Ottawa pledges $300K to Quebec far-right research project

The federal government says it will fund a three-year research project on the rise of the far-right in Quebec.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced his ministry will give $300,000 for a three-year research project by the Centre of Expertise and Training on Religious Fundamentalism, Political Ideologies and Radicalization (CEFIR).

The centre isbased at douard-MontpetitCEGEP in Longueuil.

Director Martin Geoffroysaid the need to research such groups is more important than ever because online far-right discourse has become accessible to the mainstream population.

"We want [people] to know to be able to make the difference between what is fact and what is mere opinion or blatantly false,"Geoffroy explained on CBC Quebec's Breakaway.

CEFIR says it will use the government cash to develop tools to counteract these discourses online.

The group organizes workshops for community groups, police and military.

"What I have seen so far from my research is that many people that are in the far-right are ex-soldiers," Geoffroy said.

CEFIR's research also looks at how to counteract these kinds of discourses inside the army.

Earlier this week, RCMP raided the Manitoba home of a military reservist who is suspected of recruiting for a global neo-Nazi terrorist group and seized a number of firearms.

With police, CEFIR is hoping to find out and teach the best ways to intervene in situations that involve far-right parties. All interviews conducted with far-right group members or ex-members will remain hidden from police, Geoffroy said.

Researchers are also monitoring attempts by the far-right to recruit young people online.

Geoffroy said they're also going to make well-researched anti-radicalization information more accessible to young people.

Young people don't watch television or read the newspaper, he says. Instead, they're listening to podcasts or videos online.

"That's a problem because most of the far-right bloggers have shows online and that's how they reach young people," Geoffroy said.