Youth Arrested and Charged After Hate-motivated Lyrics Posted to Social Media

On November 11, 2021, we received a report in relation to a hate-motivated incident involving a young person. Information provided was that the young person had written lyrics to a song, recorded the lyrics and then posted the song to social media. The lyrics contained hateful and threatening comments directed towards another young person based on their sexual orientation, as well as, references to damaging school property.

Through the investigation, Officers located multiple songs written by the young person that contained hateful lyrics confirming that the incident was motivated by hate or bias.

On November 12, 2021, Officers arrested and charged the 13 year old boy with Utter Threats to Cause Death or Bodily Harm and Utter Threats to Burn, Destroy or Damage Real or Personal Property.

The youth was released on an Undertaking with a Court date of January 20, 2022 to answer to the charges.

We know that hate crimes and hate-bias incidents are extremely under reported and we are working hard to change that. The Greater Sudbury Police Service takes reports of hate-motivated crime and hate-bias incidents very seriously and we recognize the impact on and pain felt by community members when there is evidence of hatred. We want to assure you that we are committed to investigating these situations thoroughly.