James Keegstra, a high school teacher and former Mayor of Eckville, Alberta, who taught his classes that the Holocaust was a hoax, was found guilty last Saturday by unanimous jury decision of violating Canada’s anti-hate laws. He was fined $5,000.
Justice John MacKenzie of Alberta Court of Queens’ Bench rejected prosecutor’s requests that Keegstra, 51, be given the maximum two-year jail sentence for violating the laws adopted in 1970. This is the first conviction under Canadian anti-hate legislation.
According to MacKenzie, Keegstra has suffered enough during the three-month trial and there remained little chance that a jail term would result in his rehabilitation. Keegstra recently had his teaching license revoked.
Both Keegstra’s attorney and the prosecution have said they will file an appeal. The prosecution claims the sentence was too light. Keegstra will have 30 days to pay the fine or face six months in prison.
DEFENSE FUND BEING RAISED
Keegstra supporters in Alberta have raised funds for his defense fees. The foreman of the jury in the Red Deer, Alberta court, 26-year-old Dwight Arthur, told reporters after the trial he would contribute to a fund to help Keegstra raise the money for the fine. A fundamentalist Christian like Keegstra, Arthur told reporters after the trial, he would consider such a donation “a gift for furthering God’s work.”
Keegstra’s trial was the result of an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the national police force, following complaints from parents that Keegstra was indoctrinating their children with racism. He contended that Jews were the root of all evil and that they were conspiring to control nations and the world economy.
The Canadian Jewish Congress and the B’nai B’rith Canada said in a joint statement that the jury’s decision was a strong affirmation of the efficiency of the Canadian judicial system dealing with those spreading racial hatred.
“We are confident this judgement together with the recent conviction of Ernst Zundel will serve effectively to deter hatemongers pursuing the aim of dividing Canadian society, pitting group against group,” the joint statement said. “We must all work together to eradicate this evil.”
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