what cameras look like – and how to avoid them. From inside his enclosure, the monkey of Toronto Ikea parking lot fame spots us out of the corner of his eye and bolts under the table.

The now 13-year-old Japanese macaque has seen enough of the spotlight to last a lifetime.

Darwin was just a baby when he was found in a North York Ikea parking lot in 2012, wearing a diaper and shearling coat, and seized by animal services. He’s been living at Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., ever since.

The Department of National Defence is scrambling to figure out how it will clothe, equip and train hundreds of thousands of new reservists envisioned under an ambitious mobilization proposal that Canada’s top military commander describes as a work in progress.

Similarly, in what may be an ominous sign of the times, the department has established a key position dedicated solely to growing the military in the event of a major crisis.

Internal documents obtained by CBC News show the military buildup will, at the moment, proceed slowly because the defence industry is either overwhelmed — or not equipped for the ramp-up.

Democrats’ resounding victories in the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races got most of the headlines, but the most dramatic results in last month’s elections were downballot. In Virginia, Democratic challengers flipped 13 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, to secure their largest majority in the chamber in four decades. New Jersey Democrats grew their margin in the assembly by five seats—winning their largest majority since Watergate. Coupled with the party’s string of upset victories and double-digit shifts in special elections last year, the results have some party leaders dreaming big.

How big? A new post-election analysis from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic candidates in statehouse races, argues that the current electoral climate presents the best chance in years for Democrats to consolidate power in blue states, flip battleground chambers, and loosen Republicans’ grip on power in solidly red states like South Carolina and Missouri.

By the group’s calculations, Democratic candidates over-performed the partisan leaning of their districts this fall by an average of 4.5 points—a shift that would put as many as 651 state legislative seats in play across the country in a midterm election year, and position the party for a bit of long-awaited payback.

US lawmakers are trying to pressure the Trump administration to release video of a controversial "double-tap" military strike by limiting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget.

The incident on 2 September, in which the US carried out a second deadly strike on a boat in the Caribbean, has raised fresh questions about the legality of Trump's campaign targeting alleged drug-carrying vessels.

A provision buried in a lengthy defence spending policy would restrict travel funds for Hegseth's office until the Pentagon hands over unedited footage. The bill is expected to pass with support from both parties.

US President Donald Trump says release of the video is something for Hegseth to decide.

President Donald Trump told a campaign-style rally that consumer prices are falling "tremendously" as he sought to allay voter anxiety about the US cost of living.

In a speech at a casino in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the president told supporters he had "no higher priority than making America affordable again".

But while gas and egg prices have fallen, other food is more expensive and Americans remain unhappy about the cost of housing, childcare and healthcare.

But at one point in his remarks, the Republican president again portrayed concerns about affordability as a Democratic "hoax".

The White House blames Biden and US central bank interest rates for the lingering economic pain.

Did the premier of Alberta attack the constitutional role of the courts in Canada’s democracy? Yes, she did, and in no uncertain terms.

“The will of Albertans is not expressed by a single judge appointed by Justin Trudeau and never faces any kind of recall campaign, never faces any kind of election,” stated Danielle Smith on Dec. 6.

She continued by saying, “The people have told us through our consultation, through our elections, the kinds of things they want us to do, and then we go and do them, and then the court can override it. And again, most of the judges are appointed by Ottawa and not by us. An unelected judge is not synonymous with democracy. Democracy is when elected officials who have to face the electorate every four years get to make decisions. That’s what democracy is.”

If you listened only to Smith, you’d think Canada is ruled by a shadowy cabal of “unelected judges” bent on bending “the people” to their progressive whims.

The family of a 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police on Montreal’s South Shore in September will hold a news conference this morning.

This comes as the investigation, conducted by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendante (BEI), continues into its third month.

Nooran Rezayi, a high school student, was shot and killed after police responded to a 911 call reporting a group of armed people in a Longueuil neighbourhood.

His family says he was unarmed and carrying only a backpack filled with school books. The BEI has since confirmed that no firearm was recovered from the teen.

Since its creation in 2016, the BEI has opened more than 450 investigations, including 52 involving fatal police shootings.

Only two cases have ever resulted in charges of any kind, and none of the fatal shooting files have led to criminal prosecution so far. The BEI has faced criticism for the near-zero charge rate resulting from its investigations.

A therapy that would once have been considered a feat of science fiction has reversed aggressive and incurable blood cancers in some patients, doctors report.

The treatment involves precisely editing the DNA in white blood cells to transform them into a cancer-fighting "living drug".

The first girl to be treated, whose story we reported in 2022, is still free of the disease and now plans to become a cancer scientist.

Now eight more children and two adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia have been treated, with almost two thirds (64%) of patients in remission.