Supporters of the “Freedom Convoy” in Toronto, February 5, 2022. Photo by Michael Swan/Flickr

The following is an excerpt from Confronting the Resurgent Right, a new collection edited by Miriam Edelson with a foreword by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair. It was published in May 2026 by the University of Manitoba Press. For more information, visit www.uofmpress.ca.

It is a time of great social, economic and political change. Democracy is at stake and Canada is not immune to its potential demise. From the impact of tariffs on workers and small businesses, to the backpedalling by successive governments on women’s and gender equality issues, to the more brazen appearance of neo-Nazi fight clubs and adoption of deleterious environmental policies, our country is facing difficult problems. The thought architecture of the far-right poses dangers to Canada’s economy and social fabric. Fascism is on the rise and Canadian civil society has enormous challenges with which to contend.

In addition, several significant events have emboldened the resurgence of the right in Canada. The re-election of US President Donald Trump in 2024 is perhaps most noteworthy—and dangerous. We are well into his second mandate and his readiness to circumvent Congress while attacking courts, universities, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs, detaining citizens and deporting people without due process is evident. Extreme right ideology is upending democratic norms, laws and institutions very quickly and unsavoury practices impact Canadian politics and society. For example, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, has embedded anti-vaccine disinformation in public health policy. That type of health policy is spilling over to Alberta, and it certainly fuelled the trope of individual freedom manifest in the 2022 “Freedom Convoy.”

In late January of that year, I was arriving in Ottawa to visit friends when we encountered traffic wrangles and were rerouted by the car’s GPS. We could hear the rumble of trucks rolling into town in the near distance. The noise turned out to be........

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