Hate condemned after Montreal Jewish school struck by gunfire for 2nd time this week
'The Jewish community is under attack in Montreal,' says mayor
Members of Montreal's Jewish community say they will not be intimidated into closing the doors to their establishments after a day school in the city's west end was struck by gunfire overnight for the second time in the past four days.
Bullet impact marks were found on the facade of Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, located on Deacon Road in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, Sunday morning. Shell casings were also found on the ground nearby. No one was injured.
"It is sad once again to see that the Jewish community and our institution has been the target of hate crime and violence," Lionel Perez, a spokesperson for the school, said at a news conference outside the building Sunday morning.
Perez described the incident as a "terrorist attack," saying that while the community is concerned by the recent events, it will "not allow itself to be terrorized."
Instead, he is calling for increased police presence at Jewish schools and institutions.
"We believe that now is the time to redouble [police] efforts and to ensure that everything [necessary] is being done."
Police say they received several calls around 5 a.m. about gunshots near Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, which is normally open Sundays.
Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) spokesperson Véronique Dubuc says witnesses reported seeing a vehicle fleeing the scene at the time of the gunfire.
No arrests have been made yet.
Dubuc said police cannot confirm if there was anyone inside the building at the time of the event.
A security perimeter has been set up for the investigation.
In a statement, Premier François Legault said his heart goes out to Quebec's Jewish community, adding "every effort will be made to find and punish the culprits."
"The Quebec nation is a peaceful nation. Let's not import the hatred and violence we see elsewhere in the world," he said.
'Nobody accepts this,' says mayor
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante also spoke to reporters outside Yeshiva Gedola school Sunday morning, calling the recent acts of violence "odious."
"At this moment, the Jewish community is under attack in Montreal," Plante said.
"Nobody accepts this, nobody wants this, nobody will say it's OK to shoot [at] an elementary school to pass a message."
The mayor said Montreal is a city of peace. People can have different opinions and partake in protests, she said, but nothing justifies hate.
Alain Vaillancourt, Montreal's executive committee member responsible for public security, said even more SPVM patrol vehicles are being deployed — and with a new mandate following this latest incident.
"The patrols that are now in place are not responding to regular calls or urgent calls. They're uniquely patrolling the area" around places such as schools, synagogues and mosques, he said.
Sunday's incident comes after shots were fired at both Yeshiva Gedola and Talmud Torah Elementary School, another Jewish school in Côte-des-Neiges, overnight Wednesday.
Police said both schools were empty at the time of the shooting and nobody was injured.
Mayer Feig, a member of the Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec, says shooting at schools is meant to intimidate the Jewish population in the city.
"They want to put fear into the community," said Feig.
"These things have to stop. This has no place here in Quebec, in Canada or Montreal, it's not who we are. There's a conflict going on thousands of miles away, don't bring it here."
On Monday, a West Island synagogue and Jewish community centre were targeted by Molotov cocktails.
The events come at a time of rising tensions in Montreal related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.
Muslim, Jewish voices come together
On the same day of the attack, 10 women community leaders from diverse backgrounds came together at a scheduled news conference in Montreal to denounce hate, antisemitism and Islamophobia and to encourage Montrealers to work together against violence.
Women of Jewish, Muslim, Asian, Black and Arab backgrounds attended the event, organized by the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), to unite their voices.
"There's a lot more that unites us than what separates us," said Mélissa Shriqui from Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in the city of Westmount about why she was in attendance.
"We need to have empathy."
Pearl Eliadis, an associate professor at McGill University's Max Bell School of Public Policy, said people cannot take sides when it comes to hate expressed in Canada.
"We need to stand against antisemitism. We need to stand against Islamophobia. We need to stand against all forms of racism wherever they occur."
Farida Mohamed, head of the Montreal chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said it "doesn't matter what denomination we're from, we need to speak up when we see a wrong."
Mohamed is calling for people to keep their cool at this time of intense emotion.
"Yes, there's a lot of anger. Anger needs to be channeled properly, anger has to be channeled from pragmatic means … in order to create good, lasting change," she said.
"We have to keep civility in all matters."
Between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7, Montreal police have tallied 73 reported hate crimes and hate incidents against the Jewish community and 25 against the Arab-Muslim community.
Last year, Montreal police tallied 72 hate crimes and incidents against all groups for the entirety of 2022.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
with files from Radio-Canada and CBC's Kwabena Oduro