Although Canada is known as the Great White North, that's not a reference to race. Unfortunately, it is for some Canadian hate groups, who remain more active than most people may think.

Two Canadian researchers—University of Ontario professor Barbara Perry and Simon Fraser University criminology PhD candidate Ryan Scrivens—worked on the project “Right Wing Extremism in Canada: An Environmental Scan" to examine the state of white power groups in the country. They published the results of their study "Uneasy Alliances: A Look at the Right-Wing Extremist Movement in Canada" in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism on February 5.

For the project, they interviewed law enforcement officials, community activists, and both former and current hate-group members.

Contrary to popular belief, right-wing extremists are more active than most people might think.

They found about 100 right-wing extremist groups (each having about three to 12 members) operating primarily in Quebec, western Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. Such groups—comprised of a mix of pro-gun radicals, white supremacists, and sovereignists—find support online and have carried out acts of violence and targeted attacks on various minority groups, including Muslims, Jews, people of colour, aboriginal people, and LGBT people.