Montreal's anti-radicalization centre said it has seen a spike in calls about extreme-right incidents and ideology over the past couple of months and is so concerned that it's unveiled an awareness campaign about hate crimes.
Since January, the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence received 25 calls related to the right-wing extremist movement, compared to 10 about hate crimes and three linked to islamophobia.
The centre has said it's received calls from witnesses to hate crimes or incidents or from people who have expressed concern about being attracted to extreme right-wing ideas. The head of the centre has said most of the calls come from outside of the Montreal region.
The centre said such extreme right-wing ideology can lead to hate crimes, hate speech and any discourse or actions that are racist, anti-immigration or homophobic.
The centre said it doesn't know if the increase in calls is related to the rise of popularity of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Researcher Alexandre Chevrier-Pelletier said that it can be dangerous.
"It can lead to marginalization or stigmatization," said Chevrier-Pelletier.
The head of the centre has said that no case is under criminal investigation.
To counter the phenomenon, the centre decided to speed up the launch of its awareness campaign against hate crimes and the far-right movement and related incidents.