The Waterloo Regional Police Service is investigating after Jewish community groups raised concerns about a Nazi Germany military flag hanging from a Kitchener, Ont. residence’s door.
In a news release Thursday, the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s Neighbourhood Policing Patrol said the unit was investigating after receiving reports that a National Socialist Wehrmacht flag emblazoned with a Nazi Swastika was hanging by the doorway of a home in the area of Stirling Avenue South and Cherry Street in Kitchener Ont.
“While individuals have the right to freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, offensive expression, rooted in hate, have no place in Waterloo Region,” police said in the release.
The Wehrmacht was Nazi Germany’s principal military organization, co-existing alongside the Nazi Party’s paramilitary SS organization. The Wehrmacht led Germany’s war campaigns and often collaborated with the SS. Several high-ranking military officers belonging to the Wehrmacht were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a separate news bulletin, WRPS reported a 91% increase in hate crimes in 2023 from the previous year. The report did not say what amount of those reported crimes were antisemitic. Still, for June 2023, before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, 17%, or nine of the 52 reported hate incidents targeted the Jewish community.
“Our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Unit continues to keep ongoing communication with members of the community who this incident may have impacted,” a spokesperson for the police told True North in an email. “EDI is being utilized for this situation for their connections in the community.”
The Equity Diversity and Inclusion Unit was founded in 2017 and consists of members from “Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, the 2SLGBTQ+ community and the South Asian community.” The unit aims to “actively pursue a diverse and inclusive workforce” and create “equitable outcomes for our members and the community we serve.”
When asked what crime police suspected the individual displaying the Wehrmacht flag of committing, they did not answer directly.
“The reason for the investigation was to determine if a criminal act had been committed due to the reports received,” police said.
Police did, however, rule out Public Incitement of Hatred section 319 of the Criminal Code of Canada as a potential crime as the flag is not considered to be flown in a public place at a private residence.
Rich Robertson, the research and advocacy manager at B’nai Brith Canada, feels it’s high time that the Canadian parliament re-examine what is and is not considered public incitement and wilful promotion of hate.
“This is disgusting. It is offensive to the Jewish community, but it’s also an insult to the victims of Nazi persecution and to Canadian veterans who sacrificed their lives fighting fascism and Nazi tyranny,” Robertson told True North in an interview. “This is a perfect example of the need for us to revisit the criminal code provisions around the willful promotion of hatred.”
Earlier this month, B’nai Brith Canada called on the Canadian government to reexamine the criminal code provisions criminalizing the use of symbols and flags that promote terrorist groups. A representative for the Canadian Constitution Foundation argued that the use of such symbols already fell under the purview of existing incitement laws.
“I would leave it to Parliament, to the legislature, to determine which symbols could potentially be considered to be captured under a modified version of Section 319 of the Criminal Code if such revisions did take place,” he said. “However, I think it’s safe to say that symbols that are representative of listed terror groups, which include neo-Nazi groups in Canada that regularly use the swastika as an emblem, would certainly be a good starting point.”
Robertson believes displaying a symbol such as a Nazi Swastika crosses the line beyond free speech.
“(The Nazi Swastika) has the propensity to galvanize support and to encourage those who harbour neo-Nazi, white supremacist, ultra-nationalist views, and views that are not aligned with the values of contemporary Canadian society,” he said. “It is promoting an idealogy that thousands of Canadians sacrificed their lives confronting, which led to the genocide of millions of innocent Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution.”