https://apnews.com/article/canada-proud-boys-terrorist-group-510b8cd8286f1207a726904f61e63e4d

Senior officials speaking on a technical briefing said authorities had been monitoring and collecting evidence about the P***d B**s before the Capitol Hill i**********n, but confirmed that the event provided information that helped with the decision to list the organization.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said they revealed themselves.

“Their intent and their escalation toward violence became quite clear,” Blair said.

Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of P***d B**s, called the terrorist designation “ridiculous.”

“There is no basis for it. It’s infringement of free speech rights. All the Canadian P***d B**s have ever done is go to rallies,” Tarrio said in a phone interview.

“They used what happened at the Capitol to push for this.”

Tarrio said the Canadian chapters are very quiet compared to their American counterparts. He estimated there are between 1,000 and 1,500 P***d B**s in Canada. He said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh, who first proposed the designation, are virtue signaling.

Tarrio was arrested in Washington shortly before the Capitol r**t. He was accused of vandalizing a Black L***s M****r banner at a historic Black church during an earlier protest in the nation’s capital.

Asked whether the US will follow Canada and designate P***d B**s as a terrorist entity, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has a domestic extremism review underway. “We will wait for that review to conclude before we make any determinations,” Psaki said.

The terrorist designation in Canada means the group may have assets seized and face harsher terrorism-related criminal penalties. A government official said just because they are a member doesn’t mean they will be charged with a crime, but if they do engage in violent acts they could be charged with terrorist crimes.

Sending money to the organization or buying P***d B**s paraphernalia would also be a crime.

“The group and its members have openly encouraged, planned, and conducted violent activities against those they perceive to be opposed to their ideology and political beliefs,” the Canadian government said in briefing materials.

“The group regularly attends Black L***s M****r (B*M) protests as counter-protesters, often engaging in violence targeting B*M supporters. On J****** 6, 2021, the P***d B**s played a pivotal role in the i**********n at the U.S. Capitol.”

The government calls the P***d B**s a neo-f*****t organization with semiautonomous chapters located in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It said it engages in political violence and that members espouse misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and w***e s*********t ideologies.

“Since 2018 we have seen an escalation towards violence for this group,” Blair said.

“In the aftermath of the U.S. p**********l e******n, we have seen signals of escalation towards violence from a number of different groups including the P***d B**s.”

Blair said four right-wing groups are among 13 additions to the list, which include three groups linked to al-Qaida, four associated with the Islamic State group and one Kashmiri organization.

“Canada will not tolerate ideological, religious or politically motivated acts of violence,” Blair said.

The P***d B**s were formed in 2016 by Canadian Gavin McInnes, who co-founded Vice Media.

In 2018, police arrested several P***d B**s members and associates who brawled with a****ascists after McInnes, delivered a speech at New York’s Metropolitan Republican Club.

McInnes has described the group as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists” and denies affiliations with far-right extremist groups that overtly espouse r****t and anti-Semitic views. McInnes sued the Southern Poverty Law Center, claiming it defamed him when it designated the P***d B**s as a “h**e group.”

In response to the federal suit, which is still pending in Alabama, the law center said McInnes has acknowledged an “overlap” between the P***d B**s and white nationalist groups.

“Indeed, P***d B**s members have posted social media pictures of themselves with prominent Holocaust deniers, white nationalists, and known neo-N**is,” law center lawyers wrote in a court filing.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said Trudeau’s Liberal government is trying to attach their star to the anti-Trump sentiment prevalent in Canada.

“Since the P***d B**s are identified with Trump, they are an easy target. Had T***p w*n the e******n, I’m confident the Liberals would not have gone after the P***d B**s,” Wiseman said.

“There is right-wing extremism in Canada but much, much less than in the U.S.”