Hate Crime & Legal Update: Bathurst–Sheppard Arrest, Terrorism Sentencing, and Antisemitic Threat Cases
- Rochelle Direnfeld and Mark Sandler
- 4 days ago
- 16 min read
At the National Forum on Combatting Antisemitism that took place last year, ALCCA’s Chair Mark Sandler emphasized to legislators, law enforcement and community representatives that existing criminal law measures to combat hate were being seriously underutilized across the country, particularly in relation to hate crimes targeting the Jewish community. He described the community’s belief that governments and law enforcement lack the collective will to vigorously combat contemporary antisemitism. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police recently created a special purpose national committee of police leadership (which Mr. Sandler joined as an expert in hate crimes) to address the need for robust and consistent enforcement of the law to combat hatred, with a particular emphasis on antisemitic hate crimes. Its work has just begun.
Our legal update this week highlights positive developments in combatting antisemitic hate, while reinforcing inconsistencies in enforcement and how much needs to be done to reverse the unacceptable levels of hate crimes targeting our community.
Readers can use the table of contents below to jump directly to cases of interest by selecting each entry.
Table of Contents:
Bathurst/Sheppard Public Incitement of Hatred Arrest
Matthew Althorpe sentenced to 20 years for terrorism offences
Online threats to kill Jews nets a three-month sentence in Edmonton
Arrest in relation to shooting of a Jewish-owned business in Toronto
Terrorism Case: Muhammad Shahzeb Khan Pleads Guilty in Brooklyn Plot
Michelle Cooper’s Private Member’s Motion No. 58
Bathurst/Sheppard Public Incitement of Hatred Arrest
On April 2, 2026, Muhammad Anas Sial, 33, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with Public Incitement of Hatred Against the Jewish Community.
The allegations are that, on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at approximately 1:15 p.m., anti-Israel/antizionist protesters, including Sial, attended a demonstration at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West in Toronto. Readers will be all-too familiar with the ongoing events every Sunday at and nearby that intersection.
During the demonstration, Sial displayed antisemitic signage and marched with the sign toward a group of pro-Israel/Zionist supporters while shouting derogatory slurs.
Following the March 15 event, police executed several search warrants across Toronto, at residences and at a self-storage unit. When doing so, police located the signs displayed on March 15, along with other evidence, including phones and laptops from suspects and persons of interest.
Several organizations and individuals, including some of our members, reported the hate speech displayed on March 15 to police, including the antisemitic signage. Some of that signage was reminiscent of vile 1930s Nazi caricatures of Jews.
In discussions with police, ALCCA’s Chair and its Senior Criminal Counsel, Rochelle Direnfeld, have emphasized that police cannot focus exclusively on merely preventing on-scene violence between protesters and counter-protesters. They must act on the propaganda, whether expressed in chants, or on signs, that incites hatred against Jews, and is likely to lead to future violence, such as the shootings, vandalism, and desecrations our community continues to experience. They must also employ conventional criminal offences, such as intimidation, harassment, unlawful assembly, and interference with the lawful use and enjoyment of property (mischief).
This latest charge represents a recognition, albeit belated, that police must give heightened attention to the content of speech, as contemplated by our existing hate propaganda laws, not merely violence at the scene. Those hate propaganda laws, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada, constitute reasonable limits on freedom of expression by criminalizing extreme speech that promotes detestation and vilification of Jews or Israelis, both protected groups under the Criminal Code.
Thirty-six years ago, the Supreme Court stated that hate propaganda marginalizes targeted communities and may lead to violence against them. The real danger associated with hate propaganda is often underappreciated and is an important component in ALCCA’s training and education of police and prosecutors across the country.
Toronto Police have advised that the criminal investigation into the March 15 events at Bathurst and Sheppard is active and ongoing. Muhammad Anas Sial represented only one of the people inciting hatred against Jews at the scene. There are also several active criminal investigations underway in relation to other demonstrations where participants clearly crossed the threshold that separates virulent hate speech from protected speech.
Sial was released from custody pending trial on a recognizance with a surety (someone who pledges money on an accused’s behalf) with conditions that include: not to make, possess or sell antisemitic hate propaganda, not to contact or communicate in any way, directly or indirectly, with Hasan Aydin, Yasaf Shaikh, Syed Husseini and Hosaam Hemdan and not attend within 500 metres of the intersection of Bathurst and Sheppard.
