Jewish Montrealers enter high holidays with increased security at synagogues
Feds spending more than ever on programs bolstering security at religious institutions
Jewish Montrealers are celebrating some of their most important holidays with bolstered security as the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel brings with it pain and concerns for their safety.
Synagogues usually have an "open door" policy during the high holidays, but this time around security guards and cameras will greet congregants who, in some cases, need to wear wristbands to get in, says Yair Szlak, president and CEO of the Jewish advocacy group Federation CJA.
"There's no specific threat [now] and yet there's this environment of intimidation that has been felt throughout North America," he said. "We have to make sure that Jews don't retreat from Jewish life because then, by the way, our enemies have beat us."
Montreal police echo that no new threats against the community have surfaced, but as deputy chief Vincent Richer says, they remain vigilant. Efforts involve increasing patrols in neighbourhoods with a large Jewish presence over the next 24 days.
He says hate crimes and incidents (non-criminal acts) spiked after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel, killing over 1,000 people and taking some 250 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Helena Plachcinski says she's felt a lot of tension in the air since then.
Plachcinski is Polish and when her dad, a Holocaust survivor, brought his family over to Canada he made a point of saying there was no war, just peace here, she says.
"I know what it means to be a Jew in an unfriendly society," said Plachcinski, adding that she's happy about the extra security measures.
"I will go because it's my duty to show that I'm not afraid," she said.
Hate crimes spiked over last year
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has recorded 288 hate crimes and incidents against Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities with 213 targeted at the former and 75 at the latter. These include crimes against a person, like assault, and crimes against property.
Szlak suspects the numbers are higher due to under-reporting by the community.
Over the last year, Jewish institutions in Montreal have been defaced, shot at and been on the receiving end of Molotov cocktails. More recently, several were the target of a mass email bomb threat.
"We've seen the entire gambit during the last 11 almost 12 months and we always fear that we haven't seen the worst of it," said Szlak.
He worries that Iran's missile attack against Israel earlier this week will provoke a reaction on the streets of Montreal as was the case last October.
At that time, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Montreal in a show of support for the territory that had found itself embroiled in a conflict with one the strongest military forces in the Middle East.
Similar protests have taken place over the year, notably at McGill University where an encampment occupied part of the downtown campus for a little over two months. The university said it investigated reports of antisemitic rhetoric being used at some of these protests.
Millions spent on bolstering security
The Federation CJA's security budget has been rising every year since 2018, when the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh happened.
That year, the federation spent $354,000 on security measures. Szlak says it spent $1.4 million last year and he expects that number to top $2.1 million next year.
In October 2023, the CJA spent $200,000 on security over just two weekends. He says other Jewish institutions like schools have also been supplementing those funds with their own.
"We're in a new reality," he said. "I don't believe we're going back to Oct. 6."
At the Shaar Hashomayim congregation in Westmount, 10 per cent of its operating budget goes toward security, according to Rabbi Adam Scheier.
"It's a tragedy that in Canada in 2024 we're required to even have one security guard or even one security camera but these are the realities of our time and we're going to respond to those realities," he said.
In late September, the Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan announced an investment of over $3.8 million toward a federal program covering security-related costs incurred by religious and community organizations at risk of hate crimes.
The announcement was made on behalf of Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc after three Jewish schools in her riding were shot at since November 2023.
Hate crimes targeting the Jewish community have also seen a rise in Toronto and police there are increasing patrols during the holiday period.
Ezra Shanken, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, says the extra funding and flexibility of the program, now called the Canada Community Security Program, comes as a relief. His federation has spent close to $100,000 securing institutions.
"I mean it's really, really, really tough," he said. "I don't even know where we'd be if we didn't have the kind of co-operation we have with law enforcement today."
Szlak says the program has been helpful but that more operational support is needed on an annual basis.
The CJA is hoping to raise $30 million over the next 10 years toward security, he says.
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With files from Alison Northcott