Part-time rapper Kelvin Zawadiuk is accused of driving a stolen truck into two government buildings and leaving behind anti-Semitic messages. Image by La Haine/Reverbnation

By Aiden Pink May 15, 2019

A Canadian part-time rapper obsessed with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was accused of multiple criminal counts after allegedly driving a stolen truck into two government buildings and vandalizing one of them with anti-Semitic slurs, the CBC reported Tuesday.

Kelvin Zawadiuk of Edson, Alberta, has been charged with public incitement of hatred, breaking and entering, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, theft, mischief under $5,000 and failure to comply with a probation order. According to police, Zawadiuk on Saturday stole a truck from the local power company’s compound, drove it through a fence, and then plowed the vehicle through the entrance of the local provincial government building before exiting on the other side and then hitting the courthouse. Anti-Semitic messages were also reportedly found scattered throughout the building.

Zawadiuk performs under the stage name “La Haine,” French for “hatred.” According to the CBC, one of his songs is called “Zyklon B,” the chemical used in the Nazi gas chambers, and includes excerpts from one of Hitler’s speeches. Zawadiuk’s bio on his website reportedly calls for a “mass suicide social media campaign.”

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Former friend Justin Gilfoil told the CBC that Zawadiuk had collected a lot of Nazi memorabilia and was fascinated with Germany and World War II, but “never was overtly racist or anti-Semitic.”

According to Canada’s 2016 census, around 10 Jews live in Edson, a town of around 8,000 people. “While [the slurs in Edson] may not specifically be injuring or harming an individual person physically, they do harm people emotionally. They also put a community on edge,” Jewish Federation of Edmonton president Steven Shafir told the CBC. Anti-Semitic incidents have risen to record levels three years in a row, B’nai Brith Canada revealed last month in their annual audit of anti-Jewish hate.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.

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