The self-described chairman of a nationalist fringe group faces hate bias charges following an incident in Peterborough last month.
According to the Peterborough Police Service, on March 31, officers responded to reports of a man outside an apartment building yelling profanities and slurs.
Police say shortly after the initial incident, additional information was brought forward which provided “reasonable grounds for charges.”
Kevin Goudreau, 44, of Peterborough, was charged with two counts each of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and criminal harassment, and one count of failure to comply with a probation order.
“Due to the nature of the comments made at the time of the offence this incident has been classified as a hate bias crime,” police said Monday.
Police say a hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by the suspect/offender’s hate bias against a racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation or disability group.
“Peterborough police are releasing the name of the accused in this case in the event that there are more victims and for public safety,” police said.
Goudreau was released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in court on May 10.
Anyone with further information on the incident can call Peterborough police at 705-876-1122 ext. 555, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or submit a tip to stopcrimehere.ca
Goudreau is known as the frontman for the Canadian Nationalist Front (formerly known as the White Nationalist Front), a far-right group known for its white nationalist views. The group’s website states its goal is to “preserve our heritage, culture and traditional values by reforms to reflect our true Canadian core identity.”
In 2019, Goudreau was ordered into a peace bond after social media posts were made targeting the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, its board members, and an Ottawa lawyer. Goudreau denied making the posts which were attributed to him.
However, he and his group were banned from a number of social media sites including Facebook and Twitter.
In September 2017, he planned an anti-immigration rally in Peterborough that saw hundreds gather, and that later turned into a violent confrontation. However, Goudreau did not make a public appearance at the event.