Patrick Gordon MacDonald has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term for inciting hate, fear, and division by advocating violence against Jewish individuals through the use of terrorist propaganda images and videos that he was involved in creating. In April, Justice Robert Smith found MacDonald guilty of participating in terrorist activities, facilitating terrorist activities, and inciting hate against Jews for various terrorist groups, including the now defunct Atomwaffen Division and neo-Nazi James Mason.
During the trial, Crown prosecutors urged the judge to impose a 14-year sentence for MacDonald’s reprehensible actions committed under the pseudonym Dark Foreigner, while the defense argued for a shorter sentence of six to eight years, with consideration for the time already served in custody and on bail under strict conditions.
In his ruling delivered on Monday, Justice Smith detailed MacDonald’s involvement in producing three racist and hate-driven terror recruitment videos in Ottawa, Belleville, and Saint-Ferdinand, Quebec, when MacDonald was 20 and 21 years old. One of the videos depicted individuals in skull masks moving through a wooded area and firing guns. Towards the end, flags of the U.S., Israel, and the European Union were shown being set on fire, along with armed individuals in tactical formation storming a building, accompanied by derogatory remarks against Jews.
MacDonald, a first-time offender, expressed remorse in a statement, taking full responsibility for his actions and extending apologies to the Canadian community at large, including Jewish, Muslim, Black, Indigenous, Asian, and other communities. He stated that he regretted his actions and hoped for forgiveness.
The case underscores the severity of online hate speech and the consequences of promoting violence and discrimination through extremist propaganda.