Vancouver police have arrested a woman as part of a hate crime investigation sparked by comments made last week at a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
In a statement, Sgt. Steve Addison said the Vancouver Police Department’s major crime department launched an investigation on April 26 after a video was posted on social media of the woman speaking to several hundred protestors from the steps of the gallery.
“The speaker praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and referred to a number of terrorist organizations as heroes,” the police statement said.
“Portions of the video have been widely shared on social media, and viewed several hundred thousand times.”
Addison said the speaker — a 44-year-old woman — was arrested and later released from custody with a promise to return for a court date this fall.
In the meantime, he said police will continue to gather evidence to determine whether the comments violated hate crime laws.
‘It shouldn’t take place in British Columbia’
Police did not name the woman, which is standard practice when someone has not been charged with an offence.
But the speaker at the rally has been identified as Charlotte Kates, one of the leaders of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network — an organization that fights to raise awareness about Palestinian prisoners.
Kates’s group helped organize the rally.
In a widely circulated clip a little more than two minutes in length, Kates tells the crowd: “We say today, ‘Long live Oct. 7,'” — a refrain the crowd shouts back.
Later in the video, she criticizes the federal government for listing Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
“These are resistance fighters,” she said. “These are our heroes.”
Charlotte Kates gave a speech in favour of Hamas at a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on April 26. Video circulated of the event has since led to a hate crime investigation by the Vancouver Police Department and an arrest.
Those comments about the Oct. 7 attack — which Israel says killed 1,200 people — drew widespread condemnation from people, including B.C. Premier David Eby.
“Celebrating the murder, the rape of innocent people attending a music festival, it’s awful,” Eby said at an unrelated news conference Monday.
“It’s reprehensible, and it shouldn’t take place in British Columbia. There is clearly an element of some individuals using an international tragedy to promote hate that’s completely unacceptable.”
Denied entry to the EU
Kates is a graduate of Rutgers School of Law.
According to information posted on the Samidoun website, she and her husband, Khaled Barakat, have been denied entry to the European Union and residency in Germany for what they claim are their political activities.
In the wake of Kates’s comments on the art gallery steps, B’nai Brith Canada has called for the couple’s deportation from Canada.
Last month, the New York Times reported that Kates appeared in a video as part of an unauthorized student event at Columbia University, which saw the suspension of five students after speakers including Kates spoke openly in support of Hamas.
“There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas,” Kates told attendees, according to a video of the event posted on social media.
Addison told CBC News that police were able to arrest the speaker who made the comments at the art gallery after determining there were reasonable grounds to believe a crime had been committed.
The suspect was then released after signing an undertaking to appear at a later date.
Vancouver police have a unit dedicated to investigating allegations of hate speech and hate crimes. But Addison said the investigation into the comments will be headed by the major crimes squad.
“We defend everyone’s right to gather and express their opinions, even when those opinions are unpopular or controversial,” Addison said.
“We also have a responsibility to ensure public comments don’t promote or incite hatred, encourage violence or make people feel unsafe. We will continue to thoroughly investigate every hate incident and will pursue criminal charges whenever there is evidence of a hate crime.”
B’nai Brith Canada relieved ‘arrest was finally made’
Most crimes involving hate are treated as regular Criminal Code offences, like assault or uttering threats, with the role of bias, prejudice or hate considered as an aggravating factor at sentencing.
But Section 318 of the Criminal Code deals specifically with promoting and advocating genocide, whereas Section 319 tackles the public incitement and wilful promotion of hatred.
The prosecution of hate crimes in Canada is rare. The standard for Crown approval of charges is determining that there is a substantial likelihood of conviction.
B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy Richard Robertson welcomed the news of Kates’s arrest.
“We are relieved that, after many efforts to expose Charlotte Kates’s hate by B’nai Brith over a considerable amount of time, an arrest was finally made,” he said in a statement.
“We encourage the authorities to treat this as a hate crime.”
Kates could not be reached for comment. She has not been charged and none of the accusations against her have been proven to be crime.