Readers may recall the gruesome stabbing-death of a Muslim man — allegedly by a young white male outside a Toronto Mosque in 2020. Most regional and national outlets covered the killing and will likely be covering the trial as well, set to begin this week.. Bob StewartBob Stewart .While interracial murders, like all murders, are a rare thing in Canada — surprisingly perhaps, given the fast pace of Canada’s diversification — mainstream outlets were quick to indict the white-accused as a hate-filled killer. A new development in the case however, points once more to their collective tendency to rush to judgment. As is all too common today, outlets reporting on the story recruited a supposedly independent, objective third-party expert — on this occasion, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) — to inflate the killing as something that should put all Canadian minorities on high alert..Nary a week goes by it seems, that the taxpayer-funded “anti-hate” advocate isn’t embroiled in some sort of controversy. It has called Canada’s Red Ensign flag a hate symbol. An Ontario Judge has called it an associate of the ultra-violent Antifa. Most recently, its former board member, Amira Elghawaby, was Trudeau’s pick for a new Islamophobia czar position, and was immediately raked over the coals for comparing Quebecois identity to “puke”—racist bile coming from an “anti-hate” expert. This is hardly a neutral organization..And, as he is paid with tax dollars to do, CAHN leader Evan Balgord immediately took to Twitter and other social media after hearing about the white-on-non-white murder, trawling the alleged killer’s public accounts for any indication he was indeed acting out of racial hatred..While responding in such a manner to news of a killing is both disturbing and cynical, it’s something taxpayer-funded “anti-hate” groups like CAHN routinely do. After all, like the proverbial shark that must keep swimming, these groups must keep finding hate or else their supporters lose interest..Luckily for Balgord, he found just what he needed to make this into an ‘neo-Nazi hate-crime case.’ And luckier still, he was able to flip it to one of the many alarmist media outlets that routinely and uncritically regurgitate his group’s so-called findings..Falling quickly into step was Global News. Crime reporter Catherine MacDonald wrote, “Suspect in fatal stabbing at Toronto mosque connected to white supremacist group, expert says.” Head-scratchingly however, she fails to mention the actual group to which the accused was supposedly “connected.” Was this just bad reporting or is something intentionally being hidden here? Because not actually stating what the group is, makes it impossible for the reader to judge the claim for themselves. That’s not news-reporting; that’s an honour-system..The problem continues. Next, MacDonald uncritically relayed a claim from Balgord that the accused followed several “white supremacist accounts” on Twitter. But again, no names are provided..Was one of them an “extremist” like, er, Gad Saad or Jordan Peterson? We don’t know and note that this was a period (again, 2020) when Twitter was probably at its most censorious..In a video interview with Balgord embedded in the piece, we are shown a tweet (the only one shown) wherein the accused complains about... COVID lockdowns. Obviously, this is not quite the hard evidence of murderous hate-fantasies which the headline alludes to..Next, Balgord tells us the accused posted on YouTube “a video that’s associated with this chant that’s associated with this Nazi Satanist ideology.” Well, what exactly is “Nazi Satanist ideology”? No idea; we’re not told. “Associated” sounds loose and vague, what’s the exact connection here? Again, no details. And what’s this “chant” stuff anyway? Again, no details. At this point, this is simply terrible story writing..Just when you thought the level of trust being demanded from the reader couldn’t increase any further, we’re given this about the posted video: “He used very specific language that would indicate that he was an adherent, or at least extremely well-versed, in the ideology of this Nazi death cult.”.Got all that? Feel any the wiser? What on earth is a “Nazi death cult”, you may wonder? Well again, we’re given zero details; we're just supposed to take it all on faith..CAHN’s been criticized in the past for stating that there are 300 hate groups operating in Canada without actually specifying a single one. Why aren’t we allowed to see and we judge them for ourselves? Can CAHN at least tell me if there’s a Nazi death cult in my neighbourhood?.It doesn’t take a cynic to believe MacDonald didn’t even bother scrutinizing CAHN’s allegations. As has been said about CAHN’s US partner, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Balgord and company serve as a way for hack or incurious journalists to hide their alarmist and divisive reporting behind a supposedly objective outside source. What this does in the process, as it no doubt did here, is unfairly terrify readers, especially minorities, the elderly, and hard-left activists..Thankfully, the story has now been revealed as the sensationalist dreck that it truly is. Seeing that the trial was coming up, I reached out to the Ontario courts’ media office asking them whether Crown counsel was actually pursuing hate-crime charges against the accused after all. Well, my suspicion was vindicated. In spite of CAHN’s “explosive,” newsworthy evidence which had supposedly all but confirmed that the alleged killer’s social media history was connected to the crime, Crown counsel, it turns out, will not be pursuing such additional charges. It’s just a straight-up murder case. Sorry, Balgord..To the “anti-hate” groups out there, I say, don’t try to pressure police and prosecutors. Also, stop trying to divide white and non-white Canadians and kick up phony hate hysteria. Oh, and get a real job..Regular contributor Robert Stewart is a small-business owner whose writing has appeared in the Toronto Sun, National News Watch, and the Post Millennial, among other outlets.