This latest charge also comes in the context of the longstanding grievances the community has about how police have dealt with the protests at Bathurst and Sheppard and in the neighborhood. The police decision to prohibit access to nearby side streets to protesters represents another belated recognition that the protests in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood are designed to intimidate and raise public safety issues in today’s environment. Nonetheless, residents continue to be exposed to weekly demonstrations.
It is incumbent on police to prioritize its existing investigation into the activities at Bathurst and Sheppard, with particular attention to extreme speech that has repeatedly been expressed in that neighborhood. At the same time, it is unrealistic to believe that police or the courts can prohibit all anti-Israel demonstrations at Bathurst and Sheppard, even if regarded as deeply offensive.
There have been several ill-fated efforts to seek civil injunctive relief in relation to other demonstrations or rallies where the evidence was inadequate to support judicial intervention. It is for this reason that ALCCA focuses on specific instances of extreme expression that transcend offensive or demeaning speech, and on the use of underutilized conventional criminal law measures to address lawlessness.
As frustrations and anger grow, we continue to witness instances where community members are baited to respond at the scene. These responses complicate advocacy on our community’s behalf and can provide excuses for law enforcement and prosecution inaction or muddy the obvious moral authority of our position.
Matthew Althorpe sentenced to 20 years for terrorism offences
If we ever needed a reminder of the dangers of hate propaganda, we need only cite Matthew Althorpe’s criminal conduct. As we previously reported, on October 9, 2025, Matthew Althorpe pleaded guilty to three terrorism/hate promotion offences under the Criminal Code. These offences were tied directly to his production and publication of terror-supporting manifestos.
He was convicted of three offences:
1. Facilitating terrorist activity by participating in the production and publication of extremist propaganda videos (s. 83.19(1))
2. Instructing others to carry out terrorist activity through publications and messaging that encouraged violence (s. 83.22)
3. Wilfully promoting hatred against identifiable groups for the benefit of, or in association with a terrorist group (ss. 319(2) and 83.2)
On March 27, 2026, the court imposed a global sentence of 20 years imprisonment, the sentence requested by the prosecution. Taking into consideration the jail time Althorpe has already served, he has 16 years remaining. The court also imposed a number of additional orders, including a lifetime weapons prohibition, and forfeiture of extremist materials, weapons, and electronic devices.
Factual Background
The court found that from at least 2018 onward, Althorpe was a leading ideologue and organizer within the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) and later the Terrorgram Collective, both designated white supremacist terrorist entities. He helped create and disseminate propaganda calling for race war, mass violence, and the collapse of democratic society.
Althorpe participated in producing three AWD recruitment and propaganda videos featuring masked men, Nazi symbolism, and explicit calls for violence against Jews, Blacks, Muslims, LGBTQ+ community members, police, and government officials. He authored or co-authored three major Terrorgram manifestos (Militant Accelerationism, Do It for the ’Gram, and The Hard Reset). These manifestos advocated mass casualty attacks and infrastructure sabotage, provided tactical guidance on committing violence and explicitly encouraged killing members of identifiable groups.
At least six attacks or plots around the world were directly inspired by Althorpe’s manifestos, resulting in deaths and maiming.
Community Impact
ALCCA was invited to coordinate a community impact statement to present to the court. It was imperative to emphasize that Althorpe’s crimes impact not only the specific communities targeted, but Canadian society as a whole. It was also important that communities show their shared commitment to combat hatred and extremism in a collaborative way.
Accordingly, our community impact statement relied on contributions from ALCCA, B'nai Brith Canada, Bring Love (a Catholic ally), Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, Canadian Organization for Hindu Heritage Education, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Tami Moscoe, a member of ALCCA’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Panel. There were additional statements filed by other community representatives.
