| Diagolon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founding leader | Jeremy MacKenzie |
| Foundation | 2020 |
| Country | Canada |
| Ideology | Accelerationism |
| Political position | Alt-right |
| Slogan | "Gun or rope" |
| Website | diagolon.org (2022 archive) |
Diagolon is a Canadian alt-right organization, conceived by podcaster Jeremy MacKenzie. The US Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism has called it a far-right extremist group. [1] It was mentioned in news coverage of the Canada convoy protest.
Diagolon is a right-wing, [2] alt-right, [3] extremist [4] militia network with chapters throughout Canada. [2] A House of Commons of Canada report called it a "violent extremist organisation." [5] According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, the "neo-fascist militia" [6] believes that "a violent revolution is coming," [2] and is an "accelerationist movement that believes a revolution is inevitable and necessary to collapse the current government system". [6]
Diagolon associate Alex Vriend has promoted the neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa: The Last Battle in chatrooms. [7] Barbara Perry, director of Ontario Tech University's Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, described Diagolon's ambition to create a "white ethnonationalist state" [8] as irony poisoning to normalise hateful rhetoric through humour. [4] The group's motto is "gun or rope". [7]
The group emerged from the Plaid Army, according to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. [9]
The group's flag was seen at the Canada convoy protest in Ottawa. [10] One piece of body armour seized along with weapons and ammunition at the property of a murder conspiracy suspect during the protest blockade of the Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing reportedly had a Diagolon patch. [11] [2] In February 2023, Paul Rouleau described Diagolon's presence at both the Ottawa and Coutts protests as "the most troubling connection between protest locations" in his report following the Public Order Emergency Commission into the use of the Emergencies Act. [12]
In 2022, Pierre Poilievre called Diagolon members "losers" and "dirtbags" after they suggested raping Anaida Poilievre, his wife, on a podcast. Poilievre had previously been photographed shaking hands with Jeremy MacKenzie. [13] Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino stated that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were "reviewing" the rape statement. [14] Despite this, in 2024, Poilievre was seen leaving an RV with a drawing of the Diagolon flag visible on the door while being filmed attending a convoy-style protest on the Nova Scotia–New Brunswick border. He would endorse the protest as "a good, old-fashioned Canadian tax revolt." [15]
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Paul S. Rouleau is a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Canada. He was the commissioner of the Public Order Emergency Commission that conducted the Inquiry into Emergencies Act mandated by law to study and report on the circumstances that led to the invoking of the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022 by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the Canada convoy protests.
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