CANADA: First-Ever Jail Sentence For “Holocaust Denial”
By Danielle
In a precedent-setting legal case, a 51-year-old man in Canada has been sentenced to nine months in jail after being found guilty of willful promotion of hatred and antisemitism.
The case marks the first-ever conviction in a Canadian court for “Holocaust denial.”
“Kenneth Paulin, 51, was sentenced to nine months in jail and two years of probation on September 18 for the wilful promotion of hate against Jewish people and the wilful promotion of antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust,” the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) stated in a press release.
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Paulin was arrested and charged by the North Bay Police Service in June following a seven-month investigation into his antisemitic online content.
His posts vilified the Jewish community, promoted blood libels and conspiracy theories, incited hate and violence against Jews and repeatedly mocked and denied the Holocaust.
Paulin’s posts included claims that Jews are “demons,” “the greatest mass murderers in human history,” “to blame for every American who falls” and responsible for “almost 100%” of the world’s problems. He also expressed support for a “Worldwide ‘Jew Hunt’” and declared that “antisemitism is the only thing that can save the world,” among countless other hateful posts and videos. Most disturbingly, he minimized and denied the Holocaust, including in a video he titled “Their victim card gets permanently denied as the hollow-cost-Hoax is exposed” and by sharing a post that read, “Six million didn’t happen but it should’ve.”
In a community impact statement submitted to the court in August, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy Jaime Kirzner-Roberts called Paulin’s content “an orchestrated effort to spread hatred, to normalize antisemitism and to encourage others to view Jews as enemies to be mocked, hunted and destroyed.”