‘Salad bar extremism’ has come to Canada, intelligence report says

A new breed of violence known as “salad bar extremism” has reached Canada, an internal government report obtained by Global News warns.

The term refers to attacks fueled by a mix of views rather than a coherent ideology, said the report, which cited the recent shooting at Edmonton City Hall.

“While some extremists have a primary motivation, others are influenced by a combination of beliefs,” according to the Strategic Threat Assessment.

“This phenomenon is occurring in Canada,” said the June 4, 2024 report from the government’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Center (ITAC).

Also called compound extremism, it is “driven by a multitude of messages within mainstream social discourse and by extremist propaganda internalized by an individual,” the report said.

“Variations of this phenomenon have also been referred to as compound violent extremism, salad bar extremism, or mixed, unstable or unclear (MUU) extremism,” the ITAC report said.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service released a redacted version of the document to Global News under the Access to Information Act.

The report focused in part on a Jan. 23 attack on Edmonton City Hall. Armed with an SKS-style rifle, a gunman fired shots and threw incendiary devices into the building.

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Before the incident, he had reportedly recorded a manifesto that addressed everything from water quality to the “genocide” in Gaza.

“I’m just tired of seeing the tyranny and corruption taking over our society and our lives… Inshallah [God willing]I will succeed in my mission,” he said.

Bezhani Sarvar, a 28-year-old Edmonton resident, was arrested at the scene and charged with eight offences. The RCMP later charged him with two counts of terrorism.

“In a video posted online before the incident, the suspect laid out a wide range of likely grievances,” ITAC wrote in its report on “mixed extremist motivations.”

The statement evoked themes normally associated with ideological and religious violence and mixed them with inflation and housing issues, the report said.

“The suspect also referred to additional concepts unrelated to violent extremism, such as society’s use of telephones and the promotion of healthy choices and exercise.”

The report said it was “highly likely” the attack was an act of domestic extremism and was the first time there had been political violence in Canada in a decade.

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Terrorism charges have been laid against the man accused of the attack on Edmonton City Hall

The Canadian government categorizes terrorism as ideologically motivated, politically motivated, or in the case of groups like the Islamic State, religiously motivated.

But increasingly, extremists do not fit neatly into those boxes and have developed personal world views that choose from diverse schools of thought.

“It’s a trend we’re seeing,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin, head of national security investigations, told Global News in an interview.

“We see traditional religiously motivated violent extremism, but on the other hand we also see a mix of ideologies, which doesn’t make it any less worrying,” she said.

“But I agree that we are increasingly seeing a mix of ideologies and grievances that motivate people to commit violent acts.”

On July 2, 2020, a heavily armed former army reservist, Corey Hurren, rammed his truck through the gates of Rideau Hall to “arrest” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A judge later called it a “politically motivated armed attack,” but Hurren’s motives ranged from anger over gun laws and pandemic restrictions to his financial problems and conspiracy theories.

Although ITAC said it has tried to identify the “key driving factor” behind extremists, violent groups can span several categories of extremism.

For example, the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza is “blurring” the line between religious and political violence, the report said.

Because Hamas wants an “Islamist Palestinian state,” both religious and political extremists “may be inspired by the current conflict,” the report said.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

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