Groups demand Montreal 'play a more active role' combating antisemitism
Community groups in Montreal are calling for more to be done to stop antisemitism in the wake of hateful symbols being spray painted on a local synagogue.
Several people gathered Tuesday in front of Bagg Street Shul in the Plateau, which was defaced with swastikas last week.
"They had no fear, they took their time doing it. It actually looked very symmetrical so it was quite shocking," said Sam Sheraton, a member of the synagogue and son of Holocaust survivors.
The swastikas have since been removed. Montreal police are investigating the incident, but have not yet made any arrests.
"People of good faith who live and belong, they should be able to live and belong in freedom and free from acts of hate," said Henry Topas, the Quebec regional director of B’nai Brith Canada.
When community groups heard what happened to one of Quebec’s oldest synagogues, they mobilized in solidarity, denouncing the incident and calling on the city to do more.
"We hope to come up with — in the next few weeks — with some concrete ideas and measures to work with the City of Montreal, which has to play a more active role with the police and other agencies to develop what I call a new Montreal action plan to combat hate," said Fo Niemi, who heads the civil rights group Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR)
GROUP ALSO WANTS PROVINCE TO STEP IN
"Quebec should follow the example of Ontario and develop a curriculum that is age-appropriate and will help people understand what the Holocaust was," said Marvin Rotrand, national director of B’nai Brith’s League of Human Rights.
Last year, Ontario announced it would introduce mandatory Holocaust education to the Grade 6 curriculum in an attempt to help stop rising antisemitism in schools.
B'nai Brith said it believes a change to the curriculum could help lower the number of hate-motivated incidents in Montreal, where the number is the highest in the country.
The organization's 2021 report showed a 20 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents in Quebec.
Its 2022 report is set to be released later this month.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.