Hatmancharged within citing hatred

A Medicine Hat man has been charged with inciting hatred, as well as firearms offences, after a local business owner reported to police on July 31 seeing him in possession of Canadian currency with anti-Semitic slogans printed on it.

Police found several $5, $20 and $50 bills with “Jewish white genocide” and “ZOG” marked on them in a backpack.

White genocide is a conspiracy theory that immigrants are being brought to Canada to eliminate the white race, while ZOG stands for “Zionist Occupied Government,” which posits that a cabal of Zionist Jews secretly control the government.

Upon arresting Loki Hulgaard, 35, and executing a search warrant, police found numerous computers, USB drives, white supremacist literature, four firearms, two of which were high-powered rifles with serial numbers removed, more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition, high-capacity magazines and stickers that read “Immigration = White Genocide.”

Police also found the stamps used to mark the currency with the anti-Semitic slogans.

Posters with that slogan were found this summer at the Fifth Avenue United Church, which the reverend promptly reported to the police.

MHPS Insp. Tim McGough says police will be looking through the computers and USB drives to see if the two incidents are connected.

“This doesn’t just happen on a whim,” he said, adding the investigation is ongoing.

“We’ve also been investigating numerous stickers that have been posted throughout the city, so we’ve been trying to locate this individual and trying to figure out who he is and what he was up to.”

Hulgaard faces 14 charges in total — one count of inciting hatred in public, two of possessing a firearm with the serial number removed, four of unsafe storage of a firearm, three of possessing a prohibited device and four of unauthorized possession of a firearm.

He was released Aug. 2 on $4,000 no-cash recognizance with numerous conditions and is scheduled to appear in Medicine Hat provincial court on Thursday.