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Fatehbir Brar

Jacquetta Newman

Political Science 1021F

6 December 2022

A Dreadful Future: Indicators of Fascism in Canada

Although a country such as Canada may not seem as though it is fascist but rather

democratic, there are many prevalent factors of fascism that have recently surged throughout the

nation. The government has abused its power time and time again from mistreating peaceful

convoy protesters by freezing their accounts to Making law changes without proper democratic

steps taken in coordination with Covid-19 restrictions. Under the leadership of Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau, fascism seems to be rising but this form of fascism can not be compared to that

of Germany or Italy in the 20th century but will be a modern version of fascism. The upspring of

Canadian fascism will be like any other fascist uprising but the big question is will Canadians

realize before it's too late? (Fenrich). As Canadians, we need to be aware of what’s going on

around us and see the indicators of a fascist future that may be upon us before it is too late to

change.

When the Covid-19 pandemic first began our way of living life was restricted by the

government. No one was allowed in public unless they were wearing a mask, visiting family

members was limited and we were forced to quarantine. For most people, this was a wake-up call

to the power and control the government has over our lives and how we must abide by whatever

they say. “Exactly 25 years ago, the federal government would have told you that mandatory

immunization was unconstitutional” (Hopper) We are going in the wrong direction in Canada as

a country 25 years ago humans had more freedom of choice whereas now we are forced to take
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the Covid-19 vaccine with no other choice than staying inside and not leaving your house.

“Thousands of healthcare workers and civil servants facing immediate dismissal if they can’t

show proof of COVID-19 vaccination” (Hopper) Many people lost their jobs and careers for

simply not wanting to take the covid vaccine as well as this our charter of rights were violated.

Our freedom to move and travel, worship our religion, and meet up with our family and friends

was denied which goes against the charter of rights (Carpay). The people of the country had no

say in what the higher-ups decided similar to a fascist country where the civilians must follow

the leader’s rules. The laws introduced during the pandemic had been introduced by unelected

medical doctors rather than voted on in the parliament which goes against a democratic nation

(Carpay).

Rather than debating and voting about the laws regarding the Covid-19 pandemic the

government simply put them into action as you would see in a fascist nation where only the

leader has any power. During the pandemic, government-funded media did their best to strike

fear into Canadians by posting about the dangers of covid daily with politicians guaranteeing

safety which led us to believe that listening to their rules was in our best favor (Carpay).

Controlled mass media used by the government is a sign of a fascist country, and we can see that

being used here. The Pandemic showed us the extent the government would go to keep people in

check and controlled.

The convoy protest took place earlier this year where thousands of protesters were seen in

the streets of Ottawa trying to eliminate masks, vaccine mandates, and lockdowns. Trudeau

conveyed the protesters as dangerous, violent, and racist (Carpay). In reality, the protests were

peaceful so Trudeau's statement can be seen as a form of propaganda that is commonly found in

a fascist country. What started as a harmless protest quickly escalated when Prime Minister
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Trudeau Invoked the emergency act which allowed the government to arrest, fine, and freeze the

bank accounts of the protesters. “This is the first time Canada’s Emergencies Act has ever been

called upon by a Prime Minister” (Kyeyune). “when members of the official opposition party in

the House of Commons, myself included, objected and asked why the Prime Minister thought

that granting himself and his government emergency powers was the appropriate way to respond

to protests, he accused us of supporting Nazis” (Lantsman), by calling innocent protesters who

were seen setting up bouncy castles for kids and having barbeques “Nazis” shows us that

Trudeau will attack anyone in his opposition. The emergency act had no reason to be invoked as

there have to be public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international

emergencies, or war emergencies for it to be used. None of those four were violated due to the

protest which tells us this was a way of silencing the protesters and showing them who is in

power, we can see similar situations in Hitler's fascist Germany or Mussolini’s fascist Italy as

they silenced anyone who spoke up against them or they saw as a threat to their country and

themselves.

