Pro-Nazi social media posts lead to courtroom argument between Calgary teen, judge

A 19-year-old Calgary adult male who was at one time placed on a act of terrorism public security draw together for social media posts promoting ISIS and the killing of gay men got into an argument with a judge Monday about his pro-Nazi beliefs.

The teen was caught posting more ISIS videos and pro-Nazi materials, in breach of court-ordered conditions that he stay off social media. He was also caught taking a selfie at a synagogue, also a breach of a court-ordered condition.

The young man, who can’t be named because of a publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was convicted of the breach by youth court Justice Todd LaRochelle on Monday.

“The behaviour is racist, the behaviour is homophobic, the behaviour is bigoted,” said Justice LaRochelle.

LaRochelle attempted to reason with the 19-year-old, who told the judge he uses the internet to educate himself about the Nazis who, he argued, were also the victims of “horrible acts” and “a lot of deaths.”

The judge told the teenager to stop arguing but acknowledged that, “I can’t order him to change his beliefs.”

The judge urged the young man to begin counselling and a program that addresses ideological extremism ahead of his sentencing decision set to take place in four months time.

“I want you to do the right thing,” LaRochelle said. “I want you to think hard about all the people who died over the last 100 years because of racist, homophobic and bigoted ideologies.”

The Nazi material “appears to be a new strain of interest for the young person,” said prosecutor Kent Brown. 

In 2023, a major RCMP national security investigation saw the then-17-year-old arrested alongside two other youths and a 20-year-old.

A report prepared ahead of the peace bond hearing found that the boy had "a pathological fixation with Islamic extremist ideology, violence and weapons.”

At the time, Justice John Shaw found the boy was a "moderate" risk to the community and was considered a high risk of joining an extremist group. 

Justice Shaw urged the teen’s lawyer to make him aware of the consequences of failing to comply with the conditions, which "could very well result in him actually seeing the inside of a jail cell."

On Monday, Brown and defence lawyer Curtis Mennie asked LaRochelle to impose an 18-month probationary period with conditions including a ban on viewing, accessing, producing or distributing media or social media that promotes hatred or depicts terrorism.

“The goal is to try to convince this young person to recognize that perhaps the things he’s been engaging in ... Is not going to benefit him, is certainly not going to benefit society at large,” said Brown. 

The conditions also require the 19-year-old to stay away from LGBTQS2+ events and synagogues. He’s also banned from making any social media posts about those groups. 

Both Brown and Mennie acknowledged that a further breach would likely result in jail time. 

The teen, along with more than a dozen others, was in a Snapchat group called the "Islamic State Soldiers of Allah."

The participants shared photos and videos related to ISIS recruiting, propaganda videos, suicide bombers and videos with men being thrown off buildings to their deaths.

In total, three youths were placed on terrorism peace bonds. 

A fourth person, Zakarya Hussein, who was 20-years-old at the time, pleaded guilty to facilitating terrorist activity and received a six-year sentence. 

Hussein admitted that he posted videos, photos and messages to social media accounts, such as Telegram, TikTok and Snapchat, as well as instructions on how to make explosive devices.

One of his targets was Calgary's LGBTQ community with a Google history for searches that included "gay pride month," "pride month Calgary" and "the killing of gay persons."

Justice affairs reporter

Meghan Grant is a justice affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, crime and stories of police accountability in southern Alberta for more 15 years. Send Meghan a story tip at meghan.grant@cbc.ca.

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