SASKATOON – A 32-year-old man convicted of hate speech last year refused to talk in court Tuesday – even when Judge Doug Agnew asked him direct questions.
Wearing a jail-issued bright orange sweatshirt and green pants, a tall, lanky Travis Patron was escorted into the prisoner’s box by a sheriff. Throughout his appearance he sat with a noticeable scowl on his face as he glanced around the courtroom gallery but refused to look at the judge.
Crown Prosecutor Elizabeth Addabor told the court she is still waiting for all of Patron’s criminal record before she can proceed with a bail hearing.
Judge Agnew remanded Patron in custody until his next appearance Friday. Patron wasn’t represented by a lawyer and didn’t consent to being remanded again so Judge Agnew told the Crown that the judge on Friday may not agree to another adjournment and may want the show cause hearing to proceed that day.
Patron, the former leader of the now defunct Canadian Nationalist Party, has been in custody since he was arrested Aug. 2. He is charged with impersonating a peace officer, criminal harassment, and failing to comply with court-ordered conditions.
The first incident is alleged to have occurred on July 29. Saskatoon police were called to a hotel in the 600-block of Spadina Cres. about a disturbance involving a man impersonating a peace officer. Police say Patron approached a woman and her child, identified himself as a police officer, and accused her of abduction. The woman went into the hotel with her child to get help and Patron allegedly followed her inside and caused a disturbance. Bystanders intervened and Patron fled on foot, say Saskatoon police.
The second incident was on Aug. 1 in the 70-block of Campus Drive at the University of Saskatchewan. Police say they got a call that a man identified himself as a peace officer and offered to escort a woman on campus. The woman declined and the man left. The U of S released Patron’s photo and warned staff and students that he wasn’t to be on U of S property.
Police obtained video evidence and identified Patron as the suspect in both incidents.
Court documents show that Patron now lives in Saskatoon. He used to live in Redvers.
In October 2022, Patron was convicted by a jury in Estevan Court of King's Bench of hate speech against an identifiable group. Last year he was also convicted on two counts of assault causing bodily harm against two women in late 2019, and sentenced to 18-months.
Patron ran in the Souris-Moose Mountain constituency in the 2019 federal election, finishing sixth. The Canadian Nationalist Party has since been de-registered.
-With files from David Willberg
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