Canada's multiculturalism is a ticking time bomb, in Canadian multiculturalism, there can

be no equality between races as each individual is from a different race and wants to remain

separate. “Canadian multiculturalism identifies and promotes separate racial and ethnic

identities” (Gairdner), this means multiculturalism in Canada can be classified as multi-fascism

since it is not fascism from a particular race such as the Germans but rather multiple different

races (Gairdner). When Covid-19 initially started we saw an increase in racism against Asians in

our country proving that we are not equal as we say we are. In fascism, there is one superior race

to the rest in a way Canada's multiculturalism supports that belief. This form of multiculturalism

promotes racial differentiation and racism.

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Trudeau's fascist decisions affect all of Canada but Quebec in particular is much more

open and aggressive about the fascist approach. Multiple groups in Quebec believe in anti-

immigration and that letting too many immigrants in Canada would be a collective suicide. We

can already see the ban on turbans and hijabs in Quebec promoting a mainly white culture. The

anti-immigration movement believes that everyone living in Quebec must speak fluent French

and live by Quebec values. Believing in a superior race is a sign of fascism and the anti-

immigration movement believes immigrants should not be allowed in Quebec as it ruins their

province. Overall, Quebec can be seen as a very nationalistic province which can lead to fascist

ideology in the future of the province.

Fascism movements are a current threat within the USA, and this is not something new as

they have always had a fascist undertone. There have been some speculations of, the USA

becoming a right-wing fascist country in the future which could be an issue for Canada as the

fascist ideology might find its way to influencing Canada. “The US could be under a rightwing

dictatorship by 2030, a Canadian political science professor has warned, urging his country to

protect itself against the “collapse of American democracy”” (Luscombe) We have already seen

signs of fascism throughout Canada as I have spoken about in this essay. The USA becoming a

fascist country could be the sole reason for Canada to leave behind democracy and also take on a

fascist approach for Canada.

Fascism is growing in Canada much faster than we might think and we have seen

multiple examples of it recently. The strength of fascism is currently strong but not widespread

within Canada. If you would’ve asked me about the strength of fascism in Canada three years

ago, I would have said we are a fully democratic country, but the pandemic showed me a

different side of our government. From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen that the
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government has much more control over our lives and actions than we might have believed

before. As for the convoy, we saw our government completely violate and abuse peaceful

protesters who wanted to stand up for their beliefs and constitutional rights but were quickly

silenced. Canada claims to be a democratic country but in this essay, I have shown how it will

behave as a fascist country when they need to and violate our charter of rights with no

consequences. While we will not get to the point of Hitler's Nazi Germany, I fully believe that a

new form of fascism is possible in Canada if no action is taken against Trudeau's government.
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Works Cited

Carpay, John. Is Canada sliding into a form of fascism? Justice center of constitutional freedom,

2022. https://www.jccf.ca/is-canada-sliding-into-a-form-of-fascism/

Fenrich, Miguel. Letter: Fascism creeping into Canadian politics. Sasktoday, 2022.

https://www.sasktoday.ca/north/opinion/letter-fascism-creeping-into-canadian-politics-

5421236

Gairdner, William. Romanticism & Multiculturalism: The Roots of Our Soft-Fascism. Blog,

2017. https://williamgairdner.ca/romanticism-multiculturalism-the-roots-of-our-soft-

fascism/

Hopper, Tristin. FIRST READING: Canadians love their democracy (but hate their politicians).

National post, 2021. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/first-reading-canadians-love-

their-democracy-but-hate-their-politicians

Kerman, Bryan. Can Canada withstand the U.S. slide to fascism?. The Hamilton Spectator,

2021. https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/2021/10/18/can-canada-withstand-

the-us-slide-to-fascism.html

Kyeyune, Malcom. Justin Trudeau’s phoney dictatorship. UnHerd, 2022.

https://unherd.com/2022/02/justin-trudeaus-phoney-dictatorship/

Lantsman, Melissa. For Trudeau, There Are Only Canadians Who Agree With Him—and Nazis

Opinion. Newsweek, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/trudeau-there-are-only-

canadians-who-agree-him-nazis-opinion-1683843
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Luscombe, Richard. US could be under rightwing dictator by 2030, Canadian professor warns.

The guardian, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/03/us-rightwing-

dictatorship-2030-trump-canada

Maltais, Hugo. Quebec election campaign dominated by anti-immigrant agitation. World

Socialist, 2022. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/10/03/nenj-o03.html

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