Frustrated by police inaction against an Ontario far-right figure, an anti-racist activist has asked the courts to issue a peace bond ordering him to stop making online threats.
Richard Warman said he applied to the Ontario Court of Justice for a peace bond on June 3 after police repeatedly declined to lay charges against Kevin Goudreau.
The application alleged Goudreau had “counselled violence” against the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. Warman is a board member of the group and told the court he feared for his safety.
The RCMP has used peace bonds in recent years to impose strict conditions on extremists they suspect might attempt to leave Canada to join terrorist groups.
But the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said in a statement Thursday it believed this was the first time activists had sought a peace bond in response to right-wing extremist threats.
“We’re bringing a court application in Ottawa to hold Peterborough neo-Nazi Kevin Goudreau accountable for this threats,” read the statement posted on the anti-hate group’s Facebook page.
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The self-described chairman of a nationalist fringe group, who has a swastika tattooed on his chest, Goudreau was banned from Facebook in April as part of a crackdown on extremist content that followed the New Zealand mosque killings.
In text messages to Global News, Goudreau dismissed the peace bond case, saying it would not succeed and that he would be seeking a peace bond against Warman “for stalking me.”
“It’s for an alleged threat against the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and not him personally, he’s a chronic complainer, whiner and criminal harasser, he has no legal grounds for a restraining order, it won’t go anywhere,” Goudreau said.
He denied counselling violence and said a disclaimer on his website indicated that “we don’t promote, advocate or incite hatred or violence by our members or anyone else.”
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But the latest post on Goudreau’s blog ends with the statement: “Kill your local drug dealer.” Goudreau responded that he was advocating for the death penalty.
Warman, an Ottawa lawyer who has long fought online hate, wrote in his peace bond application that he had been monitoring Goudreau’s online activity for more than a decade.
“I have previously reported Goudreau’s threats of violence against others because it is my duty as a citizen and especially as a lawyer to protect the safety of others and uphold the law,” Warman wrote.
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He said a Facebook post following the March 15 terrorist attack on New Zealand mosques had “caused me to be concerned for my personal safety from Goudreau.”
He said he also feared “any other person who may take action as a result of Goudreau counselling and inciting violence against me and my colleagues at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.”
Warman wants the court to impose a 12-month peace bond ordering Goudreau to “not communicate threats of violence,” abstain from drugs and alcohol and keep 200 metres from Canadian Anti-Hate Network events.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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