A threatening email was sent early Wednesday morning to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada, including several in Montreal, prompting investigations by police in multiple cities and the RCMP.
Cst. Sabrina Gauthier, a spokesperson for the Montreal police, said a 911 call came in at 7:10 a.m. from a synagogue in Hampstead about an email it had received saying bombs had been placed in the building.
The email was sent to more than 100 synagogues, Jewish community centres and other institutions across the country, said a spokesperson for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in an interview Wednesday morning.
Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada said the emails sent at 5 a.m. threatened explosions, including at their offices in Toronto and Montreal.
Synagogues, Jewish community centres and hospitals are among those which confirmed they have received the threat.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a statement on the social media platform X on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “I’m disgusted at reports that more than 100 Jewish institutions across Canada were targeted by threats today. This is blatant antisemitism.”
He said RCMP is in contact with local law enforcement and that the government is “working with them to keep Jewish Canadians safe.”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko of the Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc, a city on the island of Montreal, said he woke up to the email Wednesday and quickly realized he was among more than 100 others to have received it.
“The purpose of that email is really an assault on the psyche of a community. But if that was the intent, it certainly failed. I mean, every synagogue (in Montreal) was open,” Poupko said.
“Jewish life went on as normal — with heightened vigilance, yes, but we understand that the intent is to frighten and to sabotage normal life. And we won’t allow that to happen.”
He said there were roughly 24 temples and community centres that received the email in the Montreal area, including in Westmount, Côte Saint-Luc and Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
Police evaluating threats
The Toronto Police Service said it had searched buildings on Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West for a bomb threat.
“The buildings were evacuated as a precaution and cleared,” TPS spokesperson Laura Brabant said in an email to CBC News.
“We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto.”
Gauthier, of the Montreal police, said officers checked the interior and exterior of the building on Harrow Crescent in Hampstead, an independent municipality in western Montreal.
“The team did not detect any immediate threats,” Gauthier said over the phone.
She said police soon received calls from Jewish establishments in other Montreal neighbourhoods that had received the same email and is verifying those locations as well.
A spokeswoman from the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa said the police determined the situation was “low risk” but an extensive sweep had been carried out at the hospital and grounds.
The RCMP is now conducting a Canada-wide investigation through its Federal Policing National Security Program.
Reached by phone, Rabbi Michael Whitman of Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff Synagogue in Hampstead, said he could no longer comment on the email his temple had received as it is working with the security arm of Federation CJA.
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CIJA spokesperson Julien Corona said the email appears to have been sent to cause widespread fear in Canadian Jewish communities.
“They want to scare in a way that is quite emotional, quite visual.… By referencing disgusting things, the goal is to intimidate so that the Jewish community does not feel safe where it is supposed to feel safe,” Corona said in an interview.
“It’s unacceptable and it is also proof of the rising antisemitism in our country.”
CBC News has viewed a screenshot of the email, which contains violent death threats.
Corona said CIJA is in close contact with police, Federation CJA and its community partners, which he said include all synagogues and Jewish community centres in the city.
CBC News is looking to speak with members of Canada’s Jewish communities. How have antisemitic threats impacted your day-to-day life? Reach out by email to ask@cbc.ca.