Crown opposes release in teen terror case, files notice to seek adult sentence

A 17-year-old boy made a brief appearance in youth court on Thursday on terrorism charges.

Cpl. Érique Gasse of the RCMP said the youth had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and investigators believe he was ready to carry out at least one attack on behalf of the terrorist group.

“He made those comments on social media stating that he wished to attack various groups of people,” Gasse said in an interview.

“We received a tip here at the Provincial Threat Coordination Centre in April 2025 about that young man who was posting strange things on social medias and we knew since then the investigation evolved and now we know that he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, that he wanted to kill a lot of people,” Gasse added.

Gasse said in an interview the youth allegedly intended to acquire weapons such as AK-47s for the attack.

“All files are major but this one was a serious one,” he added. “It was a threat to a population and they worked pretty hard. They wanted to get as much as information as possible to be able to arrest him as soon as possible.”

Police arrested the young male in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Police were on site at a four-storey apartment building on Wednesday afternoon, conducting a search.

“There were 40 police officers from our organization and our emergency response team was onsite just in case because again you understand we cannot take any chances with that for the population, for our police officers, so we took all the measures,” Gasse said.

The investigation began last April and Gasse said the public was never in danger.

He was initially charged with three counts: providing or making available property or services for terrorist purposes; participation in the activity of a terrorist group; and facilitating a terrorist activity.

The RCMP confirmed on Thursday that two more charges were added: assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm and assaulting a peace officer.

A federal Crown prosecutor has been assigned to the case, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada confirmed.

The federal Crown has opposed his release and the case will return to court Monday to set a date for a bail hearing.

Prosecutor Marc Cigana has filed notice that he intends to seek an adult sentence if the teenager is found guilty. The accused appeared in youth court wearing a white dress shirt, and was monitored by three security personnel.

This comes as Quebec has seen a few terrorism-related cases recently. In June, a man previously convicted of supporting al-Qaida was charged after allegedly threatening an attack in Montreal.  In July, the RCMP charged four people with ties to the military who allegedly intended to forcibly take over land in the Quebec City area.

“We feel that those sometimes young people have access to internet, to social media and they drink those words from those organizations like here the Islamic State and there seems to be a little increase,” said Gasse.

The RCMP says it’s crucial for citizens to flag suspicious online behaviour.

“If you hear something strange in the street, on social media, you don’t feel good with that, call the police and if needed we’ll start an investigation,” he added.

-With files from The Canadian Press