Jeremy MacKenzie, leader of online group 'Diagolon,' denied bail

SASKATOON -

The founder of the online group 'Diagolon,' was denied bail at a provincial court in Saskatoon on Friday.

Jeremy MacKenzie, 36, was charged with assault, pointing a firearm and using a restricted weapon in a careless manner, and mischief in connection with an alleged assault near Viscount, Sask., in November 2021 — a community roughly 75 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon.

He was arrested last week in Cole Harbour, N.S. on a Canada-wide warrant issued by Saskatchewan RCMP in July.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Bauer made the decision to deny bail. A court-ordered publication ban prevents CTV from reporting the reason’s behind Bauer’s decision.

Roughly a dozen supporters were in the courtroom Friday. Mackenzie, wearing a grey sweatshirt, acknowledged them when he entered the prisoner’s box.

Diagolon, the group Mackenzie leads, is described in a 2022 House of Commons report as an ideologically motivated and violent extremist organization.

It originally started as an online joke about a fake nation state but has since come to attract thousands of followers rallying against authority and government control.

Multiple people arrested at the Coutts, Alta. border crossing during the February convoy protest allegedly have ties to Diagolon. Physical threats to RCMP officers' safety led to raids on trailers near the protest area, which resulted in the seizure of a cache of weapons and body armour.

RCMP are also investigating Mackenzie for comments made last month during a livestream about raping the wife of federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Mackenzie is scheduled to appear back in court on Oct. 13.

With Canadian Press files.