Ontario man connected to neo-Nazi terrorist group sentenced to 10 years by provincial court

An Ontario man connected to a neo-Nazi extremist group has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A release today by Public Prosecution Service Canada (PPSC) indicated that, in the Ontario Superior Court, Patrick Gordon MacDonald of Ottawa has been handed a decade-long sentence in connection with multiple terrorism-related offenses.

Based on the court’s findings, MacDonald was a key participant in the creation and editing of videos released online, encouraging viewers to commit violent acts on behalf of what official RCMP correspondence describes as the global white supremacist and neo-Nazi network Atomwaffen Division (AWD) — a listed terrorist organization.

The initial arrest, according to the RCMP, dates back to July 3, 2023, when MacDonald was detained on what was described as “The first [case] in Canada in which an individual advocating a violent far-right ideology has been charged with both terrorism and hate propaganda.”

MacDonald was being monitored as early as April 2020 by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), after a tip was sent alleging his involvement in terrorist activity.

Throughout the prosecution process, it was revealed that MacDonald used his own video equipment — and skills as a graphic designer — to create recruitment videos on behalf of AWD.

According to multiple sources, select imagery in the videos showed members of the group hiding their identity in skull masks while firing rifles in the woods in full camouflage.

“Those who provide their skills to a terrorist entity, to produce videos to be sown indiscriminately among young and vulnerable minds reaching out on the internet, seek to reap a harvest of hate and division culminating in violence across Canada and internationally,” said George Dolhai, Director of Public Prosecutions with PPSC.

During his timeline of creating propaganda for AWD, MacDonald also produced and posted images that specifically targeted members of the international Jewish community.

Additional sources have also confirmed that while manufacturing content for AWD, MacDonald used the digital alias of ‘Dark Foreigner.’

As a result of his sentencing, MacDonald has been charged with “enhancing the ability of any terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity; facilitating a terrorist activity; and committing an indictable offence for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with one or more terrorist groups,” as indicated by the PPSC’s release.

Authorities like Dolhai hope that this sentencing signals a new era in the Canadian judiciary system concerning extremist activity, stating, “Today, Canadian law has made [perpetrators] accountable for weaponizing the internet as a tool every bit as lethal as the software used to produce guns in 3d printers.