The Initiative de résistance internationaliste (), more commonly known as Résistance internationaliste, is a left-wing extremist group operating in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Résistance internationaliste first surfaced in December 2004. Based on

communiqué A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

s believed to originate from the group, the Résistance internationaliste appears to hold

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

and anti-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

views. The group has claimed responsibility for three attacks, all in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Hydro tower bombing

In 2004, shortly before

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

's visit to

, a

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

electric tower along the

Quebec – New England Transmission The Quebec – New England Transmission (officially known in Quebec as the ''Réseau multiterminal à courant continu (RMCC)'' and also known as Phase I / Phase II and the ''Radisson - Nicolet - Des Cantons'' circuit, and known in New England as ...

circuit in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...

near the Canada–US border was damaged by explosive charges detonated at its base. The

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

reported that a message, purportedly from the Résistance internationaliste and issued to ''

La Presse is a French-language online newspaper published daily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1884, it is now owned by an independent nonprofit trust. ' was formerly a broadsheet daily, considered a newspaper of record in Canada. Its Sunday edi ...

'', ''

Le Journal de Montréal is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. Established by Pierre Pé ...

'' and

CKAC CKAC is a Canadian French, French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial travelers' information station, traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. ...

radio, stated that the attack had been carried out to "denounce the 'pillaging' of Quebec's resources by the United States."

Car firebombing

On Friday, August 4, 2006, a car belonging to Carol Montreuil, a spokesman for the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, exploded in the town of Sainte-Thérèse, near

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. After having initially concluded that the explosion was the result of an electrical malfunction, the

Sûreté du Québec The (SQ; , ) is the State police, provincial police service for the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. There is no official English name, though the agency's name is sometimes translated as Quebec Provincial Police ...

provincial police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...

force ordered an investigation by its

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

branch when a number of

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outlets received an

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from a source claiming to be the Résistance internationaliste. The email stated that the group had carried out the attack in protest against the actions of

oil companies The following is a list of notable companies in the petroleum industry that are engaged in petroleum exploration and production. The list is in alphabetical order by continent and then by country. This list does not include companies only involved ...

, in particular the alleged funding of "an imperialist army which is committing barbarous acts", an apparent reference to the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. , style="background:#F88" , Coalition of Gulf War, Coalition victory * Kuwait, State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory * Esta ...

. The CBC reported that the same email also contained accusations against the oil companies of consumer abuse and

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

. On August 18 of the same year, the Sûreté du Québec confirmed that the car was indeed firebombed, as claimed by the email.

Canadian Forces recruiting office

The Résistance internationaliste has also allegedly claimed the responsibility of planting a bomb at a recruiting station of the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Quebec. At 2:37 a.m., on July 2, 2010, a call was placed to the Trois-Rivières municipal police force stating there was a bomb at the recruiting station. At 3 a.m., the bomb exploded, but no one was injured according to local newspaper Le Nouvelliste.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Resistance Internationaliste Terrorism in Canada 2004 establishments in Quebec Anti-American sentiment in North America Anarchism in Canada Anarchist organizations in North America Eco-terrorism Anti-globalization organizations Organizations established in 2004 Socialism in Quebec