Saskatoon man faces hate crime charge over social media content rife with anti-Jewish posts

A Jewish advocacy group is applauding Saskatoon police for arresting a man in connection to a hate crime investigation. Laura Woodward has the story.

A Saskatoon man is charged with public incitement of hatred following an investigation into alleged antisemitic comments he made online.

Officers with the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) hate crime unit identified the man, Brandon Taylor Moore, after receiving a complaint about the online comments last year.

Investigators later executed a search warrant at his home, seizing digital evidence and a firearm, Saskatoon police said in a news release Thursday.

In a statement posted online Thursday, B’nai Brith celebrated the arrest, saying it reported Moore’s “problematic” posts to Saskatoon police in May 2024.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

According to B’nai Brith, Moore worked as a real estate broker in Saskatoon, but had his professional licence revoked by the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission when his behaviour came to light.

“B’nai Brith Canada has grown increasingly concerned about Moore’s escalating and depraved conduct online,” the organization said in a statement.

“This led our organization to file several complaints with the SPS. Earlier this week, officers executed a search warrant at his residence.”

Moore, 45, made his first appearance in Saskatoon provincial court Thursday morning. He’s charged with the public incitement of hatred and unsafe storage of a firearm.

Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, said Moore’s virulent antisemitic conspiracy theories have no place in Canadian society.

“B’nai Brith Canada will continue to document, report, and pursue every available legal avenue to protect Jewish Canadians and to ensure justice,” Robertson said.

Moore’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 13.

The city’s hate crime unit was established in January 2022 under the umbrella of the interpersonal violence section.

According to SPS, the unit often provides support to frontline officers and other investigative units. Police told CTV News the number of hate crimes reported each year since the unit’s inception have remained relatively static.

A police spokesperson said there are currently three ongoing investigations into antisemitism in Saskatoon

According to the Saskatoon police, hate crime investigations can be complex, and require officers to prove the motivations behind a particular offence. Police noted there are many cases of hate-motivated actions that don’t meet the threshold of a criminal offence.

“Any Criminal Code offence can be considered a hate crime if motivated by bias, prejudice or hate … against another person based on the victim’s colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or mental or physical disability.”

Saskatoon police are working to increase public awareness about hate-motivated crime. You can learn more about how they investigate hate crimes on their website, and you can report a hate crime online.