The Storm Alliance is a Canadian

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

group which is primarily based in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. It describes itself as an "

ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...

" organization and it opposes the Canadian government's immigration policies, which it calls "collective suicide". The group has drawn attention for staging protests in

Lacolle, Quebec Lacolle () is a municipality in southern Quebec, Canada, located in the administrative area of the Montérégie, on the Canada–United States border. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 2,708. The Lacolle River runs eastward th ...

, against asylum seekers who enter Canada across the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

Roxham Road Roxham Road () is a rural road from the former Administrative divisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet of Perry Mills in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Champlain, New York, United States, generally north to the vicinity of the ...

. It has called them "illegal immigrants" and has demanded the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

reimburse the province of Quebec for the costs incurred for handling them. Various media sources and political commentators have called the Storm Alliance a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

organization. Tregget insists that his movement is "ultranationalist" rather than far-right. Rachel Brown and Ben Makuch wrote in

Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company V ...

that the Storm Alliance denies its far-right affiliations in order to attract more "moderate" followers.

History

The Storm Alliance was founded in December 2016 by Dave Tregget, who previously founded the Quebec chapter of the Finnish far-right group

Soldiers of Odin Soldiers of Odin (SOO; ) is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis. They ca ...

. The group denies any connection to the Soldiers of Odin, and Tregget is no longer president of the Storm Alliance. The group has participated in protests alongside other far-right groups in Quebec such as

La Meute La Meute (, "The Pack") is a Québécois nationalist pressure group and identitarian movement fighting against illegal immigration and radical Islam. The group was founded in September 2015 in Quebec by two former Canadian Armed Forces members, ...

and Atalante. An estimated 200 Storm Alliance members took part in a major anti-immigration rally in September 2017, leading to a conflict with pro-refugee counter-protesters. In 2018, the Storm Alliance disrupted a meeting at a school in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

held by Canadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

. A man whose ties to the organization remain unclear waved a Canadian flag imposed with a

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and the words "evil empire" on top of it was escorted out of the room by

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

officers. After a 2018 investigation into a pair of defunct Facebook groups, the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

was accused of "showing a growing coziness" to far-right organizations, which included the Storm Alliance and

, by the

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and delibera ...

activist Jeff Ray. The report revealed that numerous active participants and administrators on pro-PQ pages were also listed on the SA's page, and it also revealed that the two groups were developing closer ties, in addition to spreading disinformation about immigrants. Ray initially published the study on his blog, but it was reprinted by the

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

. In 2019, two people with ties to the group were arrested after they were caught plotting to kill Justin Trudeau while they were having a conversation on

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. One of them was charged with

incitement to genocide Incitement to genocide is a crime under international law which prohibits inciting (encouraging) the commission of genocide. An extreme form of hate speech, incitement to genocide is an inchoate offense and is theoretically subject to prosecuti ...

against

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

by the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

. Storm Alliance's Facebook page responded that it had kicked out the two a few months before, adding that it did not endorse their views.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{Authority control 2016 establishments in Quebec Anti-immigration politics in Canada Anti-immigration politics in Quebec Canadian far-right political movements Canadian nationalism