This page explores how online extremism and digital networks are accelerating social polarization and the spread of ideological violence in Canada. It highlights a growing trend where fringe digital communities weaponize economic anxieties and personal grievances, actively targeting vulnerable demographics—particularly young people aged 15 to 24 who spend significant time online. Expert testimonies indicate that these platforms don't just host isolated debates; they actively foster real-world hostility, harassment, and targeted violence by distorting complex social changes into clear-cut grievances. Ultimately, the text emphasizes that these digital movements thrive on shifting socioeconomic instability, transforming online rhetoric into localized, physical public safety risks.
Credit: Report of the Standing Committee on
the Status of Women – Chair Dominique Vien
Date: June 2026
CCWESTT acknowledges that our greater science, engineering, trades and technology (or SETT) community is situated on the ceded and unceded traditional territories of First Nation, Inuit, and Métis peoples from coast to coast to coast in what is known as ‘Canada’. CCWESTT fervently believes SETT is enriched through collective relations and knowledge sharing and is committed to helping enhance and build these relations. Full land acknowledgement here.