In its reasons for sentence, the court summarized our community impact statement as it related to the Jewish community, including gender-diverse Jews:
Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism: This community's impact statement consolidated submissions from several Jewish organizations. It observed that Mr. Althorpe's conduct "ripped a gaping hole in the fabric of our free and democratic society". His actions "created fear across the Jewish community". It describes that the "trauma of antisemitism, whether overt or coded, political or conspirational, is not academic ... It is lived, carried, and felt across generations". Mr. Althorpe's' conduct is a "deeply personal violation of dignity and security". It has created "profound alarm and deep concern about public safety". Mr. Althorpe's conduct threatens the "safety and belonging in the community". The videos distributed widely were "crafted to shock, intimidate, and radicalize", calling upon the "genocide of Jews" and causing damage that will persist indefinitely. Mr. Althorpe has attacked the dignity and impacted the safety of "gender diverse people and gender diverse Jews". In summary, Mr. Althorpe's conduct has "contributed to a climate in which Jewish people feel less safe in their own country, their own neighbourhoods, and in their places of worship. This fear is not hypothetical. It shapes daily life. It affects the mental health of families, children, and elders. It diminishes the sense of security that every Canadian deserves".
Personal Circumstances and Mental Health
The court took into consideration Althorpe’s personal circumstances, including a history of childhood sexual abuse and family instability, and a diagnosis of ADHD and borderline personality disorder. He had no prior criminal record, had expressed remorse and participated in rehabilitation programs while in pre-sentence custody. But the court also accepted expert psychiatric evidence that Althorpe’s ideological commitment remained a concern, and that the risk of relapse into extremism could not be discounted.
Sentencing Analysis
The court concluded that denunciation and deterrence (not rehabilitation) were the paramount sentencing principles, especially considering the following aggravating factors:
Mr. Althorpe’s leadership role; this was not an isolated act of violence and not a series of ill-conceived social media posts;
The long duration of his extremist involvement;
He incited and instructed others to attack innocent members of our communities and incited violence against identifiable groups that have historically been targeted. He knew his efforts, in conjunction with the efforts of other believers, were successful as followers boasted about killing a Jew and another person who appeared to be a traitor;
He recruited members to his cause by publishing materials, instruction manuals, and propaganda and there was a direct causal link between his propaganda and acts of real-world violence;
He sought to activate his audience to maim and kill and he succeeded. There are six examples of direct evidence that his words inspired others to attack. Several people were killed, and others were wounded;
The enduring availability of his materials online; Althorpe's manuals and propaganda will never be erased. They remain available and may continue to inspire more violent attacks, as they did in 2025; and
There is some concern that Althorpe continues to harbor white supremacist ideology.
The court determined that this was a case where a starting point of 20 years imprisonment was justified considering the gravity of the offences committed and Althorpe’s moral blameworthiness. The court stated that a sentence of life imprisonment would have been a realistic outcome had he not pleaded guilty.
A co-accused is contesting similar charges. That case is currently before the courts.
Online threats to kill Jews nets a three-month sentence in Edmonton
On Thursday, March 26, Esteban Pavez, 35, of Edmonton, pleaded guilty to uttering death threats directed at Jews. He admitted that he made more than 100 threatening posts on December 17, 2025, on the social media platform, X. Edmonton Police along with the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) were able to link the posts to Pavez and arrested him on December 20, 2025. A search of his home turned up weapons, including a BB rifle with a scope and a 3D-printed crossbow.
In the posts, Pavez advocated harming, killing, and deporting Jews. His X account also posted an image of a stash of firearms in October 2025, but the court heard that investigators were unable to determine ownership of the weapons.
A judge of the Alberta Court of Justice sentenced Pavez to three months in jail, followed by two years of probation, and a weapons prohibition for five years. He will also be required to take part in an intervention plan aimed at addressing violent extremism. Given the credit given to Pavez for time already served, he is not required to serve any additional time in custody. The sentence imposed accorded with the sentence jointly proposed by the prosecution and defence. Several community organizations provided community impact statements to the court: the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, B’nai Brith Canada and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.
We make three observations in relation to this case. First, the sentence imposed appeared excessively lenient in the circumstances. However, we are advised that there are mitigating factors, including mental illness which may explain such a low sentence.
Second, courts have the jurisdiction to make orders that address the continued presence of the social media posts that are the subject of criminal charges. In some cases, judges will impose, as a term of probation, a condition that the accused participate in steps to shut down or remove toxic sites or posts. The Criminal Code also contains provisions that enable the police to seek judicial orders to shut down sites that display hate propaganda. These remedies may not completely address the continued availability of hate propaganda, which may remain, for example, on the dark web.
However, police, prosecutors and the courts should always be mindful of the available legal remedies to not only punish wrongdoers but minimize the continuing impact of their criminal activities on the internet.
