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Mounties in B.C. arrest alleged white supremacists
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CTVNews.ca Staff
Date: Sat. Dec. 10 2011 10:32 PM ET
Mounties in British Columbia have arrested two alleged white supremacists in connection with a series of violent, racially motivated attacks dating back to 2008.
Police allege that the two Vancouver men belong to the B.C.-chapter of Blood and Honour, a white supremacist group with members all over the world.
Both Robertson De Chazal, 25, and Shawn MacDonald, 30, face assault-related charges for attacks that occurred right in Vancouver.
De Chazal is one of three suspects accused in an October 2009 incident in which a man was set on fire in the city's east-end.
In that attack, police said a 25-year-old Filipino man was doused with accelerant and set on fire after he fell asleep on a discarded couch near Commercial Drive and 5th Avenue.
"Mr. De Chazal and two other men were observed by witnesses allegedly lighting the victim on fire," B.C. RCMP Det. Const. Terry Wilson told reporters.
Wilson, who is with the RCMP's Hate Crime Team, said police have arrested another suspect who is yet to be charged.
De Chazal, who is originally from Edmonton, also faces assault charges for allegedly beating a black man unconscious in September 2009.
Mounties have also arrested Shawn MacDonald, who is reportedly a friend of De Chazal's.
He faces three counts of assault related to separate incidents in 2008 and 2010 in which a black man, an aboriginal woman and a Hispanic man were attacked.
Both MacDonald and De Chazal were apprehended after the B.C. Hate Crime Team began looking into a local chapter of the global neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour.
Police allege that both men were members of a group numbering 15 members in British Columbia's Lower mainland area.
"Membership in this group is not illegal, but if the membership of a white supremacist organization motivates you to commit criminal offenses, that's when the B.C. Hate Crime Team gets involved," said Wilson.
Police said their investigation into the B.C.-faction of Blood and Honour is still active.
The international organization has a few chapters in Canada, including in Alberta and Ontario. During an incident in Edmonton last March, three members of the group were charged with assaulting three people and shouting racial slurs.
Prior to their arrests, neither MacDonald nor De Chazal had a criminal record.
A member of the Calgary faction of a neo-Nazi group, who has spent time in prison, said jail time will not deter Vancouver's chapter from promoting hatred.
"They are able to pick up the pieces and move on and keep doing what they are doing," said Kyle McKee, a member of Calgary's Blood and Honour.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington and files from The Canadian Press
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