People with traditional values could be extremists, Canadian police warn
Staff Sgt Camille Habel, the spokeswoman for Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), urged people to be vigilant following the arrest of four people in Quebec, who were allegedly involved in 'ideologically motivated violent extremism'.
Two of those arrested in a plot to seize part of Quebec were members of the armed forces.
Sgt Habel was asked by CTV what Canadians should look out for in the wake of the arrests.
'Well, radicalisation in general quite often will show by people isolating themselves and changing their behaviour, like changing what they're saying on a subject, like becoming more extremist,' she said.
'If someone you know believed in equal gender rights but all of a sudden is leaning towards traditional values, that might be a sign that they're becoming more extremist.
'But we also have to remember that having the most extremist views is perfectly legal in Canada, and that it's only acting with violence to prove that view that becomes a criminal offence.'
Her remarks triggered an angry backlash among Canadian conservatives.
Ron Chhinzer, a former conservative candidate, accused the RCMP of labelling mainstream views as extreme.
He said the police were ignoring Left-wing extremism in an interview on True North News, a conservative media outlet.
'What we see here is our national police force utilising the most basic concept of every religious group that a strong family is a strong community…and now we're being told by our national police force that any pivot back to that, to revalue family values as we know it here in Western society, is actually moving towards an extremism,' he said.
'I've never seen, and I looked for it, really much about any mention of other extremisms like Left-wing extremism. Why is it always pivoting this way to the right way, and since when has the thousands of years of historic values that we all carry now moved to any other pivot?'
'Come and arrest me'
Maxime Bernier, leader of the libertarian People's Party in Canada, challenged the police to arrest him.
'This @rcmpgrcpolice officer says not believing gender nonsense anymore and switching to more traditional values may be a sign of 'radicalisation'! Come and arrest me, woke moron, I'm clearly a radical extremist who may be about to commit some terrorist act!' he wrote on X.
Marie-Eve Breton, another RMCP spokeswoman, sought to clarify her colleague's remarks.
'It's the observed and sometimes sudden change in one's behaviour, beliefs or goals as well as tolerating the use of violence to achieve those goals, that could be one of several factors that signal a shift towards extremism,' she said.
'Each instance would have to be examined on a case-by-case basis, and all indicators would have to be considered in their totality.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Bryan Kohberger files reveal terrifying new evidence including signs of a practice run a MONTH before murders
Bryan Kohberger 's victims saw a man lurking in the trees outside their home and found their front door mysteriously open one month before the killer struck, according to newly-released police records. Moscow Police Department released a trove of 314 previously-sealed records related to the investigation into the November 13, 2022, murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on Wednesday afternoon - just hours after the mass killer was sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. Within the huge document dump, new details emerged about the police investigation which ultimately led to the capture and conviction of 30-year-old criminology student. In a bombshell revelation, the records show that the roommates at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, had experienced disturbing incidents at the home just one month before the murders. Goncalves had told at least two friends that she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home. Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen - who bravely spoke out in Wednesday's sentencing hearing - told police Goncalves described seeing the 'shadow' when she took her pet dog Murphy outside. Another friend echoed this accounts, telling police Goncalves had seen a dark figure staring at her from the tree line when taking Murphy outside. Mortensen, who was 19 at the time, also recalled one time when she came home to find the door to their three-story house open. The survivor told police Goncalves had also mentioned someone following her around two or three weeks before her murder. The other friend, whose name is redacted in the documents, told police they would make 'lighthearted talk and jokes' about a possible stalker - but that the girls 'were slightly nervous about it being a fact.' The friend also said she knew the front door of the home had issues with locking and sometimes could be unlocked without a code. Around that same time, a female student living on Queen Road - close to the King Road home - said a man tried to break into her home. At around 1am on October 14, 2022, the woman heard what she thought was a man walk up to her door and try to open it, the police records reveal. But the door was locked with the deadbolt on. It is not clear if the incidents are related and if it is possible Kohberger was carrying out a practice run for the murders one month later. It is also unclear if the man Goncalves saw was Kohberger surveilling the victims' home, or if he may have broken into the home prior to the night of his attack. But the details of these bizarre incidents come as prosecutors have been able to confirm Kohberger was surveilling the home for some time. From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, Kohberger's phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night. Who Kohberger was watching and why he chose the home - and the students inside - only he knows. Despite his guilty plea and sentencing, the killer's motive and target for the murders remain a mystery. Speaking at a press conference after the sentencing, Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne told reporters that while they know Kohberger 'targeted' that house, they still don't know why. 'The evidence suggested that there was a reason that this particular house was chosen. What that reason is, we don't know,' he said. Investigators also remain in the dark about whether one or more of the victims inside the home was his intended target. Around one month after these incidents, Kohberger broke into the student home and stabbed the four victims to death. At around 4am, he entered through the back sliding door on the second story of the property and went straight up the stairs to Mogen's bedroom on the third floor. He found her and Goncalves sleeping in her bed and fatally stabbed the 21-year-old best friends. On his way back downstairs or on leaving the property, he encountered Kernodle on the second floor, who was still awake on TikTok, having just received a DoorDash food order. Kohberger attacked the 20-year-old with his knife and then also murdered her boyfriend Chapin who was asleep in her bed. Kohberger then left through the same back sliding door of the property, passing Mortensen who had been woken by the noise and peeked around her bedroom door. Mortensen - the sole person who came face-to-face with the killer that night and made it out alive - described seeing a masked man, dressed in all black and with bushy eyebrows. Terrified, she and roommate Bethany Funke - whose bedroom was on the first floor - frantically called and text each other and their four friends. But the victims were already dead. Mortensen ultimately ran down to Funke's room where the two survivors stayed until daylight. Just before midday - still unable to contact the four victims - they called friends round to the home and the bloodbath was discovered. The newly-unsealed documents reveal harrowing new details about the injuries Kohberger inflicted on his victims. One officer on the scene described seeing Kernodle's body on her bedroom covered in blood, with defensive wounds to her hands, including a deep gash between her finger and thumb. 