Incel violence ruled an act of terrorism
An Ontario Superior Court judge set a new precedent in finding an incel attack to be a form of violence.
On Tuesday, Justice Suhail Akhtar of the Ontario Superior Court created new precedent. He ruled, for the first time since the rise of violent attacks from those who adhere to incel ideology began several years ago, that not only did it constitute a premeditated murder but also an act of terrorism under the Criminal Code. The accused, whose name has been withheld in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act was only 17 when, in February 2020, inspired by the 2018 van attack by Alek Minassian went to a massage parlour and stabbed 24-year old Ashley Noel Arzaga 40 times with a sword inscribed with the term “thot-slayer”, a derogatory slur against women popular on platforms such as 4Chan and within the incel movement. In the fall, the accused, now 20, pled guilty to two counts of murder and attempted murdered for Arzaga and two individuals he injured. Justice Akhtar’s ruling, which was delivered orally, will factor into sentencing, set to take place at a hearing on July 18.
According to section 83.01 of the Criminal Code. Briefly, and for the purposes of the case at issue here, it can be understood as set out in section 83.01(b), as an act committed for a political, religious, or ideological purpose with the intention of intimidating the public, and that intentionally causes death or seriously bodily harm, risks to public safety, or substantial property damage.
Applying this provision to incel violence involves a number of steps. The first is deciding whether “incel” ideology is, in fact, an ideology for the purposes of the Criminal Code.
Though pre-dating the recognized beginnings of the “involuntarily celibate” or “incel” movement by several years, the history of incel violence in Canada is typically dated back to Mark Lepine, the individual responsible for murdering 14 women and injuring 14 others before shooting himself at the École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989. The official use of incel terminology began with a 1997 online forum for men and women struggling to find success in their relationships. Over time, women were pushed out of the movement and its language and ideas became increasingly more extreme, digging deeper in misogyny and calls to violence, particularly against women. This online rhetoric has resulted in real world violence in Canada and the United States.
There is a strong argument in favour of viewing incel ideology as something akin to a religious or political belief. For its adherents, this ideology has a significant impact on their worldview, as evidenced by both online rhetoric decrying women for failing to provide them with perceived entitlements and the increase in individuals choosing to translate online hate to real world violence.
If a court is able to surpass the hurdle of finding that incel ideology meets the necessary standard of the Criminal Code, then meeting the other requirements of the legislation in the case of situations such as the case at hand is simpler. It would be difficult to argue that actions like going to a massage parlour with a broadsword were not taken with a view to intimidating the public, or at the very least women. And as pled by the accused, the actions in this case did cause death and bodily harm.
The precedent set in this case, though only applying the terrorism provisions at the point of sentencing, gives teeth to the need to take serious action to address the calls for widespread femicide and other forms of hateful and violent misogyny emanating from incel spaces online.