Patron convicted of impersonating U of S Protective Services officer

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A Saskatchewan man with prior convictions for assault, harassment and promoting hate has been found guilty of falsely representing himself to be a University of Saskatchewan Protective Services officer in the summer of 2023.

Wearing a black and grey plaid shirt and refusing to stand for the jury, Travis Mitchell Patron stared straight ahead as the verdict was read Friday afternoon.

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Jurors deliberated for four hours at Patron’s second of three Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench jury trials this year. The 33-year-old will remain in custody until his scheduled sentencing hearing on Dec. 19.

When Justice Heather MacMillan-Brown asked Patron, who has self-represented at five separate Saskatchewan trials over the past three years, if he wanted a pre-sentence report, Patron replied, “I maintain my innocence.”

On Monday, Savannah Zalik, a U of S employee, testified that she was walking through “the Bowl” — a green space in the middle of campus — when a stranger approached her on a pathway sometime after 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2023.

She said the man identified himself as a member of protective services and asked if he could escort her across campus. She said she was suspicious because he wasn’t wearing a uniform, and because the campus Safewalk program is by request.

After she declined his offer, they parted ways and Zalik reported the encounter to campus security, court heard.

Crown prosecutor Lana Morelli asked Zalik how the interaction made her feel.

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“A little bit uncomfortable, because to my knowledge that person was not a protective services officer,” she replied.

She said the man’s tone had a bit of authority, and she remembered his eyes were “intense and piercing.” Zalik identified Patron in the courtroom as the man who approached her.

In 2022, Patron was convicted of assaulting two Regina women he met at a bar after they declined a ride home in 2019.

Zalik agreed with Patron during cross-examination that their interaction was cordial and she thanked him for the offer. Patron then asked if she actually was grateful. She said no. He then asked if she believes in chivalry, to which she replied, “I don’t know.”

Patron, referring to himself in the third person, suggested Zalik was under the impression that he had an authority or duty to protect, partly because her initial statement described him as wearing a long, brown security-type shirt.

“I did not believe that he had any authority,” Zalik replied.

She said she later learned that Patron was a political party leader. He then asked if she was aware that as a party leader, he had a “judicial lien” on the U of S campus. She said she did not know any such thing.

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Patron continues to call himself the current leader of the far-right Canadian Nationalist Party. The party was deregistered in 2022 for failing to show compliance with the requirement to have at least 250 members.

Zalik told Patron she wasn’t aware of a Safewalk program that operates out of a room adjacent to the international student lounge, where people don’t have to wear uniforms. Patron asked how she would know that a person who offers a “safe walk” has to wear a uniform if she’s never had one before.

Zalik said she knows what campus officers wear, and believed they solely operated the program.

Cpl. Justin Durette with Protective Services testified that they provide a Safewalk program, by request, staffed by student volunteers who don’t have to wear uniforms.

Jurors don’t give reasons for their decisions, but Morelli argued that Patron specifically said he was a member of Protective Services — peace officers who enforce traffic laws and respond to calls on campus.

It is illegal to impersonate any type of peace officer.

Patron testified that he is a peace officer because of his political position, and was undertaking a civil process by trying to nationalize the university. He admitted interacting with Zalik, but said he told her he was campus security.

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Patron was also convicted of breaching an October 2022 probation order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The order was part of a sentence he received after being convicted of wilful promotion of hatred.

Under cross-examination, Durette testified that Protective Services had issued a trespass notice to Patron on May 16, 2023 — three months before he was arrested on campus.

When Patron asked why it was issued, Durette said there had been prior reports of Patron spreading hate speech, harassing people and impersonating university employees.

He agreed with Patron that a person has the right to know why they are being accused of trespassing, but denied Patron’s claims that he used “force” when arresting him, including kicking, cursing and mocking his haircut. 

In January, Patron was convicted of harassing an interracial couple at Saskatoon’s Midtown Mall on July 30, 2023 — two days before the U of S incident. He lost his appeal in September.

He’s also accused of impersonating a peace officer while harassing a woman in the city’s downtown on July 29, 2023. His trial on that charge is scheduled for December.

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