An Ottawa man was sentenced on Monday to ten years in prison for the promotion of hate propaganda against Jewish people produced for the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division.
Superior Court Justice Robert Smith found Patrick Gordon MacDonald guilty earlier this year on all three charges brought against him: promoting hate speech, participating in the activities of a terror group and facilitating terrorist activities.
MacDonald, a graphic designer in his late 20s, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Crown prosecutors argued during the trial that MacDonald worked under the alias “Dark Foreigner” for a listed terror group to promote hatred against Jews and other minorities to provoke a race war.
They tied him to the recording of several violent, hate-filled videos and the creation of Nazi-inspired images through multimedia equipment and other items that were seized by police, along with his telephone and banking records.
The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada, which testified at the sentencing hearing, hailed the judge’s decision as a victory for community safety.
“This is a strong sentence and should serve as a deterrent to future would-be extremists,” said Richard Robertson, the organization’s research and advocacy director, in a statement sent out to media after the sentencing.
RCMP called it the first case in Canada involving charges for both terrorism and hate propaganda offences laid against someone accused of promoting a violent, far-right ideology.