Weekly Quiz: Far-Right Factions, Alternative Housing, and National Security Scares

1

2

const title = "Weekly Quiz: Far-Right Factions, Alternative Housing, and National Security Scares"; const date = "December 13, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Web_StateofHateinCanada_Dec25_02-1536x1024.jpg", title: "Paramilitary “Fitness Clubs.” Anti-Trans Crusades. Far-Right Extremism Is Here", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/far-right-extremism-is-here/", question: "Canadian streamer and podcaster Jeremy MacKenzie gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic for his increasingly radical broadcasts protesting the implementation of public health measures by local governments. These broadcasts spurred MacKenzie to create a new right-wing movement known as Diagolon. Where does the name Diagolon come from?", options: [ "It’s a symbolic reference to an American white-nationalist group.", "It’s a term borrowed from military jargon describing diagonal offensive manoeuvres.", "It’s a fictional country formed from jurisdictions with the fewest pandemic restrictions.", "It’s a reference to an online conspiracy theory about government overreach during the pandemic.", ], answer: "It’s a fictional country formed from jurisdictions with the fewest pandemic restrictions.", correct: "In Telegram chats, MacKenzie spouts hate speech, including antisemitic memes, rants about South Asian people, and many other slurs. He sweeps aside criticism by claiming what he said was a joke. Even the name Diagolon (taken from MacKenzie’s fictional country, made up of the states and provinces with the fewest public health restrictions during the pandemic, resulting in a diagonal slash across North America) is described as a joke. But researchers disagree with that assertion. “I very much believe that Jeremy believes the things that he says,” says Evan Balgord, executive director at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), a nonprofit that monitors and reports on the far right. “I do not think that this is all performance theatre.”", incorrect: "In Telegram chats, MacKenzie spouts hate speech, including antisemitic memes, rants about South Asian people, and many other slurs. He sweeps aside criticism by claiming what he said was a joke. Even the name Diagolon (taken from MacKenzie’s fictional country, made up of the states and provinces with the fewest public health restrictions during the pandemic, resulting in a diagonal slash across North America) is described as a joke. But researchers disagree with that assertion. “I very much believe that Jeremy believes the things that he says,” says Evan Balgord, executive director at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), a nonprofit that monitors and reports on the far right. “I do not think that this is all performance theatre.”", }, { title: "In a Rare Move, Two Manitoba Hospitals Declared Unsafe for Nurses", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/manitoba-hospitals-unsafe-for-nurses/", question: "In 2019, Manitoba vowed to staff Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre (HSC)—the city’s largest hospital—with safety officers to help curb rising violence against nurses and physicians. How long did it take for the province to deliver on its promise?", options: [ "Eleven months", "Three years", "Five years", "Seven years", ], answer: "Five years", correct: "In 2024, five years after the government’s initial promise, the first institutional safety officers finally began patrolling HSC. Similar officers were later added at Winnipeg’s St. Boniface and Victoria Hospitals, Selkirk Mental Health Centre, and Brandon Regional Health Centre, with plans to expand to Thompson. In 2025, AI-powered weapon detectors were installed at three HSC entrances. Despite all these changes, nurses felt it wasn’t enough. They were right: despite the safety officers’ presence, the sexual assaults still happened, and weapon detectors cannot stop hospital staff from being punched or kicked.", incorrect: "In 2024, five years after the government’s initial promise, the first institutional safety officers finally began patrolling HSC. Similar officers were later added at Winnipeg’s St. Boniface and Victoria Hospitals, Selkirk Mental Health Centre, and Brandon Regional Health Centre, with plans to expand to Thompson. In 2025, AI-powered weapon detectors were installed at three HSC entrances. Despite all these changes, nurses felt it wasn’t enough. They were right: despite the safety officers’ presence, the sexual assaults still happened, and weapon detectors cannot stop hospital staff from being punched or kicked.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/CoopHousing-viger-1800-1536x1024.jpg", title: "Why Co-ops Are the Solution to Our Housing Crisis", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/why-co-ops-are-the-solution-to-our-housing-crisis/", question: "As Canada’s housing crisis worsens, housing models like Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have become attractive alternatives for their affordability. What is the basic, structural definition of a CLT?", options: [ "Private non-profit organizations that hold property in trust to provide low-cost housing", "Government-funded organizations that negotiate leases with private developers", "Investor-led trusts that use shared equity models to generate assets", "Resident-run companies that collectively manage property to protect against eviction", ], answer: "Private non-profit organizations that hold property in trust to provide low-cost housing", correct: "CLTs are private philanthropic or non-profit organizations that hold property in trust to provide permanently low-cost housing and other community assets. Take the Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT), for example. Created in 2021, the OCLT committed to the long-term preservation and expansion of affordable housing in Ottawa. With a diverse board of eleven sector directors, OCLT’s approach focuses on acquiring and preserving affordable units through a revolving loan fund and community bonds known as “Housing Forever Bonds.” Their strategy focuses not only on protecting current affordable housing from market speculation but also on establishing new affordable choices through collaboration and advocacy for supportive policies.", incorrect: "CLTs are private philanthropic or non-profit organizations that hold property in trust to provide permanently low-cost housing and other community assets. Take the Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT), for example. Created in 2021, the OCLT committed to the long-term preservation and expansion of affordable housing in Ottawa. With a diverse board of eleven sector directors, OCLT’s approach focuses on acquiring and preserving affordable units through a revolving loan fund and community bonds known as “Housing Forever Bonds.” Their strategy focuses not only on protecting current affordable housing from market speculation but also on establishing new affordable choices through collaboration and advocacy for supportive policies.", }, { title: "Trump’s Terrifying New Security Doctrine Turns Canada into a Target", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/trumps-terrifying-new-security-doctrine-turns-allies-into-targets/", question: "Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) invokes what writer Wesley Wark calls a “Trump corollary” to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. While much of the policy may be directed toward Central and Latin America, what is one reason why Canada should be worried about the NSS?", options: [ "It calls for the western hemisphere to align border controls with US standards.", "It insists on the US shaping threat perception for the western hemisphere.", "It undermines long-standing intelligence-sharing protocols between Canada and the US.", "It proposes expanded US control over Arctic security.", ], answer: "It insists on the US shaping threat perception for the western hemisphere.", correct: "There are three components of the “Trump corollary” that should be seriously concerning for Canada: an insistence that we see threats to the western hemisphere through an American lens, no dissent allowed; that the US will work to secure critical supply chains in its own interests; and an insistence on the right of the US to have access to “strategically important locations.” “The NSS is, plainly speaking, a doctrine that threatens Canada, threatens Canadian interests, and is deeply at odds with a Canadian approach to global security,” writes Wark.", incorrect: "There are three components of the “Trump corollary” that should be seriously concerning for Canada: an insistence that we see threats to the western hemisphere through an American lens, no dissent allowed; that the US will work to secure critical supply chains in its own interests; and an insistence on the right of the US to have access to “strategically important locations.” “The NSS is, plainly speaking, a doctrine that threatens Canada, threatens Canadian interests, and is deeply at odds with a Canadian approach to global security,” writes Wark. ", }, ];