Interesting article on the issue of QAnon in Canada. A few thoughts in a short thread: /n https://twitter.com/AmarAmarasingam/status/1316745726270099457

1) We still don't know that the #RideauHall incident was motivated by QAnon. It's sloppy for the media to continue to draw this connection without evidence. Imagine if people derived your political views based on your last two social media posts? Seems incomplete somehow, no?

2)That's not to say that QAnon isn't an issue in Canada - it absolutely is. There are a number of examples of QAnon "ideology" motivating people to engage in violence, so it's clear - it can fall into the category of terrorist violence.

3) This is a cultural import from the United States - as are many other ideologies present in Canada today that can (or have) lead to incidents of terrorist violence. The US is an exporter of these ideas at the moment.

(Worthwhile to reflect on how the international community took action against other countries that "exported" terrorist or extremist ideologies in the past....)

4) I see two responses to this (and related) threats: the first is to tackle the fundamental issue of distrust in government and disinformation. #CdnNatSec agencies can contribute to this, but they should not lead in this space. (Think: Health, democratic institutions, etc)

5) When QAnon adherents start to mobilize to take violent action on their ideas, this falls squarely in the domain of #CdnNatSec, and CSIS and the RCMP have a mandate to address this.

6) Finally, there's a throw-away line at the end of the article suggesting that we need to re-visit our definition of terrorism. But no explanation of why. This seems...unnecessary. Violence inspired by QAnon can clearly fall into this definition...

as can violence derived from many other movements we see today (think Incel). But counter-terrorism is a hammer: it can be used for a lot of things, but should not always be the first approach.

7) If we've learned anything from the last two decades of counter-terrorism, it's that we need a lot of tools to effectively counter terrorism, extremism, violence (and now disinformation and lack of trust). Many of those tools are still appropriate...

but the current landscape demands refinement of some of those tools, new (and unconventional) partnerships, and a better understanding of the ecosystem that leads to politically, ideologically, or religiously-motivated violence.