Although they've long gained infamy in online political arenas, it's likely that the first time many people became aware of the Proud Boys was when Donald Trump told them to "stand back and stand by" after President Joe Biden called for him to denounce white supremacists during their first presidential debate.
But while the group is often savvy enough to distance themselves from the label of white supremacy and the idea that they're instigators of violence, statements from within alt-right circles and directly from the group's founder and leaders, as collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center, indicate substantial evidence that both are apt descriptions.
And as far as the Canadian government is concerned, the lengths that the group is willing to go to for their ideology are sufficient to classify them as a terrorist organization.