2021-06-09

Lunenburg County teens accused of hate propaganda offences

Two young Lunenburg County men are accused of inciting and promoting hate against Black people by displaying two nooses in Chester Basin last summer.

The teens, facing two hate propaganda charges each, cannot be named because they were under 18 when the alleged matter occurred on August 15, 2020.

A biracial Halifax couple, Greg Dean and Cyndi Rafuse, visited Hutt Lake in Lunenburg County with their two children. Dean and the couple's nine-year-old son are Black. Rafuse and their other son, a teenager, are Caucasian.

On social media at the time, Rafuse described a disturbing sequence of events during what was a camping trip with other families.

She said two people got out of a Ford Ranger at the Lower Grant Road beach, stared at her and Dean, and "later they began swinging a home made noose and passing it back and forth." Rafuse also saw a "mini noose" hanging from a rear-view mirror.

The incident resulted in widespread public condemnation, including from the Municipality of Chester - the jurisdiction where it happened - which called it "blatant racism and implied violence."

In an interview with CBC News at the time, Dean considered the incident "a direct threat to my colour, the colour of my skin." He pointed out, "that was a threat because I am a Black man, a visible Black man."

RCMP were notified about a disturbance at the beach, and showed up the next morning, August 16, 2020.

In an interview at the time with CTV News, Dean said police told him "they couldn't press charges."

However, the Mounties did file charges in Bridgewater on May 7.

The change in position is endorsed by those involved in anti-racism work.

"I think the news of charges for the noose swinging hate-crime is welcome news and a good step in addressing an injustice that should not be tolerated in this day and age," Francis Kangata, a Black civic politician in Lunenburg County and member of an anti-racism committee with a local government, told LighthouseNOW in an email.

Meanwhile, an organization monitoring hate activity on a national level was pleased to learn the local case is being prosecuted. Elizabeth Simons, the deputy director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said police laying charges sends a strong message not seen enough: enforcement.

"I think first and foremost, it's not just the victims being victimized, it's the whole community that's victimized," Simons explained to LighthouseNOW in a phone interview.

"In our experience, it's actually quite difficult to get these charges laid; it's difficult to get authorities to investigate them seriously."

Simons said there have been times affected people are discouraged from complaining to police, and if they do the matter stops in its tracks. There are also concerns any punishment for such crimes carries little discouragement of such behaviour.

"It's almost always going to be a probationary-type situation," she noted. "While that it's great this is being pursued for the community and it's great to show the community it's being taken seriously, it's not an effective deterrent against these types of offences."

If the prosecution elects to proceed on a more serious type of promotion and incitement of hate charges (by indictment instead of summary), and there is a conviction, the maximum term of imprisonment is up to two years.

However, Simons suggested imposing the maximum threshold would be unlikely in youth proceedings in particular.

There have been few prosecutions or convictions under Canadian hate propaganda laws.

An editor and publisher of a Toronto area newspaper were sentenced in 2019 for disseminating stories and pictures promoting hate against women and Jews.

In the 1980s, an Alberta school teacher was convicted of hate charges after he taught his students the Holocaust was a sham.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network will keep an eye on the Lunenburg County case, especially given the young age of the accused.

"The frontline fighting hate on the ground is at the dinner table and in the classroom," Simons said. "We know youth are targeted for hate movement recruitment and it is getting to the point that it's at a catastrophic level."

Both young men are released on court-ordered conditions, including a provision to stay away from each other and the Dean/Rafuse family. The teens are scheduled for arraignment in late June.