Canada will list the Proud Boys movement as a terrorist group

CNN reached out in the morning to the leader of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, for comment but had not heard back by early afternoon.

In January, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said in a blog post that, “The Canadian Proud Boys should continue to be countered, exposed, and held accountable, but a terrorism designation is a serious step that merits further discussion,” adding, “… we are also wary of definitions being loosened, power being misused, and eroding civil liberties or the criminalization of legitimate protest that would likely rebound…”

There’s no US law to designate a wholly domestic group as a terrorist organization.

In online statements, Proud Boys have claimed they have used violence only in self-defense. But members are often seen carrying firearms and bats and donning protective gear​, and some have been convicted of crimes against anti-fascist protesters.

The group’s ideology has been labeled “misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration” by the Anti-Defamation League.

In September, members of the Proud Boys celebrated comments made by then-US President Donald Trump after he was asked ​to condemn White supremacists, and refused to do so, during a presidential debate.

Trump instead used ​his allotted time to blame ​what he called “antifa and the left​” for violence and to tell the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”