Canadian Anti-Hate Network is considering filing a criminal complaint against a Sault Ste. Marie businessman who operates what the group calls a “virulently racist blog.”

Dave Selvers operates Millennium Crane Rentals. He’s also active on Facebook and Son’s of Slavs.

“Racist propaganda, misinformation, and creating the false impression of an imminent threat that must be addressed make tragedies like the Quebec mosque shooting possible,” said Canadian Anti-Hate Network executive director Evan Balgord in an email to The Sault Star. “The best way to prevent so-called lonewolf attacks is to address hate propaganda at its source, reducing the opportunities for radicalization leading to violence.”

His group was alerted to Selvers’s online posts by a supporter. An article about Selvers appeared online at antihate.ca last Sunday.

Selvers is also active organizing yellow-vest demonstrations in the city. The group meets Saturday mornings.

“It’s unsurprising that he was attracted to the Yellow Vests Canada movement as it has drawn together almost every hate group, far-right content creator and neo-Nazi that we monitor,” said Balgord. “We verified the information, saved the entirety of two blogs he operated, and published the story both to inform the public about Dave Selvers and more generally the kinds of people organizing around the Yellow Vests Canada movement.”

Lincoln Louttit, media liaison with Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, declined comment when asked if the municipal force is investigating Selver’s posts.

Selvers is staying mum following public criticism from Sault College, Algoma Steel and Mayor Christian Provenzano, about his online posts that attack Muslims, include a racial slur against a former American president and call for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be hung for treason.

“We’re not making any comments right now,” he told The Sault Star. “I don’t trust media. I just prefer not talking to any media right now. We’re just going to keep this low-key right now, but everybody else keep it all hyped up. That’s all for now.”

Provenzano looked at Selvers’s posts following Canadian Anti-Hate Network’s article about him.

“It’s pretty clear that the posts are hateful,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect where we are as a community and it doesn’t reflect who we want to be as a community.”

The municipality is counting on migration and immigration to boost the Sault’s population to 100,000 by 2037. Both groups are “critically important” to reaching that goal, says Provenzano.

“We have to build a welcoming community that people feel welcome in whether you’re an immigrant here or you’re a migrant here,” he said. Provenzano doubts attention surrounding Selvers will impact the municipality’s goal.

“I think in every community you have people who hold these type of views,” he said. “But I think when you look at our community at large you see a lot more kindness and a lot more positivity.”

Provenzano pointed to several upcoming events, including a celebration of Black History Month on Sunday and a performance of Mongolian dance at Sault Community Theatre Centre on Thursday as examples of residents organizing activities “that celebrate our diversity, that promote tolerance, that promote inclusion and acceptance.”

He advises Sault residents be respectful in their approach to Selvers.

“You don’t want to meet hate with hate because that just creates more hate and hate wins,” said Provenzano. “If we want to ask someone to reconsider their perspective and to not be hateful we can’t approach that person with a hateful attitude or in a hateful manner.”

In a statement, Provenzano said he spoke with city staff to see if the municipality has “any kind of contractual relationship” with Millennium Crane. The business is not on the city’s qualified contractors list.

“I am told we have not contracted it during my mayoralty and we would not contract with it until it is qualified onto the list,” said Provenzano.

Millennium Crane did put up the new sign at Memorial Gardens when GFL took over naming rights, but that work was arranged by a third party.

“No public funds or tax dollars were paid to Millennium or any party that then paid those funds to Millennium,” said Provenzano. “That was a private-sector contract.”

The municipality will not work with “any party who espouses hate or hateful views,” he adds.

Sault College announced cutting its ties with his business on Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday. “Sault College does not tolerate hate, discrimination or racism in any form,” the statement reads. “We are a welcoming and safe place to learn and do business. Accordingly, Sault College has severed all business dealings with Millennium Crane.”

A college spokesperson isn’t elaborating on the statement.

“We don’t have any further comment beyond the statement,” said director of human resources and corporate communications Rick Webb on Thursday. “We feel that it’s clear and makes our position known on how we feel about this issue.”

He didn’t identify specific comments made by Selvers that prompted the college’s publicly breaking ties with the Sault business.

“I think it’s been pretty well reported, the comments and the posts that have been made,” said Webb.

He was not aware of any college officials having contact with Selvers regarding the post-secondary institution’s decision.

International students are a key enrolment driver for Sault College with 580 students from other countries on campus. Most students are from India, Nepal and China.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Algoma Steel said views made by Selvers “are in direct conflict with our company’s core values.”

Millenium Crane is no longer on the steelmaker’s approved vendors list, said manager of corporate communications Brenda Stenta in an email.

In a Facebook post dated Feb. 3, Selvers urged Muslims not to come to Canada “unless you’re coming with a huge bank account and are willing to leave your shit hole (sic) values behind … Stay in your own Muslim terrorist shit hole country, we don’t want you here.”

Canadian Anti-Hate Network included a post from Selvers’s website dated Nov. 13, 2017 that called former American President Barack Obama a “black Muslim n—-r terrorist.”

In a post on his Son’s of Slaves last Tuesday, Selvers said the comments on his blog “are neither hateful or malicious.”

“I have only reiterated what was already posted from valid news sources,” he said. “The terminology that so many find offensive is commonly used in today’s rap music and by the culture from which it was derived, I’m only stating what’s already been said.”

He adds anyone seeking racism or hate have “come to the wrong site.

“I defy anyone to find in any of my posts where I advocate or condone either of the sort.”

btkelly@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @Sautlreporter