CALGARY - A pre-sentencing report says a Calgary teen who painted anti-Semitic graffiti on mailboxes, synagogues and a Holocaust memorial hasn't completely changed his views despite meeting with Holocaust survivors.
The racist graffiti, which appeared in November 2009, included swastikas and several hateful messages such as "Kill Jews" and "6 million more" -- a reference to the number of Jews killed by the Nazis in the Second World War.
The teen, who can't be named because he was 17 at the time, earlier pleaded guilty to mischief and promoting hatred against an identifiable group.
The pre-sentence report prepared for the court said the youth has problems with anger and behaviour and "still believes in Nazi values and that the Nazis were not racist."
It also suggested that drugs and alcohol played a role in his behaviour and that it "seemed like he committed the crime because he was bored."
He did take part in a face-to-face meeting with people from the community he targeted. So-called community conferencing is a procedure under the Youth Criminal Justice Act which joins offenders with victims.
"There were two Holocaust survivors there," said his lawyer Jim Lutz.
"The thought process and the discussion they had was very poignant. They spent a lot of time talking about how they hope he can learn from this process and I think that was perhaps the thing the young person took from this particular meeting," Lutz said.
"They were very reflective of the situation and had a chance to discuss the positive and negative impacts of what he's done."
Adam Singer, president of the Calgary Jewish Federation, isn't sure how successful the meeting was.
"I think the community conference is an extremely valuable process. I can't say in this case from the conference itself whether it's going to have a good outcome or not. I hope it has a good outcome but time will tell."
The Crown is asking for six months deferred custody, which can include house arrest and probation, while the defence wants a simple period of probation.
In a victim impact statement, a spokeswoman for the Calgary Jewish Community Council called the graffiti far-reaching and "devastating" to the 9,000 members of the city's Jewish community.
"The swastika is a symbol that is associated with the most heinous crimes committed against the Jewish people, the Holocaust," writes Judy Shapiro, interim executive director.
"It is the emblem of the Nazi's systematic and brutal attempt to exterminate an entire people. The sight of a swastika instills fear in every Jewish person."
Judge Todd LaRochelle reserved his decision until July 21, but offered this advice to the teen, who said he was free to think what he wanted.
"The great irony I see in that, and I want you to think about, is the Nazis were a totalitarian regime that tried to take away people's right to free thought," he said.
"You are acknowledging that you believe in the right to free thought and beyond the horror suffered by the Jewish community thousands and thousands of Canadians died in that war so we would have the freedom of thought that you hold so dear."
