Canada: The former leader of the extreme right party was convicted of incitement and received a year in prison for “promoting hatred”. The former leader will serve another five months in prison after offsetting his arrest period. After his release, he also received a one-year suspended sentence
The former leader of the Canadian National Party, Travis Patron, was sentenced to one year for Musk for “deliberately promoting hatred against Jews”. He must also refrain from publishing posts about Jews for a year after the end of his sentence, Judge Neil Robertson ruled last Thursday, local media reported.
Patron, who founded the racist party that promoted a platform against immigrants and other minorities in 2019, was found guilty at trial last month after a jury deliberated for about an hour. The sentence ended a saga that began when the anti-Semitic man posted an anti-Semitic video in 2019.
Patron, published a video in which he calls the Jews the “parasitic tribe” that he claims controls the media and the central bank of Canada. “What we need to do, perhaps more than anything, is to remove these people once and for all from our country,” Petron said in the video, speaking directly to the camera. He was accused of “intentionally promoting hatred against minority groups”.
Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, policy director at the Friends of Shimon Wiesenthal Center, said it was troubling that it took three years from the start of the investigation to resolve the case. “What’s really concerning about this case is how long it took, from when I first saw Patron’s material several years ago and first came to the police with our concerns, to today,” she said.
Kirzner-Roberts said the Canadian Jewish Human Rights Organization was pleased with the judge’s sentence. Outside court Thursday, prosecutor Ryan Snyder said it’s important to prosecute people who post things like the defendant Patron posted. “We only deal with words but it has an effect on people,” he said.
A patron who is already in custody for a crime unrelated to the anti-Semitic case, will be released in five months, the time he was in custody before the sentencing was offset, and he also received a sentence of one year of probation. Also, his party was closed on March 31 due to non-compliance with party laws.