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Toronto (December 13, 2023) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) welcomes the news that the RCMP have arrested two Ontario men on terrorism charges for allegedly helping create recruitment videos for Atomwaffen Division, a listed terror organization in Canada, and extremist manifestos online.

According to a statement issued by the RCMP on Friday, the arrests came after an 18-month investigation and the execution of several search warrants in the Niagara and Toronto regions. The two men are alleged to have “participated in the creation of Terrorgram Collective manifestos and Atomwaffen Division (AWD) recruiting videos, in support of far-right extremism and the neo-Nazi terrorist movement.”

Atomwaffen Division, an international neo-Nazi terror group, was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in 2021. The Terrorgram Collective is a group of “Telegram channels that share neo-fascist ideology and that produce and share manuals on how to carry out racially motivated violence,” according to the RCMP.

The accused are both facing charges of participation in terrorist group activities, along with other charges faced by one of the men.

FSWC Director of Allyship and Community Engagement Dan Panneton issued the following statement:

“Groups like Atomwaffen Division are driven by an extreme accelerationist doctrine known as ‘Siege Culture,’ which promotes violence against racial, ethnic, religious, sexual and gender minorities, along with law enforcement officers and bureaucrats, as a means of accelerating societal collapse. However, since Atomwaffen Division was listed as a terror entity in Canada, some members have joined far-right groups that are less explicitly violent. There has been a shift in tactics used by some on the far-right termed ‘white nationalism 3.0,’ which involves smaller groups focusing on localized recruitment, including through online propaganda and social events, to train soldiers for a desired apocalyptic and genocidal race war. They often emphasize combat sports, fitness and community to distract from their true intent. Even if an individual group seems small or less openly violent, the networks it is tapped into are not. It’s extremely important that law enforcement agencies keep close watch over such groups across the country.”