Evan Balgord: Latest News

protests against the queer community has risen sharply across North America in recent months and groups that study online hate believe they know why.“The data shows an uptick in anti-LGBT+ demonstrations in Canada alongside the larger increase in the United States,” said Sam Jones, communications lead for the Armed Conflict Location and Data Project. “More anti-LGBT+ demonstration events have already been recorded in Canada so far this year than in all of 2021 and 2023 is on track to exceed 2022.”Canadian Anti-Hate Network executive director Evan Balgord says Canada is seeing the protests happening right across the country with multiple events happening every week.

Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre made a choice.Wearing a crisp blue shirt and a politician’s smile, he walked up to a group of anti-vaccine mandate protesters and led the pack as it walked down Ottawa’s streets.Beside him marched a man named James Topp, an anti-vaccine figure now set to face a court martial, who had been walking across the country to draw attention to his opposition to vaccine mandates. Topp, however, had recently joined a podcast run by far-right figurehead Jeremy Mackenzie for over an hour, saying that the podcast and others like it “kept (him) hanging on.” Mackenzie said in January that the “Freedom Convoy,” which gathered in Ottawa in February, could “bring down the government.”“I want to be there.

the trucker convoy started appearing on Ottawa streets, some Twitter users shared a particular photo: a pickup truck with a confederate flag flying from the bed.Now, as the convoy descends on Ottawa with the stated aim of opposing all COVID-19 mandates, anti-hate experts allege those with white nationalist and Islamophobic views don’t just represent the fringes of the movement but are among the organizers of the convoy.“We’re saying that this is a far-right convoy because — from day one — the organizers themselves are part of the far-right movement,” said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.“They have previously been involved in far-right movements and have made Islamophobic comments in the past.” Trucker convoy protest arrives in Ottawa for multi-day demonstration It can be difficult to determine who is a key organizer of the convoy, but there are some names that emerge time and time again — whether as authors of the $7.4million GoFundMe campaign, as points of contact on the website that boasts a petition with 240,000 signatures, or on social media posts providing widely-shared directions to anyone hoping to join.Global News contacted all the organizers mentioned in this story, but none responded by the time of publication. Jason LaFace, an Ontario organizer, did pick up the call, but upon the reporter identifying themselves, immediately laughed, said “no thank you,” and hung up the phone.The convoy initially kicked off with a focus on opposing vaccine mandates — especially the one aimed at truckers.