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An Ontario man from Niagara Region who pleaded guilty to three terrorism charges has been sentenced to 20 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years.
Matthew Althorpe admitted to creating and publishing white supremacist propaganda as an active member of the terror group Atomwaffen Division, and an agreed statement of facts in the case said manifestos he published on Telegram inspired multiple terrorist attacks.
Althorpe co-wrote manifestos and produced videos and other content that called for violence against Jewish, Muslim and Black people, among other identifiable groups.
Atomwaffen Division is an international neo-Nazi terror group, police say, which started in the U.S. The organization has since spread to the U.K. and Canada, alongside other locales.
“The group calls for acts of violence against racial, religious, and ethnic groups, police, and bureaucrats, to prompt the collapse of society,” the RCMP said in a news release in 2023 when Althorpe’s charges were announced.
Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly said in her ruling Friday morning that the propaganda Althorpe created can never be erased and will continue to inspire more violent attacks, noting there is evidence his publications inspired at least six attacks that left several people killed and wounded.
That included one against members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Slovakia in 2022 during which two people were killed, and the stabbing of five people at a mosque in Turkey in 2024.
Sentence sends message terrorism is reprehensible
Althorpe said in a January hearing that he regrets his past actions and renounces his extremist beliefs, and his defence lawyer requested a sentence of 12 to 14 years. He told a Toronto judge that he was a “complete monster at times,” but has turned over a new leaf since his arrest in 2023.
Kelly said in her decision that there is nonetheless concern that Althorpe may continue to harbour white supremacist ideology, and she noted there is a risk of reoffending.
She said the 20-year sentence is intended to send a message that terrorism is reprehensible and those who engage in it must pay a heavy price.
A group of five Jewish organizations including the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a joint statement saying “Today’s sentencing sends a powerful message: those who spread hate, inflict violence, and terrorize communities will be held fully accountable under the law.
“His hatred and violent extremism targeted all those who did not align with his grotesque ideology…The severity of these threats must be a call to action for the federal government to do more to protect Canadians.”
George Dolhai, director of public prosecutions, said in a press release, “Terrorists know that online hatred can lead to violence and that their words and images are weapons that can convert the minds of others and inspire them to commit violent acts.”
Dolhai, appointed by federal Minister of Justice Arif Virani, said “these acts of violence are carried out to threaten, maim, and kill in the service of ideologies that seek to destabilize societies through division and fear. Today’s sentence reflects Canadians’ collective condemnation and seeks to deter those who may be contemplating these crimes.”