Third, a court may order counselling or a rehabilitative program as part of the sentencing process as it did in the Pavez case. The prosecution may also agree to a restorative process in relation to minor offences. However, we have seen instances where the program, process or counselling did not truly address the underlying problem. For example, where a crime was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate against Jews, any program, process or counselling, if otherwise appropriate, should specifically address antisemitism and involve community expertise.
These are all lessons incorporated into ALCCA’s training for police and prosecutors.
Arrest in relation to shooting of a Jewish-owned business in Toronto
On Sunday, April 5, 2026, Mohamed Mahdi, 35, of Brampton, was arrested and charged with:
1. Discharge a Restricted Firearm or Prohibited Firearm
2. Possession of a Loaded Prohibited or Restricted Firearm
3. Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm
4. Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm in Motor Vehicle
He was arrested as officers executed a Criminal Code search warrant at a Brampton address.
On Friday, April 3, 2026, at approximately 1:28 a.m., police responded to a call regarding gunshots in the Avenue Road and Brooke Avenue area. Officers who were already deployed in the area arrived on scene and found evidence of gunfire and damage to a local business. It is alleged that Mahdi was observed fleeing the scene in a dark coloured SUV. Police advise that there were no reported injuries.
Officers from the Toronto Police Integrated Guns and Gangs Task Force commenced an investigation into this incident with support from the Hate Crime Unit and the Toronto Police Service's newly formed Counter Terrorism Security Unit. The investigation led to the Brampton address where the search warrant was executed and Mahdi was arrested.
At a Toronto Police press conference held on April 8, 2026, Chief Myron Demkiw advised that “one of the reasons our officers were able to identify the suspect quickly is because of our enhanced deployment in the area, both overt and covert. Specifically, in this case, covert assets saw the suspect fleeing and gathered critical information that led to the arrest of the suspect.”
Superintendent Ryan Forde of the Organized Crime Enforcement Unit remarked that, “this is an alarming incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a Jewish-owned business in our city. The second time this particular owner has been targeted. Officers were already in the area as a part of our increased deployment into Jewish neighbourhoods, particularly around Passover. They responded immediately and were able to gather critical information, including the vehicle description and license plate”.
Mahdi is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on April 14, 2026, in courtroom 201 at 11:00 AM. He has not yet had a bail hearing and remains in custody.
We welcome the creation by the Toronto Police Service of its Counter Terrorism Security Unit. The events targeting Toronto’s Jewish community reinforce the need for this dedicated unit. It is equally important that this unit, the Hate Crimes Unit, the RCMP INSET, CSIS and other specialty law enforcement agencies work collaboratively, including through well-recognized multijurisdictional case management protocols to address the existential risk posed by ideologically, religiously, and politically motivated extremists.
Terrorism Case: Muhammad Shahzeb Khan Pleads Guilty in Brooklyn Plot
On April 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 21, also known as “Shahzeb Jadoon,” pleaded guilty to attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. He attempted to enter the United States from Canada and carry out a mass shooting with automatic weapons at a prominent Jewish centre in Brooklyn, New York. Khan, a Pakistani citizen who was living in Canada on a study permit, is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12, 2026. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
These are the underlying facts in relation to his crime:
In November 2023, Khan began posting on social media and communicating with others about his support for ISIS, including by distributing ISIS propaganda videos and literature. Khan subsequently began planning terrorist attacks in the United States, including by communicating his plans with two individuals who, unbeknownst to Khan, were undercover officers (UCs). Khan told the UCs that he and a U.S.-based associate had been planning to carry out a terrorist attack in a particular U.S. city using AR-style assault rifles to “target Israeli Jewish chabads ... scattered all around [the city].” Khan repeatedly instructed the UCs to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials to carry out the attacks, and identified locations in the city where the attacks would take place. Khan also told the UCs that he had identified a human smuggler who would help him cross the border from Canada into the United States for the attack.
