Searches by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as part of an investigation into a neo-Nazi terrorist group caused a stir Thursday in the small town of Saint-Ferdinand, in Centre-du-Québec.
Updated at 0:32
According to our information, the investigators were particularly interested in the dissemination of a hate propaganda video online.
Stéphane Daigle was mowing his lawn in the morning when he saw an imposing police deployment pass by. “I was really surprised. At the time, I thought it was a family drama, ”said the resident of Saint-Ferdinand, who lives a few meters from the scene of the search.
When the RCMP informed him that this was a national security operation, Mr. Daigle was shocked. “I said to myself: ‘It can’t be, it’s impossible.’ We are in the middle of nowhere. It’s a quiet little village, nothing happens here,” he says.
Photo Patrick Sanfaçon, LA PRESSE
Federal police conducted a search Thursday in a residence in the Vianney sector of Saint-Ferdinand, as part of an investigation into the neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen.
On Thursday morning, the federal police conducted a search of a residence in the Vianney sector of Saint-Ferdinand, as part of an investigation into the neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen. A second search took place in Plessisville.
The interventions mobilized 60 RCMP officers, including national security investigators, a tactical intervention group, a dog handler and several support units. The Sûreté du Québec also provided assistance to investigators in the field.
Photo Patrick Sanfaçon, LA PRESSE
Yves Charlebois, Mayor of Saint-Ferdinand
Along the road, the mayor of Saint-Ferdinand, Yves Charlebois, watched the police at work. “A citizen called me to tell me that the RCMP was at the old school in Vianney. When I arrived and saw all the police, I thought it was probably for a narcotics lab,” he said.
The place that was searched is a former school that served as a summer camp before being sold to individuals about fifteen years ago.
The City had no problems with the occupants of the premises, according to the mayor of Saint-Ferdinand. “They have goats, chickens. I was told that there was often back and forth, but nothing more,” explains Yves Charlebois.
Stéphane Daigle agrees. “She’s a very nice lady, we’ve never had any problems with her,” he said.
Photo Patrick Sanfaçon, LA PRESSE
A search also took place in a building in Plessisville.
About twenty kilometers from Saint-Ferdinand, a second search took place in an apartment in a building on rue de la Coopérative, in Plessisville. The apartment referred to in this place was inhabited by a young man who is not accused of anything at the moment. “It was a surprise for us to learn that,” said the mayor of the city, Pierre Fortier. There are residents who are worried. We reassured them. It is an intervention with equipment that we are not used to seeing. »
No charges yet
It was an investigation initiated in 2020 by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Team that led to the searches. However, no arrests were made on Thursday, the police said at the end of the day.
“There are no criminal charges that will be filed today, but according to the evidence that will be obtained at the two search sites, there may be other police actions in the future,” said Tasha Adams, spokeswoman for the federal police. As an investigation is ongoing, authorities have not released any information about those allegedly involved.
Photo Patrick Sanfaçon, LA PRESSE
Thursday’s operation involved 60 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.
The RCMP has increased operations targeting suspected Atomwaffen sympathizers in Canada in recent times. In March, Vice News reporters reported that the home of the parents of Patrick Gordon MacDonald, an Ottawa-area graphic designer in his twenties, was raided by police as part of a national security. Reports from Vice News had previously identified the artist as the creator of numerous propaganda works for the neo-Nazi group.
Last month, a 19-year-old man from Windsor, Ont., was charged with aiding the activities of a terrorist group after offering his services online to Atomwaffen.
Founded in 2013, the Atomwaffen Division is an international neo-Nazi group that has been linked to acts of violence in several countries, including at a high-profile far-right rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
“The group calls for violence against radical, ethnic and religious groups, as well as informants, police and bureaucrats, in order to bring about the collapse of society”, can we read on the website of the Ministry of Public security.
The organization was added to the list of terrorist entities banned in Canada in 2021. In July 2019, one of the organization’s leaders, an American citizen, was deported from Canada because of his membership in the group.
With the collaboration of Gabriel Béland, The Press