Claiming to be law enforcement, Travis Patron allegedly accused one woman of abducting her own child until bystanders intervened.
Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
The founder of the Canadian Nationalist Party, an ethnonationalist political party deregistered after the last federal election, has been arrested for impersonating a police officer.
Travis Patron, who was previously convicted of assault and the willful promotion of hatred, was arrested on August 2, according to a press release from the Saskatoon Police Service. The police report did not mention Patron by name, citing instead a "32-year-old Redvers, Saskatchewan man."
SPS says the arrests relate to two separate incidents in which Patron falsely identified himself as law enforcement. Patron is facing two counts of impersonating a peace officer, two more for failing to comply with court-imposed conditions, and a single count of criminal harassment.
The first incident took place on July 29.
“Police were called to a hotel in the 600 block of Spadina Crescent East following a report of a disturbance involving a man impersonating a peace officer,” the SPS said in a statement. “Upon arriving, officers learned that a man had approached a woman and her child, identified himself as police, and accused her of abduction.”
The woman sought refuge in a nearby hotel “while the man followed her inside causing a disturbance.”
Bystanders reportedly intervened and the suspect fled on foot.
The second incident on July 31, took place in the area of the University of Saskatchewan on Campus Drive. Police said a man had approached a woman, identified himself as law enforcement, and offered to escort her through the area.
She turned down the offer and the man left.
Both interactions, according to police, were recorded on video.
The arrest comes a day after the University of Saskatoon issued a warning to its student body and staff that Patron had been seen on campus and was impersonating a school employee.
Patron was 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.
Patron was previously 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 embattled figure has consistently engaged in odd and disruptive 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.
The leadership of the party fell to longtime Canadian white nationalist 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.
Stefanis has since started a similarly named organization to the Canadian Nationalist Party that primarily focuses on protesting outside of 2SLGBTQ+ events around Ontario.
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