A Newmarket man has been sentenced to one year of house arrest after being convicted in a hate-motivated incident last summer.

Donald Cameron was arrested on September 4, 2025, after threatening to blow up a mosque in Newmarket and threatening to kill his Muslim neighbours, whom he had known for more than a decade.

Days after the arrest, police said that Cameron – who worked in the HVAC industry – intended to use his expertise to tamper with the city’s gas lines in order to carry out the attack.

Cameron pleaded guilty to two counts of uttering threats, and on March 26, 2026, the judge took into consideration hate as an aggravating factor when handing out his sentence.

Camerson was given a one-year conditional sentence order, which includes wearing an electronic monitor and being on house arrest for two-thirds of the sentence. He is also prohibited from living in Newmarket or coming within 100 metres of any mosque in Canada.

Camerson must also serve a three-year probationary period following his year-long sentence.

“Hate has no place in York Region, and any act of Islamophobia is both disturbing and unacceptable,” York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said in a statement on Thursday night.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to combating all forms of hate, bigotry, and intolerance and we will continue to prioritize public safety by thoroughly investigating any instance of hate in our region.”