An Ontario man who was convicted earlier this year for advocating genocide against Canadian Jews is running for parliament in the April general elections, according to Elections Canada.
Leslie Bory, who was sentenced in January, is confirmed as running in the Brantford-Brant South-Six Nations riding for the April 28 election.
Bory has run in previous elections, and there is no legal restriction preventing convicts from running. He was given two years with credit for time served since his 2023 arrest, and another year of probation.
Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) said it was alarming that Bory, who was convicted for promoting hatred, advocating genocide, and threatening law enforcement and federal officials, was an independent candidate.
"It’s highly disturbing that a man convicted of advocating genocide and spreading hateful rhetoric against Jewish people now has access to voters' personal information, including that of the very community that he targeted with calls for their mass murder," FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt said in a statement. "This is a glaring blind spot in our electoral system and a serious security concern. Law enforcement and Elections Canada must implement safeguards to ensure the safety of all constituents in Bory's riding."
In videos posted online, Leslie Bory glorified Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and called for violence against Jewish people.We are deeply disappointed that, despite being found guilty of advocating genocide, wilful promotion of hatred… pic.twitter.com/Uv4q10GTrt
— Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (@CanadianFSWC) March 11, 2025
'Kill scumbags to protect our people'
FSWC said it had expressed concern to local police and sent a letter to Elections Canada about putting safeguards in place.
Bory has described to supporters how Jews seek to eliminate non-Jews in Canada and around the world, calling in one Bitchute comment for Canadians to "reverse the genocide move onto the murderers."
"Given the choice of letting Jewish scum kill us all or we kill all of the offenders Canadians will find it fashionable to kill scumbags to protect our people," he allegedly wrote in 2023.
According to Canary Mission, Bory called for supporter to take up arms, inviting them to his house were he had stored ammunition.
The independent wove several conspiracy theories into his calls for violence against Jews, according to FSWC claiming that the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and vaccines were part of designs to kill non-Jews. A Canary Mission screenshot of a 2023 Bitchute video showed how Bory believed that hate crime and gun laws were being used to confiscate guns so that Jews could destroy the country.
Bory glorified Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, describing the Holocaust as a hoax and part of the "dishonest Jewish Bolshevik" narrative. According to a 2019 Bnai Brith Canada report, Bory referred to Jewish groups as the "lampshade mafia"
Jewish groups were disappointed by the January sentencing of Bory, with Bnai Brith Canada and other asserting that the punishment didn't reflect the severity of the threats.
The charge of advocating for genocide and willful promotion of hatred are rare, and can only be leveled with the consent of the attorney-general.
On March 17 the Toronto Police Service charged Thirty-two-year-old Amir Arvahi Azar for the crimes, in addition to several other charges for his role in a wave of antisemitic arson and vandalism attacks in the Greater Toronto Area.