RCMP have charged a 27-year-old man in connection with a video posted to Instagram that featured firearms.
In a Monday press release, police said they began investigating in August after officers were made aware of an Instagram account with videos filmed in or near Yellowknife showing people displaying and discharging firearms.
RCMP said one of the videos, which was posted in May 2025, depicted individuals discharging long guns and investigators determined one of those firearms was a GSG-16 rifle, a prohibited “assault-style” firearm. Police said analysis of the firearm in October confirmed it was functional and prohibited.
On October 31, police said they charged Ekpreet Brar with possession of a firearm at an unauthorized place and possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition without a licence.
Neither of the charges against Brar have been proven in court.
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Police said individuals involved in producing the videos had “cooperated fully in this investigation.”
RCMP confirmed to Cabin Radio that the investigation was related to music videos appearing to feature firearms that raised concerns among some Yellowknife residents this past summer.
Much of the response to the videos featured racism against South Asian people, as those depicted in the videos were of South Asian decent.
Anti-immigrant racism, particularly against South Asian people, has been increasing in the NWT and led to the cancellation of a Diwala gala in Yellowknife earlier this year.
The Association of South Asians in Yellowknife, in an August statement, condemned the music videos saying they showed “a troubling lack of understanding of Northern, Indigenous and Dene values” while reinforcing stereotypes. The organization said it also opposed “any attempt to target or discriminate against South Asians as a whole.”
