Canada arrests two men for promoting far right terrorism

OTTAWA: Canadian federal police announced on Friday the arrests of two Ontario men for allegedly creating recruitment videos and statements in support of a far-right group banned as a terrorist organisation.

The pair, who were not identified by police, face a total of nine charges including committing hate crimes, participating in a terrorist group´s activities and instructing others to carry out terrorist activities.

The arrests come after an 18-month investigation that included police searches in the Niagara and Toronto regions and help from Canada´s spy agency and anti-money laundering watchdog, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)´s counterterrorism squad said in a statement.

The two men “are alleged to have participated in the creation of Terrorgram Collective manifestos and Atomwaffen Division recruiting videos in support of far right extremism and the neo-Nazi terrorist movement,” the RCMP said. The Atomwaffen Division, which originated in the United States but has spread to Britain, Germany and elsewhere, was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in 2021.

Since then, several former members, under a new affiliation, were “observed performing combat training exercises in local community parks,” police said. The neo-Nazi extremist group calls for violence against racial, religious, and ethnic groups, police, and bureaucrats in order to provoke the collapse of society.