Diagolon is a Canadian alt-right organization which was considered significant to the

Canada convoy protest A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy (french: Convoi de la liberté, links=no) by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created t ...

by the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. It is led by

Jeremy MacKenzie General Sir Jeremy John George Mackenzie, (born 11 February 1941) is a retired senior British Army officer who served as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1994 to 1998. Early life Mackenzie was born on 11 February 1941 in Nairobi, Ke ...

Organisation and aims

Diagolon is a right wing, alt-right, extremist militia network with chapters throughout Canada. It has been described in a report by the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

as a "violent extremist organisation." According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network the "neo-fascist militia" The Group believes that "a violent revolution is coming," and is an "

accelerationist Accelerationism is a range of Marxist and reactionary ideas in critical and social theory that call for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth, technological change and other social processes in order to destabilize existing systems a ...

movement that believes a revolution is inevitable and necessary to collapse the current government system. It wants to build its ideal nation-state, which runs diagonally from Alaska through the western provinces down to Florida". A member of Diagolon, Alex Vriend, was noted by the

Canadian Anti-Hate Network The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that monitors hate groups, far-right groups, and hate crimes in Canada. It was formed in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario and receives funding from the Government of Canada. CAHN ...

as "one of the most outspoken and influential members" and was reported to be an antisemite and a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

denier. Barbara Perry, director of Ontario Tech University's Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, described Diagolon's ambition to create a "white ethnonationalist state" which would "run diagonally from the Pacific Northwest through Canada to Florida". as

irony poisoning Irony poisoning is a term to describe when someone starts out believing something ironically, but later starts to actually believe it. It is often used when referring to normalising extremist views through the use of humour, particularly online, bu ...

to normalise hateful rhetoric through humour. The group's motto is “gun or rope".

History

The group emerged from the

Plaid Army The Plaid Army is a group of Canadian internet live streamers know for trolling and far right politics. The group has been accused by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network of islamophobia and anti-semitism. Activities and views The Plaid Army is a g ...

, according to the

who also report that the group was started by Jeremy MacKenzie in 2020. The group's flag was present at the

in Ottawa. Following the seizure of weapons, ammunition, and body armour from the property of a murder conspiracy plot suspect during the protest blockade of the

Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing The Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing connects the town of Sweet Grass, Montana with the village of Coutts, Alberta, on the Canada–United States border. I-15 on the American side joins Alberta Highway 4 on the Canadian side. Similarly, BNSF ...

, one piece of body armour was identified to have Diagolon patches. In February 2023,

Paul Rouleau Paul S. Rouleau is a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Canada. He was the commissioner of the Public Order Emergency Commission that conducted the Inquiry into Emergencies Act mandated by law to study and report on the circumstances t ...

described Diagolon's presence at both the Ottawa and Coutts protests as "the most troubling connection between protest locations" in his report following the

Public Order Emergency Commission The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC; ), also known as the Rouleau inquiry or the Inquiry into Emergencies Act was a public inquiry in Canada that investigated the invoking of the ''Emergencies Act'' on February 14, 2022 by the governm ...

into the use of the ''

Emergencies Act The ''Emergencies Act'' (french: Loi sur les mesures d'urgence) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1988 which authorizes the Government of Canada to take extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, ...

.'' In 2022

Pierre Poilievre Pierre Marcel Poilievre ( ; born June 3, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition since 2022. Poilievre has served as a member of Parliament (MP) ...

called Diagolon members "losers" and "dirtbags" after they had discussed raping

Anaida Poilievre Anaida Poilievre (; born 1986 or 1987) is a Canadian political staffer, online magazine publisher, and the wife of Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre. Early life and education Poilievre was born in Caracas, Venezuela to a fat ...

, his wife, on a podcast. Poilievre had previously been photographed shaking hands with Jeremy MacKenzie. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino stated that the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

were "reviewing" the rape statement.

References

External links

Official website (archive)
{{Alt-right footer Canadian far-right political movements Canada convoy protest Alt-right organizations Far-right politics in Canada 2020 establishments in Canada