Toronto (July 13, 2020) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has filed a hate speech complaint with the RCMP against Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP) leader Travis Patron after a flyer calling Jewish people "liars and deceivers" and a "tribe of parasites" was posted on CNP's social media pages on Saturday. FSWC has also written to Saskatchewan's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Don Morgan urging him to ensure that Patron is not given a pass and charges are laid expeditiously.

The flyer, titled "Beware The Parasitic Tribe" and signed by Patron, quotes a video in which Patron refers to "these people" who "infiltrate the media, they hijack the central bank, and they infect the body politic like a parasite," and states "what we need to do...is remove these people, once-and-for-all, from our country."

Below the quoted text, the flyer includes the following statement: "The people we speak of are not truly 'Jews'. 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."

An RCMP investigation into the video was launched last summer when it was first shared online. The video was posted on Saturday in addition to the flyer.

"By calling Jews parasites, by accusing Jews of being invaders and conspiring to control the media and banking system, this man is evoking some of the most dangerous antisemitic tropes in history," said Rabbi Meyer May, Executive Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“Canada’s hate speech laws were designed to draw the line at exactly this kind of venomous, inciting language, and we urge the police to enforce the law,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, Director of FSWC's Campaign Against Antisemitism. “There is no doubt that Travis Patron is willfully promoting hatred against the Jewish people, and we are urging the RCMP to take action and lay charges against him as soon as possible. The hate spewed by Mr. Patron has absolutely no place in our country.”

Incitement of hatred towards an identifiable group and the promotion of genocide are illegal in Canada, as outlined by sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code.