A 26-year-old Ottawa resident suspected of having participated in the production of a hyperviolent propaganda video by the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, in Saint-Ferdinand, in the Centre-du-Québec region, faces rare charges of to have participated in a terrorist activity and to have deliberately fomented hatred for the benefit of a terrorist organization.
” It is very serious. This is a historic first for Canada. We had not used the anti-terrorism law to date to counter the activities of people associated with right-wing extremist ideology, and against a person accused of having participated in the propaganda of this group, “says the inspector David Beaudoin of the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), who led the investigation.
The accused, Patrick Gordon MacDonald, will appear at 2:30 p.m. at the Ottawa courthouse. He would have collaborated in the production of three videos of Atomwaffen Division, including one which would have been partly shot in a former disused school in Saint-Ferdinand, around 2019. About sixty RCMP officers, heavily armed, had searched this school in June 2022.
The Press had been able to confirm, thanks to architectural details of the building seen in Atomwaffen Division propaganda videos, that at least four men had filmed themselves there, in paramilitary combat gear, performing maneuvers with fire arms. A voiceover made violent anti-Semitic remarks.
Attomwaffen Division, which advocates an ideology of “holy racial war” and worships serial killer Charles Manson, was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in 2021. The organization held various “hate camps” during which its members were trained in the use of weapons. It is considered part of the “accelerationist” movement because its members seek to bring about the collapse of democracy by unleashing an armed civil war. In particular, the American police found explosives in four of the founding members, which were to be used in an attack against American nuclear power plants in order to destabilize the political system and set up a 4e Reich.
According to the magazine VicePatrick Gordon MacDonald, a graphic designer who worked under the alias Dark Foreigner, modified several Nazi symbols to create the visual signature of Atomwaffen Division.
“At the heart of the charges against Mr. MacDonald is his collaboration, his participation, and above all, the distribution of certain videos and other propaganda elements related to Atomwaffen Division”, explains Inspector Beaudoin.
Patrick Gordon MacDonald is charged with participating in a terrorist activity, facilitating a terrorist activity and willfully promoting hatred for the benefit of a terrorist group. The latter charge is punishable by life in prison.
Until now, the provisions of the Criminal Code targeting terrorist activities had only been used against religious extremist groups, in particular against a group of Montrealers who went to fight in Syria for the armed group Islamic State, in 2014.
The fact that Atomwaffen Division is officially placed on the Terrorist Entity List has made these rare charges possible.
“We use the anti-terrorism provisions to send a very clear message. People have a pretty closed view of what constitutes terrorism. This is an opportunity to demonstrate that this kind of action, whether related to religious or ideological extremism, is not tolerated in Canada,” says Inspector Beaudoin.
A second individual arrested in Kingsey Falls, Que., may face charges at a later date.