Canada’s First Prison Sentence for Holocaust Denial Marks Historic Breakthrough in Fight Against Antisemitism

By: Fern Sidman

In a landmark ruling that is reverberating across Canada and far beyond its borders, a court in North Bay, Ontario, sentenced 51-year-old Kenneth Paulin to nine months in prison and two years of probation for willfully promoting hatred against Jews and for “condoning, denying, or downplaying the Holocaust.” Crown prosecutors confirmed that the decision, handed down on September 18, represents the first time in Canadian history that an individual has been imprisoned specifically for denying the historical reality of the Nazi genocide against the Jewish people.

The precedent-setting judgment, which was closely monitored by Jewish advocacy organizations in Canada and reported on Wednesday in The Algemeiner illustrates both the escalating dangers of Holocaust denial in the digital age and the determination of Canadian authorities to confront the phenomenon with unprecedented gravitas.

The conviction followed a seven-month investigation by the North Bay Police Service’s Criminal Investigation Section. Police launched the probe in November 2024 after receiving multiple complaints about Paulin’s online postings. Acting Deputy Chief Jeff Warner explained that detectives pursued several search warrants and eventually sought the formal approval of Ontario’s Attorney General to proceed with charges. Paulin was arrested and charged in June 2025.

Authorities revealed that his online activity included a steady stream of antisemitic posts, videos, and conspiracy theories that vilified Jews, denied the Holocaust, and called for acts of violence. He referred to Jews as “demons” and insisted they were to blame for “almost 100 percent” of the world’s problems. In one grotesque video, Paulin mocked the Shoah as a “hollow-cost hoax,” while another post declared: “Six million didn’t happen, but it should’ve.”

The scope of his content, investigators noted, was not limited to mere denial. It actively incited hatred and encouraged others to “hunt” Jews. One particularly chilling call for a “Worldwide Jew Hunt” epitomized the dangerous overlap between Holocaust denial and overt incitement to violence.

The sentencing was accompanied by powerful testimony from the Jewish community. In a community impact statement submitted to the court, Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy and advocacy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC), described Paulin’s postings as “an orchestrated effort to spread hatred, to normalize antisemitism, and to encourage others to view Jews as enemies to be mocked, hunted, and destroyed.”

Kirzner-Roberts emphasized the lasting psychological damage inflicted on Canadian Jews, noting that “the vile antisemitism we are confronting today has inflicted deep and lasting harm on Jewish Canadians, the minority group most frequently targeted by hate crimes in this country.” She warned that antisemitism not only endangers Jews but corrodes the broader social fabric of Canadian democracy, emboldening extremists and threatening the values of pluralism and tolerance.

The FSWC statement praised law enforcement, the Attorney General, and Crown prosecutors for treating the case with the gravity it deserved. “By standing firmly against such hateful rhetoric,” Kirzner-Roberts said, “this ruling affirms that every Canadian deserves to live with dignity, safety and freedom, free from intimidation, dehumanization, and fear.”

Central to the case was the relatively new provision in Canada’s Criminal Code that specifically criminalizes Holocaust denial. For decades, Canada has outlawed the “willful promotion of hatred” under Section 319. But until 2022, Holocaust denial was not explicitly enumerated in the law. That changed when Parliament passed Bill C-19, a budget bill that included a new subsection, 319(2.1), making it a crime to “willfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying, or downplaying the Holocaust.”

The statute defines the Holocaust as “the planned and deliberate state-sponsored persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis and their collaborators.” Violations carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

With the passage of Bill C-19, Canada joined a group of European nations—including Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, and Romania—that treat Holocaust denial not as free speech but as a form of incitement. Germany’s criminal code punishes Holocaust denial with up to five years’ imprisonment. France’s 1990 Gayssot Act similarly outlaws denial of crimes against humanity, including the Shoah.

As The Algemeiner report noted, the North Bay ruling now represents the first test of Canada’s updated statute, and the first time that Holocaust denial in Canada has led to imprisonment.

The North Bay Police Service welcomed the court’s decision as an affirmation of their efforts. Acting Deputy Chief Warner praised the officers in the Criminal Investigation Section for their painstaking work, stressing that the case “demonstrates the great work being done” to protect communities from the harm caused by hate crimes. He added that the ruling “sends the message that hate has no place in today’s society.”

