Former Hamilton Catholic school employee under investigation following discovery of hateful, conspiratorial comments online

Hamilton's Catholic board has launched an internal investigation following the discovery of hateful and conspiratorial messages posted to a social media account allegedly connected to an employee at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School.

The staff member, who is no longer employed with the Catholic board, denies posting the messages and says he was hacked.

Pat Daly, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said the board was notified last week about allegations concerning an educational assistant who works with students at the high school.

I can't get into details, but what I can say is that we were informed and made aware of these allegations on (Jan. 5), and that we've launched an investigation," Daly told The Spectator, noting the allegations are unproven. We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously."

On Friday, Daly told The Spectator Juhlke is no longer an employee with the Catholic board. He said the investigation is still ongoing, and wouldn't say if Juhlke was terminated from his position or if he quit.

The board initiated the investigation following a Jan. 5 report from the Canadian Anti-Hate Network that identified Timothy Juhlke as the person behind a Facebook account listed as TJ Dread."

The account posted hateful and threatening comments as well as disinformation about COVID-19, though Juhlke denies he was the one who posted the messages.

It's not true. I've been hacked repeatedly. I get hateful ... messages from people I don't know prior to this. I don't know any of these people," Juhlke said in an email exchange with The Spectator. I don't have a problem with anyone ... My life and reputation are destroyed because of this."

The TJ Dread" account was deactivated after the Canadian Anti-Hate Network report was posted online.

But in screenshots the Canadian Anti-Hate Network shared with The Spectator, the TJ Dread" account describes Muslims as cave people." The account also writes that COVID-19 is part of a globalist plot initiated by the the unmentionable tribe" - an anti-Semitic reference to Jewish people.

The report also references threatening letters sent to prominent journalists from an email account listed under Juhlke's name.

One letter, sent to Canadian journalist Warren Kinsella in 2012, reads, This country was made by white people for white people and if you don't like it get the fuckout (sic)."

Hazel Woodrow, the investigator with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network who wrote the report, said she identified Juhlke as TJ Dread" by conducting a Google search of a band TJ Dread" frequently posted about, which identified Tim Juhlke" as one of the members.

Woodrow also found that TJ Dread" claimed to be an employee at St. Mary's, where Juhlke worked.

Screenshots shared with The Spectator show TJ Dread" posted a photo of the football field at St. Mary last November with the caption, Beautiful day at the office this morning."

Jacob Lorinc's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about education.