Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Travis Mitchell Patron has an extensive criminal history in Saskatchewan. For more than five years, in multiple scenarios, he’s been in and out of court and custody for assault, harassment, impersonating a peace officer and promoting hate.
Right now, he’s not allowed to leave the province, as per the probation conditions of his two most recent sentences for criminal harassment and impersonating peace officers. Appearing by phone on Tuesday, he asked a Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench judge to amend his conditions so he can travel to Quebec and petition the Crown to move Canada’s capital to that province.
Patron, 35, told court his request is for “employment purposes,” and that his employer is the Canadian Nationalist Party, which he described as a “register not-for-profit corporation.”
In actuality, the party was deregistered in March 2022 for failing to show compliance with the requirement to have at least 250 members.
When questioned about the specific duties he needed to perform outside the province, Patron said he wants to petition the Crown in Canada, represented by the Governor General, “that the seat of government in Canada ought to be Quebec as opposed to Ottawa.”
Patron claimed it’s mandated in Canada’s constitution, specifically section 16, but he didn’t say where in the province it should be.
Justice Krista Zerr asked if he was planning to “personally affect service of some process in Ottawa or some other province.”
Patron said yes.
“That’s the idea considering Quebec is not located in Saskatchewan.”
His two probation orders, which are set to expire on Sept. 18, were imposed after he was convicted in 2024 of falsely identifying himself as a member of protective services to a woman on the University of Saskatchewan campus, and following a different woman and her child in downtown Saskatoon, accusing the woman of abducting her African-Canadian daughter.
Court heard the first incident happened on Aug. 1, 2023 when Patron approached a woman he didn’t know and asked if he could escort her across campus. She declined the offer and reported the incident to campus security.
Patron, who always self-represents and elects a jury trial by default, argued he was undertaking a civil process to try and nationalize the university.
He has testified that he believes he is a peace officer due to his political position as leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party, and that as a “naturalized citizen” of Saskatchewan, he has been appointed a peace officer “by a higher court.”
Crown prosecutor Lana Morelli, also appearing by phone on Tuesday, told court that Patron’s Canadian Nationalist Party is a one-person operation “that consists of himself.”
She opposed his request, saying the materials he provided were “lacklustre to say the least.”
It’s also unclear why Patron needs to do this in person, or why he can’t wait until his probation ends, Morelli noted.
The incident at the U of S was the second time in the summer of 2023 that Patron falsely represented himself as a peace officer.
On July 29, 2023, he tried to stop a woman, who was with her young child, in downtown Saskatoon, repeatedly asking if he could ask her a question. After she declined, he followed her, accusing her of abducting her child, until she sought help in the James Hotel Lobby.
The woman said Patron called himself a police officer, while hotel employees said he claimed to be several different types of peace officers.
Patron told court he had a right to stop the woman because he was trying to “keep the peace” and prevent a crime. The woman wasn’t committing any crime, Morelli noted during the trial.
Most recently, Patron was arrested and charged in April with wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group. He was previously convicted in 2022 of promoting hatred against Jewish people after posting videos online.
Zerr is scheduled to render a decision on Patron’s probation request later this week.
–with StarPhoenix files
