OTTAWA–Canada’s spy agency halted a running investigation into right-wing extremism just months before 2017’s mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque.The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) saw right-wing extremism not as a national security threat, but a “public order threat” to be dealt with by police, according to a new report from the agency’s watchdog.“(CSIS) found that the majority of right-wing extremism activities consisted of, or were ‘near to,’ lawful protest, advocacy, and dissent,” the report from the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), released Wednesday, reads.“CSIS ended its investigation of right-wing extremism in March 2016.”The agency reversed its decision and re-opened its investigation 10 months later, after Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire at the Grande Mosquée de Québec in January 2017, killing six worshippers.Bissonnette’s trial heard that the 28-year old was attracted to far right figures online, and the immigration policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his crimes were partially motivated by Canada’s acceptance of refugees. Public Safety Canada, the department that oversees CSIS, listed right-wing extremism as a “growing concern” in Canada in its most recent annual report on terrorism threats.A 2016 study, posted to the department’s website, estimated there are 100 white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups operating in Canada, and more than 30,000 individuals involved in “sovereigntist” causes. VICE Canada has rigorously documented the growth of these groups, including the Soldiers of Odin, La Meute in Quebec, and the III% in Alberta.CSIS itself listed extreme right-wing ideology and white supremacy as the “main ideological source” of so-called lone wolf attacks worldwide, followed by Islamic extremism. If the agency believed that to be true in 2015, it’s unclear why they woul ...
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