OTTAWA -- Canada’s list of organizations it deems a terrorist group is growing.
On Wednesday, the federal government added 13 new extremist organizations to the Criminal Code list of terrorist entities, which could lead to criminal sanctions against people involved in those groups.
- READ MORE: Canada adds Proud Boys to terror list
Of the new additions, the most notable are ideologically motivated violent extremist (IMVE) organizations that have carried out attacks against those who oppose their beliefs. They are Atomwaffen Division, Russian Imperial Movement, Proud Boys and The Base.
With these additions, Canada’s list of terrorist groups has expanded to more than 70 groups, including divisions of ISIS, neo-Nazi organizations and terror groups in Africa.
Here is a look at some of the other groups on Canada’s terrorism list:
Al Qaeda
Date added to the list: July 23, 2002
Founded by Osama Bin Laden in 1988, al Qaeda is most known in the West for carrying out the attacks of 9/11, but has also been associated with several suicide bombings, kidnappings and other hijackings. There are three other al Qaeda subgroups on Canada’s terrorism list.
Al Shabaab
Date added to the list: March 5, 2010
Al Shabab is an Islamist group in Somalia that controls a large stretch of southern Somalia and has carried out land mine attacks, remote-controlled bombings and assassinations against their enemies.
In 2017, Al Shabaab carried out a pair of car bombings in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing 512 people.
Aum Shinrikyo
Date added to the list:Dec. 10, 2002
Aum Shinrikyo is a doomsday cult that aims to control Japan. The group began peacefully, but grew increasingly violent as they tried to bring about Armageddon.
In 1995, the group released sarin, a toxic nerve agent, into a Tokyo subway system, killing 13 people and injuring thousands of others.
Blood & Honour
Date added to the list: June 21, 2019
Founded in the United Kingdom in 1987, this neo-Nazi network's armed branch, Combat 18, is responsible for murders and bombings, including the murder of two homeless men in 2012 in Tampa Bay, Fla., and the 2012 firebombing of a building occupied by Romani people in the Czech Republic.
Boko Haram
Date added to the list: Dec. 24, 2013
Boko Haram is a “Salafist jihadist group” operating in northern Nigeria known for armed attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings. They are responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Nigerians between 2016 and 2017.
In 2014, the organization kidnapped Canadian nun Gilberte Bissiere and two Italian priests in Cameroon before kidnapping 276 Nigerian schoolgirls a few days later. Bissiere and the priests were released in after nearly two months. About 100 of the schoolgirls are still missing.
In December, Boko Haram claimed responsibility of a mass abduction of more than 300 students from a Nigerian all-boys private school.
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN)
Date added to the list:April 2, 2003
The ELN is focused on forming a revolutionary government in Colombia and believes the country is being exploited by foreign involvement in its oil industry.
In 2018, the group bombed a pipeline, performed a grenade attack on a naval base and killed a Colombian soldier in a sniper attack.
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)
Date added to the list:April 2, 2003
The ETA aims to create an independent Basque state that would consist of the six Basque provinces in Spain and France, as well as the neighbouring Navarra province in Spain.
Most of their attacks consist of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings. The group is said to have killed more than 800 people and performed about 1,600 terrorist attacks since 1959.
Hamas
Date added to the list: Nov. 27, 2002
Hamas, which stands for Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiya, is an “Islamist-nationalist terrorist organization” with the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel. The organization is responsible for “several hundred terrorist attacks” since 1990, according to Public Safety Canada.
Canada, the European Union and the United States classify Hamas as a terrorist group, while Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom only consider the group’s militant wing as a terrorist group.
The organization seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and it uses the region for terrorist attacks against Israel.
ISIS
Date added to the list: Aug. 20, 2012
ISIS, also known as ISIL, Islamic State and Daesh, is a jihadist group that seeks civil unrest in Iraq and the Levant region of Western Asia. They are known for carrying out suicide bombings, armed attacks and beheadings on camera.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for several mass causality events in Europe, including two bombings at the Brussels Airport in 2016, a suicide bombing during an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, U.K. in 2017 and three vehicular ramming incidents in the summer of 2017, which killed at least 27 people, including two Canadians.
ISIS-associated groups represent at least another seven groups on Canada’s terrorism list.
International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)
Date added to the list: June 18, 2003
The ISYF serves as an international branch for the All India Sikh Students' Federation, with centres in several countries, including Canada. The group’s goal is to promote Sikh philosophy and establish a Sikh nation called Khalistan.
Since its founding, the group has carried out several terrorist attacks against political figures in India and against moderate members of the Sikh community.
International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy - Canada (IRFAN – CANADA)
Date added to the group: April 24, 2014
IRFAN - Canada is a non-profit organization operating in Canada that sent approximately $14.6 million to several organization with links to Hamas between 2005 and 2009.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
Date added to the list: Dec. 10, 2002
The PKK is a Kurdish militant political party whose main goal is to create an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, a region of traditional Kurdish territory.
The group has been known to bomb resorts and kidnap tourists.
Taliban
Date added to the list: May 9, 2013
The Taliban is an “Islamic fundamentalist political movement” in Afghanistan with the goal of removing all foreign military forces from the country. The Taliban conducts attacks using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombings and is known to attack civilians, the military and government buildings.
In 2018, the Taliban claimed responsibility of a suicide bombing that killed 95 people in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Canada went to war against the Taliban for more than a decade as part of a multinational military operation led by the United States. A total of 159 Canadian military personnel died in the war.
