Publicly, the president of the Quebec chapter of far-right group Soldiers of Odin called a terror attack against a Quebec City mosque "unacceptable." However Facebook posts, obtained by VICE News from their private Facebook group, show a different story: The president of the chapter wrote a post insinuating there are aspects of the shooting that members might be "celebrating" as other members blatantly cheered on the massacre."What we're seeing is just the start. The people are opening their eyes. That's the part we should be celebrating … The people who are waking up are using violence instead of resisting intelligently. What the [Soldiers of Odin] want isn't violence but intelligence," reads a Facebook post in French from Katy Latulippe, president of the Quebec chapter of Soldiers of Odin. The posts, to the closed group, were dated the morning after the shooting that left six people dead and many others wounded.
Soldiers of Odin are part of an international movement with ties to neo-Nazism in Finland, and numerous chapters have popped up across North America. The mission statement of the Canadian group claims they seek "to protect the innocent women, children and elderly within our communities…regardless of race, colour or creed." Members of the group, however, have called for a ban on refugees and immigrants, and perceive Canadian values as under threat from radical Islam. The group has never been tied directly to any hate crimes in Canada.Read more on VICE News.
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