The jury found Patron, who represented himself, guilty of the wilful promotion of hate for his comments about Jews after less than an hour of deliberations.
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Travis Patron, founder and former leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party has been found guilty of wilful promotion of hate to an identifiable group by an Eviston jury.
He was remanded into custody and will face sentencing on October 20, according to SaskToday.
Choosing to represent himself, Patron was reportedly found guilty by the jury after less than an hour of deliberations.
Patron was charged with the Willful Promotion of Hate, under s. 319(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada for a 2019 video “Beware the Parasitic Tribe,” calling for Jews to be “removed once and for all” from Canada.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network filed a complaint against Patron for the video on June 26, 2019. It took the RCMP over 600 days before finally filing charges.
At the time, Patron claimed the video was not about Jews.
“Unless you self-identify with the accusations in the video, then it doesn’t concern you. But if you choose to be offended by it, ask yourself why? Is it wrong for Canada to rid itself of a parasitic relationship that has only served to suck us dry?”
While denying accusations of racism, his previous platform suggests otherwise.
The official website for the Canadian Nationalist Party – which is currently blank – welcomed visitors with the word “Ethnostate” in large capital letters.
Patron also has a social media history of supporting “historical revisionism,” a euphemism for Holocaust denial, liking posts quoting Hitler, and promoting the writings of Quebec fascist Adrian Arcand – a Nazi supporter who was arrested and interned during WWII.
He has posted a video giving a Nazi or Roman salute, and published a flyer with the transcript of the first antisemitic video.
“The people we speak of are not truly 'Jews,’” the flyers read. “They are liars and deceivers attempting to shield themselves from criticism using a false identity. Let us be aware and expose them for what they are: a tribe of parasites.”
The CNP also aimed to establish a paramilitary force, create their own court system, "revise if not repeal ... the Bill of Rights and Charter of Rights and Freedoms," and bring in the death penalty for people they say are guilty of treason.
The embattled party founder has consistently engaged in odd behaviour. This includes when in February 2021, Patron was chased from the Regina CBC building by police officers after he refused to leave and demanded an interview.
Patron has remained in custody after being convicted of two counts of assault causing bodily harm in July 2022. He received a sentence of 18 months for violently attacking two women in 2019.
The leadership of the party fell to longtime Canadian white nationalist and modern art critic Gus Stefanis. Stefanis ran for election in 2021 as the CNP’s only candidate. He garnered 52 votes in his Scarborough, Ontario riding. The party finished dead last out of 23 listed national parties, according to Elections Canada.
The Canadian Nationalist Party has since been delisted and is no longer a federally recognized political party.
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The question references an attack on one of the first institutes studying gender and sexuality in the earliest days of Hitler’s rise to power.