Hamilton police are investigating after a Canadian far-right website reposted the manifesto allegedly written by the terrorist behind last week’s mosque attacks in New Zealand.
The racist manifesto was republished on a website affiliated with Paul Fromm.
It was accompanied by a note attributed to Fromm that called it “cogent” and said violence was “not the way to go, but our vile elites have made it all but inevitable.”
“The Hamilton Police Service Hate Crime Unit is aware of the recent social media posting by Mr. Fromm,” Const. Jerome Stewart, a media relations officer, said Monday.
“We are currently investigating in order to determine if a criminal offence has occurred.”
Canadian law prohibits the wilful promotion of hatred against identifiable groups. A conviction carries a possible two-year sentence.
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Flush with extreme right-wing tropes depicting immigrants as “invaders” and railing against “white genocide,” the 74-page manifesto was initially posted on social media by the suspected mass killer, Brenton Tarrant.
Tarrant was arrested after allegedly opening fire on Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, killing 50 and injuring 50.
Richard Warman, an Ottawa lawyer who has long battled hate propaganda, told Global News he contacted police after the manifesto reappeared on a website linked to Fromm, a Hamilton resident.
“I believe that posting the manifesto would be criminal on its own and that posting and endorsing the manifesto in the way Paul Fromm has done is absolutely criminal in my mind and I’ve reported it to the Hamilton Police Service,” said Warman, a board member at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
But Fromm stood by his decision to repost the manifesto, calling it a “historical document.” He denied that putting it on his website was a crime and said while he agreed with the killer’s analysis, he did not support violence.
“I don’t agree in shooting up a mosque, in killing people, and I made that quite clear in my introduction,” he said Tuesday.
He said he had not been contacted by police.
Fromm was stripped of his Ontario teaching certificate in 2006 for far-right activities ranging from speaking against non-white immigration to sharing a stage with Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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