RCMP announce terrorism, hate propaganda charges against arrested Ottawa man linked to US-originated far-right extremist group News
Dickelbers, CC-BY-SA 3.0
RCMP announce terrorism, hate propaganda charges against arrested Ottawa man linked to US-originated far-right extremist group

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Wednesday announced that an Ottawa man accused of “advocating a violent far-right ideology” was arrested and faces both terrorism and hate propaganda charges, which the RCMP states is a first for Canadian law enforcement.

The accused is alleged to have helped to produce three “terrorist propaganda videos” for the benefit of Atomwaffen Division (AWD), an international neo-Nazi terror group listed as a terrorist entity by Public Safety Canada in 2021. According to the RCMP statement, the propaganda material was intended to promote the group, recruit members and encourage the commission of terrorist activities.

The individual was charged with participating in the activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and the commission of an offence for a terrorist group (willful promotion of hatred). The third charge links the alleged terrorist activity to Canada’s anti-hate propaganda laws, which make it a criminal offense to willfully make statements that promote hatred against any identifiable group, other than in private conversation.

The RCMP stated that they have also arrested a second individual in Kingsey Falls, Quebec through the same investigation who “may face charges at a later date.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes AWD as a US-originated “terroristic neo-Nazi organization” that works towards “civilizational collapse” through a series of terror cells. AWD’s founder and an associate were recently arrested in the US and charged with attempting to attack Baltimore, Maryland’s power grid. The group has also been linked to the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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