Conclusion

This conclusion revisits seven years of ethnographic engagement with Quebec’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) initiatives to draw together the book’s central arguments about the hybridization of security practices in Canada. It synthesizes how CVE, born out of the War on Terror and refracted through Quebec’s distinct model of neoliberal governance, has blurred the boundaries between high and low policing by embedding security logics within the health and social service sectors. The conclusion situates CVE within the wider frameworks of actuarial justice and risk governance, showing how preventive security has normalized surveillance through ostensibly therapeutic and collaborative interventions. Reflecting on the decline of CVE and its transformation into “targeted violence prevention” programs, it considers the enduring legacies of these practices on policing, public trust, and marginalized communities. Ultimately, it asks whether the promise of prevention has been achieved—or whether it has merely reconfigured the terrain of high policing under a new form.