A teenager has been charged under terrorism laws after Canadian police concluded his alleged sword attack on three people, which left one woman dead, was motivated by “incel” ideology.
Ashley Noelle Arzaga, 24, died in the stabbing at a massage parlour in Toronto in February. Another woman and a man were also injured. Ms Arzaga’s family described her as a “loving mother, daughter, sister, cousin and friend”.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder on 24 February before evidence surfaced to suggest the crime had been terrorist in nature, police said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement on Tuesday: “[Our] integrated national security enforcement team worked in conjunction with the Toronto Police Service, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and determined that this crime was in fact one in which the accused was inspired by the ideologically motivated violent extremist movement commonly known as incel.”
Incel – “involuntary celibacy” – is a misogynistic online victimhood cult whose members believe they are actively being denied sex by women who have been seduced by more attractive men.
The 17-year-old in Toronto is now being prosecuted under terror legislation. RCMP’s statement added: “Terrorism comes in many forms and it’s important to note that it is not restricted to any particular group, religion or ideology. The public can be assured this appears to be an isolated incident and there is no further known threat to the public associated to the accused at this time.”
Bill Blair, Canada’s public safety minister, said the updated charges were appropriate. He told CTV: “Those types of motivations can’t be tolerated in our society and they do seriously aggravate the nature of those crimes.
“We monitor the various motivations for those types of crimes and where it is ideologically motivated as this case was, we look at that very seriously as a terrorist offence.”
February’s attack was the second incel-motivated mass assault to hit Toronto in two years. In April 2018 Alek Minassian killed 10 pedestrians by running them over with a van.