'It was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,' the officer wrote. 'There was blood smeared on various items in the room and all over the floor.' She had suffered more than 50 stab wounds. Chapin was partially covered with a blanket in her bed, with his jugular severed, the police files said. On the floor above, officers found the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves. As well as more than 20 stab wounds, Goncalves' face was so badly damaged she was 'unrecognizable.' Mogen had wounds to her forearm, hands and a gash from her right eye to her nose. Both were covered in blood, which had covered the pink blanket they were sharing. Kohberger left behind a Ka-Bar leather knife sheath next to Mogen's body. DNA on the clasp was traced back to the killer using Investigative Genetic Genealogy. Surveillance footage on multiple homes and businesses close to King Road had also captured his white Hyundai Elantra driving to and from the crime scene at the time of the murders. Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022, at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. After more than two years of fighting the charges, Kohberger finally confessed to the murders in a change of plea hearing earlier this month. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in an emotional hearing on Wednesday, where the families and friends of the victims were finally able to confront the man who slaughtered their loved ones while they slept. Dressed in orange prison garb with his wrists and ankles shackled, the 30-year-old stared blankly at the families showing not even a flicker of emotion or remorse. When it was his chance to speak, he maintained his silence. 'I respectfully decline,' he said boldly when asked by Judge Hippler if he would like to take the opportunity to address the court. Those were the only three words he spoke, keeping the victims' families in the dark about the murders. Kohberger has now been transferred to the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction, which will determine which prison will become home for the rest of his life. Due to the severity of his crime - and the high-profile nature of the case - Kohberger is expected to be sent to the state's only maximum security facility, Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Columbia University agrees to pay more than $220M in deal with Trump to restore federal funding
Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus, the university announced Wednesday. Under the agreement, the Ivy League school will pay a $200 million settlement over three years, the university said. It will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 'This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty," acting University President Claire Shipman said. The Trump administration pulled the funding, because of what it described as the university's failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel- Hamas war that began in October 2023. Columbia then agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the university's student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism. Wednesday's agreement — which does not include an admission of wrongdoing — codifies those reforms while preserving the university's autonomy, Shipman said. The school had been threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in grants cancelled earlier this year. 'The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track," Shipman said. "Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.' As part of the deal, Columbia agreed to a series of changes previously announced in March, including reviewing its Middle East curriculum to make sure it was 'comprehensive and balanced' and appointing new faculty to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. It also promised to end programs 'that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotes, diversity targets or similar efforts.' The university will also have to issue a report to a monitor assuring that its programs 'do not promote unlawful DEI goals.' The pact comes after months of uncertainty and fraught negotiations at the more than 270-year-old university. It was among the first targets of President Donald Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protests and on colleges that he asserts have allowed Jewish students be threatened and harassed. Columbia's own antisemitism task force found last summer that Jewish students had faced verbal abuse, ostracism and classroom humiliation during the spring 2024 demonstrations. Other Jewish students took part in the protests, however, and protest leaders maintain they aren't targeting Jews but rather criticizing the Israeli government and its war in Gaza. Columbia's leadership — a revolving door of three interim presidents in the last year — has declared that the campus climate needs to change. Also in the settlement is an agreement to ask prospective international students 'questions designed to elicit their reasons for wishing to study in the United States,' and establishes processes to make sure all students are committed to 'civil discourse.'
The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Columbia announces deal to pay Trump administration more than $220m
Columbia University announced a much-anticipated deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220m, an agreement meant to bring a resolution to the threat of massive funding cuts to the school, but certain to rankle critics given the extraordinary concessions made by the Ivy League university. Under the agreement, the school will pay a $200m settlement over three years to the federal government, the university said. It will also pay $21m to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 'This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,' acting university president Claire Shipman said. The administration pulled the funding because of what it described as the university's failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Gaza war that began in October 2023. Columbia first agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the university's student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism. Wednesday's agreement codifies those reforms, Shipman said. The deal is the first between a university and a presidential administration that has described higher education institutions as 'the enemy' and launched an unprecedented campaign to reshape them. The government has withheld billions in grants and contracts from schools in an effort to force university administrators to abide by a sweeping list of demands. In exchange for Columbia's concessions, the White House will reinstate $400m in federal funding it had stripped from the university earlier this year over allegations that it allowed antisemitism to fester on campus. But while the Trump administration is likely to hail the agreement as a victory in its battle against universities, the deal fell short of some of the most restrictive measures the administration had sought, like a legally binding consent decree and an overhaul of Columbia's governance structure. Earlier this week, the university announced a host of new measures to further combat antisemitism on campus, including the adoption of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition and additional antisemitism training. The measures add to several similar ones introduced as the university has come under mounting criticism over the last two years by students, alumni and lawmakers who accused it of failing to stop pro-Palestinian protests on campus that they deemed antisemitic. More details soon …
