A trial showcasing the expanding legal definition of terrorism is to be presented to the Canadian public this week as a southwestern Ontario jury convenes to judge the driver behind a deadly 2021 collision
There is an intersection in Ontario said to be a place where hate and fear destroyed life and love. Four members of a Canadian Muslim family were killed there by the driver of a pickup truck who allegedly used the vehicle as a weapon against them and their religion.
Charged is Nathaniel Veltman, now 22. Besides the four first-degree murder charges, he is also charged with attempted murder for the boy’s injuries. Prosecutors also contend that each of these charges simultaneously violated Canada’s terrorism laws. They are preparing to argue that the violence was “terrorist activity” that flowed from a political, religious or ideological purpose to intimidate other people.
The teenager’s crimes were using a bladed weapon to murder one woman and injure another inside a massage parlour in 2021. The 17-year-old’s “actions were designed to intimidate the public as a whole, and in particular women,” Judge Suhail Akhtar said. The pursuit of terrorism allegations does not necessarily secure any additional jail time for offenders upon conviction. Any adult who is convicted of premeditated murder in Canada gets a life sentence with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
“What makes this interesting is this is going to be the case where they’re going to have to make that case,” said Michael Nesbitt, a law professor at the University of Calgary. “You would expect to see an expert, for example, who would explain what a ‘far right’ ideology is. You would expect to see a decision on what exactly ideology means in terms of the belief set.”
The Anti-Terrorism Act was not used against another incel-motivated killer, a man who slayed 11 people during the 2018 Toronto van attack. The Quebec City shooter who committed a 2017 mass murder against six Muslims in a mosque also never faced terrorism charges. But observers responded to these cases and others by saying that Canada’s criminal justice system must try to cast terrorism cases against a wider array of suspects, if these laws are to be seen as fair.
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