In or about August 2024, Khan changed his targeted city, telling the UCs that the terror location would now be a prominent Jewish religious centre in Brooklyn, New York. Khan said that he hoped to carry out this attack on or around October 7, 2024, which he recognized as the one-year anniversary of the attacks in Israel carried out by Hamas. Khan told the UCs that New York was perfect because it has the largest Jewish population in the United States and would enable them to “rack us easily a lot of Jews.” He also told the UCs that “we are going to [New York City] to slaughter them,” and later sent a photograph to the UCs of the specific enclosed area where he planned to carry out his attack. Khan continued to urge the UCs to acquire AR-style rifles, hunting knives to “slit their throats,” and other equipment for the attack, reiterating his desire to carry out this attack in support of ISIS. During one such communication, Khan noted that the plan contemplated the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.
On or about September 4, 2024, Khan attempted to reach the U.S. border using a human smuggler. Khan traveled from Toronto towards the United States, before he was stopped and arrested in Ormstown, Quebec, approximately 12 miles from the U.S. border.
The Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division collaborated with authorities in Canada to secure Khan’s arrest and extradition.
We advised readers about Khan this past October. Khan’s presence in Canada invites obvious questions that some of our member organizations have raised with government about national security issues.
Michelle Cooper’s Private Member’s Motion No. 58
MPP Michelle Cooper has introduced a private member’s motion that reads as follows:
That, in the opinion of the House, the Government of Ontario should establish a special prosecution unit for hate crimes. The motion is to be debated at Queen’s Park on April 16 at 6 pm.
ALCCA’s Chair and its Senior Criminal Counsel support the motion. A dedicated unit of prosecutors focused on bias, prejudice, and hate-motivated offences would advance several important objectives:
Greater consistency and guidance in how cases are assessed, prosecuted, and resolved;
Specialized training for prosecutors—not only in the law of hate crimes, but also in the history of antisemitism and how contemporary antisemitism is manifested today, primarily through antizionism;
Better decision-making respecting the exercise of prosecutorial discretion when hate motivation is alleged; and zero tolerance for hate-motivated offences, and
Improved data collection and reporting, based on the cases handled by the unit.
At present, although the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General has a Hate Crime Working Group, the lawyers assigned to that group are not necessarily the lawyers assigned to prosecute bias, prejudice, and hate-motivated cases – particularly in the Greater Toronto Area. As a result, many matters are handled by counsel who have not received specialized hate crime training and are less familiar with the contemporary manifestations of antisemitism.
This has contributed to inconsistent approaches across the province, failures by some to recognize when a crime is motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred or when the public interest compels an emphasis on deterrence and denunciation.
Charges Diverted in Montreal
The Ontario private member’s motion provides a fitting segue to several highly questionable exercises of prosecutorial discretion to withdraw charges in cases involving antisemitic hate.
In our next legal update, we will discuss the recent withdrawal of charges against Mai Abdulhadi in Montreal who was filmed outside Concordia University’s downtown campus making Nazi-style salutes and threatening three Jewish students with “the final solution.”
We will also discuss the repeated withdrawals of mischief charges in London, Ontario against Tarek Loubani, who reoffended immediately after his first charge was withdrawn.
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About the Authors
Mark Sandler, LL.B., LL.D. (honoris causa), ALCCA’s Chair, is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading criminal lawyers and pro bono advocates. He has been involved in combatting antisemitism for over 40 years. He has lectured extensively on legal remedies to combat hate and has promoted respectful Muslim-Jewish, Sikh-Jewish and Black-Jewish dialogues. He has appeared before Parliamentary committees and in the Supreme Court of Canada on multiple occasions on issues relating to antisemitism and hate activities. He is a former member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, a three-time elected Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, and recipient of the criminal profession’s highest honour, the G. Arthur Martin Medal, for his contributions to the administration of criminal justice.
Rochelle Direnfeld is ALCCA’s Senior Criminal Counsel. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1990 and has served in the Ontario Public Service for over 32 years as an assistant crown attorney, deputy crown attorney, crown counsel, and finally as Deputy Director for Toronto Crown Attorneys in the Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. Rochelle retired from public service at the end of 2023. During her career, she prosecuted a wide variety of Criminal Code cases in the Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Rochelle is also the Chair of the Canadian Criminal Law Working Group, a national initiative bringing together leading criminal lawyers to strengthen the legal response to antisemitic hate crimes and support victims across Canada.
She has also been selected to join the Toronto Police Service Board’s Jewish Community Advisory Table, an initiative aimed at strengthening dialogue and collaboration between the Jewish community and the Toronto Police Service on issues of community safety and policing.