Police announced 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 organization.
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’s counter-terrorism 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.
Canada started targeting far-right groups with sanctions for promoting violent extremist views following a spate of attacks including the killing of worshippers at a Quebec City mosque.
The RCMP in July charged a 26-year-old Ottawa man for also making propaganda material for Atomwaffen Division.