The case also highlighted how local police departments, often working with limited resources, play a crucial role in identifying and prosecuting online hate. Warner noted that the volume of complaints about Paulin’s posts underscored the distress they caused within the community and justified the thorough response.

While Paulin’s conviction sets a precedent, experts warn that the problem of Holocaust denial online is growing. A 2022 UNESCO report found that 16.2 percent of Holocaust-related content on major social media platforms involved denial or distortion, while on fringe platforms the number soared to 49 percent. The United Nations has repeatedly cautioned that social media platforms amplify denial narratives, feeding extremist propaganda and encouraging violence.

As The Algemeiner has documented in recent years, Holocaust denial often reflects a paradoxical mindset: rejecting the historicity of Nazi crimes while simultaneously expressing the desire that those crimes had actually taken place. Paulin’s own grotesque comment—“Six million didn’t happen, but it should’ve”—captured this twisted logic.

The amplification of such rhetoric online makes legal deterrents all the more urgent. As Kirzner-Roberts of the FSWC noted, denialism “normalizes antisemitism” by presenting it in an ostensibly intellectual or political frame, when in fact it is simply a mask for raw hatred.

The ruling comes amid a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents in Canada. According to B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit, 5,791 antisemitic incidents were reported in 2023, nearly half of which occurred online. Jews remain the religious minority most frequently targeted by hate crimes in the country.

The Algemeiner has frequently highlighted the troubling escalation of antisemitic activity in North America, including vandalism of synagogues, assaults on visibly Jewish individuals, and incidents on university campuses. In Canada, where the Jewish population is relatively small—roughly 400,000 people—the per capita rate of antisemitic incidents is particularly alarming.

Jewish organizations fear that the normalization of denial rhetoric online is feeding into real-world hostility. Paulin’s case, they argue, demonstrates how denial and incitement to violence are often inseparable.

Legal scholars and Jewish advocacy groups see the Paulin case as not only a Canadian milestone but also an event of international importance. The ruling demonstrates that Canada is prepared to enforce its laws on Holocaust denial vigorously, aligning itself with European democracies that have long recognized denial as a form of hate speech.

As The Algemeiner reported, many Jewish leaders view the ruling as a signal to other countries, particularly in North America, that Holocaust denial cannot be treated as benign. “Holocaust denial is not just an insult to history; it is a weapon used to incite hatred and violence against Jews today,” one Canadian Jewish leader said.

Inevitably, the ruling has also sparked debate about free expression. Critics argue that criminalizing denial risks infringing on speech rights, even for repugnant ideas. But Canadian courts have long held that the “willful promotion of hatred” falls outside the scope of protected expression. The addition of Holocaust denial to the Criminal Code in 2022 reflects a legislative determination that such rhetoric is not historical debate but a form of incitement.

Legal experts note that Paulin’s posts went well beyond mere denial, explicitly calling for violence. “This is not about silencing unpopular opinions,” one constitutional lawyer observed. “This is about speech that actively threatens the safety of a minority community.”

For Jewish Canadians, the ruling is a relief but also a reminder of the dangers they face. Holocaust denial, once the province of fringe pamphleteers, now circulates widely online, often dressed up as political commentary or disguised in memes and coded language.

By imposing a prison sentence, Canadian authorities have sent a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated. As The Algemeiner report emphasized, the ruling represents both justice for the Jewish community and a warning to those who would seek to revive the poisonous ideologies of the past.

The North Bay court’s decision to sentence Kenneth Paulin to nine months in prison for Holocaust denial and incitement to hatred is a historic first for Canada. It is a milestone that reflects not only the country’s legal evolution with the passage of Bill C-19, but also the urgency of confronting rising antisemitism in an era when denial and hate can spread globally with a single click.

For Jewish Canadians, still the most frequent targets of hate crimes in the nation, the ruling offers reassurance that their government recognizes the threat and is willing to act. For the international community, it sets a precedent, aligning Canada with European democracies that have long understood Holocaust denial as a weapon of hatred rather than a matter of free speech.

As The Algemeiner report observed, Holocaust denial is not merely an affront to history—it is a corrosive ideology that seeks to normalize antisemitism, destabilize democracies, and embolden extremists. By holding Paulin accountable, Canadian authorities have affirmed a fundamental truth: societies cannot afford to be neutral in the face of those who would deny humanity’s darkest chapter and call for its repetition.