Facebook user by the name Ryan McCabe wrote the hateful words of blowing up Sikh-Canadians on his social media site linked a story describing the “new record” number of people at this year’s Vaisakhi Parade, where more than half a million people took part this year. “Imagine what one pressure cooker bomb could have done……missed opportunities suck,” wrote McCabe. The 46-year-old McCabe later posted a photo of a pressure cooker, and went on to make more hateful comments against Sikhs.

SURREY – A racist man from Surrey who advocated putting a pressure cooker bomb at the largest Sikh celebration outside India – the Khalsa Day parade in Surrey – was arrested for his hate-speech crime this week.

Facebook user by the name Ryan McCabe wrote the hateful words of blowing up Sikh-Canadians on his social media site linked a story describing the “new record” number of people at this year’s Vaisakhi Parade, where more than half a million people took part this year.

“Imagine what one pressure cooker bomb could have done……missed opportunities suck,” wrote McCabe.

The 46-year-old McCabe later posted a photo of a pressure cooker, and went on to make more hateful comments against Sikhs.

Police took McCabe, who the force did not identify, into custody Wednesday afternoon for public incitement of hatred, according to the RCMP.

Authorities have not disclosed the nature of the post, other than to call it “disturbing.” It was left as a comment on the social media feed of Global BC News, which removed it and reported it to police.

The RCMP said the suspect remains in custody as officers continue their investigation.

Public incitement of hatred is a Criminal Code offence barring “hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.” It has a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Surrey RCMP said the Vaisakhi incident is a good opportunity for the public to “familiarize themselves with Canada’s laws on Hate Propaganda.”

The investigation began after Surrey RCMP received information regarding a post on Facebook referencing the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade.

Surrey-Panorama MLA Jinny Sims was among those who alerted Surrey RCMP to the comment, sharing a screengrab of the comment in question to Twitter.

“Please investigate @Surrey RCMP,” she wrote. “Very concerning.”

Cpl. Elenore Sturko said the post was disturbing and hate crime charged are likely.

“It was disturbing for the public but there’s no indication there was any danger to the public,” Sturko said. “It’s good to see that people in the community are willing to observe this kind of behaviour, suspicious activity, and report it to police so that we can investigate.”

While she won’t talk about the case specifically, she does say there are laws against spreading hate online.

“People can be charged with hate crimes, spreading hate propaganda, inciting public hatred,” she says. “These are things that are illegal in Canada.”

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Surrey RCMP detachment or Crime Stoppers.  Posted Apr 23, 2019 8:17 pm PDT Last Updated Apr 23, 2019 at 8:29 pm PDT