La Meute (French for "The Pack") is a Québécois nationalist pressure group and

identitarian movement The Identitarian movement or Identitarianism is a pan-European nationalist, far-right political ideology asserting the right of European ethnic groups and white peoples to Western culture and territories claimed to belong exclusively to them. ...

fighting against illegal immigration and

radical Islam Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic und ...

. The group was founded in September 2015 in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

by two former Canadian Armed Forces members, Éric Venne and Patrick Beaudry. Neither are members of the group anymore. In 2018 the goal of La Meute was to prevent the Quebec Liberal Party from winning the

2018 Quebec general election The 2018 Quebec general election was held on October 1, 2018, to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The election saw a landslide victory for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by François Legault, which won 74 of 125 seats, ...

(Which the Liberal party did lose). La Meute does not plan to become a political party, but rather "to become large enough and organized enough to constitute a force that can't be ignored". Most political observers identify La Meute as far-right. The group rejects this. As of April 2018, the group has more than 41,000 members in its private

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

, although some journalists believe there are only 4,000 to 5,000 members based on reports of numbers inflation by ex-members. In 2019, La Meute supported the New Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government Bill 21 which bars civil servants in ‘authority’, such as judges, prosecutors, police officers, teachers and school administrators from wearing religious symbols at work. The leader of CAQ sought to distance himself from the group.

Political position

Police officers, experts, and the majority of journalists identify La Meute as far-right. The group is considered

islamophobic Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...

, supremacist,

ultranationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...

, or even

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

by some. La Meute is, according to Maxime Fiset, "on the limit of the spectrum of what is far-right" and corresponds to, according to David Morin, a "populist and nationalistic-identitarian far-right fringe". David Morin hesitates between the terms " identitarian far-right" and " right-wing populism", and notes there are "

communicating vessels Communicating vessels or vasesMario Bunge, ''Philosophy of Science: From Explanation to Justification'', 1998, , p. 369 are a set of containers containing a homogeneous fluid and connected sufficiently far below the top of the liquid: when the l ...

" between more radical groups, like Atalante and, sometimes, Storm Alliance. The group is often differentiated from racist, supremacist,

neo-nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

and

neo-fascists Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, Nativism (politics), nativism, xenophobia, and an ...

groups by observers, experts, and journalists.

Quebec police Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

don't consider La Meute to be a threat. There is debate over whether "far-right" is the best descriptor for La Meute. Some believe we call them far-right "a bit foolishly", declaring "it's difficult to find anything to condemn this group". Finally, some journalists oppose La Meute's public image to its private Facebook group. La Meute rejects the "far-right" label and is known to regularly delete overtly racist comments, or comments inciting violence. Some journalists doubt this, arguing that the Facebook group shows "numerous references to

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

as a pedophile or rapist" and that it can be invalidated "by simply typing "pig" in the search bar". La Meute is known to expel its members who are overtly racist. La Meute's spokesperson, Sylvain Brouillette, identifies La Meute as

center left Centre-left politics lean to the Left-wing politics, left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the Centrism, centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meute, La 2015 establishments in Quebec 2015 in Quebec Canadian far-right political movements Identitarian movement Politics of Quebec Quebec nationalism Anti-immigration politics in Canada Anti-immigration politics in Quebec Anti-Islam sentiment in Quebec Anti-Islam sentiment in Canada

Political position

See also

References