Youth found guilty of terrorism charges in Ottawa plot targeting Jewish people
The teen was convicted of conspiring to commit murder and seeking a prohibited firearm for a planned 2023 attack.
OTTAWA — A judge has found a youth guilty of two terrorism-related charges stemming from an alleged 2023 plan to kill Jewish people in Ottawa.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Kerry McVey found the young person guilty on Friday of conspiracy to commit murder through involvement with a terrorist group, and of facilitating terrorist activity by seeking to acquire a prohibited firearm.
McVey found him not guilty of a third charge of facilitating terrorist activity by making instructional material and propaganda available.
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"I find nothing in [the teen's] communications that reasonably suggests he was anything other than serious," McVey told the Ottawa court, referring to his discussions about obtaining a firearm.
The youth, who cannot legally be identified due to his age, had pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
McVey concluded the youth conspired with his co-accused and another individual who was not charged in a plan to kill a large number of people.
"The planned attack was intended to intimidate a segment of the public, namely members of the Jewish community, with respect to their security," McVey said.
"The communications between the participants reveal detailed discussions concerning the scale of the intended killing, the weapons required to accomplish it, the quantity of ammunition necessary and the possible use of explosives."
She said the attack was intended to cause serious harm through violence.
"Their shared objective was the mass killing of innocent people," McVey said.
The judge said she was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the teen knew the person he was sending "unquestionably disturbing" material to was contemplating a terrorist attack.
"The issue before me is not whether the content was offensive, alarming, or extremist in nature," she said. "The question is whether the Crown has established beyond a reasonable doubt that [the teen] transmitted it for the purpose of assisting a terrorist activity."
The Crown told court they will be seeking an adult sentence.
The Ottawa resident was 15 when he was arrested in February 2024.
His trial began in April, a day after his co-accused, also a young person who cannot legally be identified, was found guilty on four charges.
A second Ottawa teen was found guilty of four charges in April after an unusual one-day trial that preserves his rights to appeal.
In 2023, the RCMP said the youth was charged with “facilitating” a terrorist activity by spreading “instructional material” about building bombs, and “knowingly instructing” someone to carry out a terrorist attack.
Crown attorneys at the time charged the youth with facilitating terrorist activity, possession of explosives and making or possessing an explosive substance.
With files from The Canadian Press, Global News and CBC News