Mississauga man facing hate-related charge
Former mayoral candidate protested against Meadowvale mosque, Islamophobia bill
A Mississauga man who has been charged with wilful promotion of hatred says he’s “not going anywhere,” and that he intends to run for mayor of the city.
The charges come after “a lengthy investigation into numerous incidents reported to police, involving Kevin Johnston and concerns information published on various social media sites,” Peel police said in a news release Monday.
Johnston, 45, was released on bail after a brief appearance in court Monday. The conditions of his re- lease included an order to have no contact with three people, whose names are under a publication ban. He was also ordered to stay 100 metres away from any mosque or Muslim community centre in Ontario, except for when travelling on the road.
Johnston sat calmly in court as the details of the case were read. Outside the courtroom, he was defiant.
“I’m going to run for mayor against Bonnie Crombie next election,” Johnston said. “She can’t stop me through the courts.”
Johnston does not have legal counsel yet. He will appear next Sept. 8.
Johnston has previously run for mayor and lost to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie in 2014. He is best known for his strong views about the Muslim community, having opposed the construction of a mosque in Meadowvale, offered prize money for videos of students praying on Fridays and protested against the federal anti-Islamophobia motion, M-103.
Last year, a story published on the Mississauga Gazette site resulted in Crombie filing a hate-crime complaint with Peel police.
It was not immediately clear if that complaint prompted Monday’s charges.
For police to lay a hate-related criminal charge, a criminal offence must have occurred and hate or bias toward a victim must have motivated the criminal offence.
At Queen’s Park, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said the government “takes allegations of hate crime very seriously.” With files from Robert Benzie