Standing on a panel with Prime Minister Trudeau (l) and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow (r), Ontario Premier Doug Ford implicitly fingered “immigrants” as the culprits in a recent shooting at a Toronto girls school. While he didn’t mention any specific immigrant communities, it was clear he was pointing to Arab/Palestinian/Muslim Canadians. This a police issue that should be treated seriously. Read more…

“I got an idea. Before you plan on moving to Canada, don’t come to Canada if you’re going to start terrorizing neighbourhoods like this. Simple as that,” said Premier Doug Ford last week after the most recent incident of shooting at a Jewish girls school. At the time he spoke, the police had still not identified a suspect nor made an arrest. No motive had been given for the action, although Premier Ford clearly felt he knew the answer.

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) condemned the racist and inflammatory comments by Premier Doug Ford for suggesting in a press conference – without evidence–that immigrants are to blame for the violence directed at a Jewish girls’ school in North York.

Ford’s statement was also criticized as “dumb” by Immigration Minister Mark Miller. He avoided calling it racist.

Somebody is shooting at Jewish schools – in Toronto, and Montreal, and in Vancouver a synagogue was the object of a suspected arson attack. These acts are appalling and unacceptable. Fortunately, there have been no victims so far, and all of the attacks have been outside active hours. But who committed them and why?

Were they done by Arabs/Palestinians angry at Canadian Jews who support Israel in its genocidal campaign against Palestinians, as Premier Ford implies? Perhaps. But there are other possibilities.

• Hooligans or right wing white supremacists who take advantage of the current debate to express their pre-existing hatred of Jews?
• Mentally disturbed individuals
• Deliberate acts of deception by right wing Zionists or Jewish extremist groups which see this an opportunity to raise the spectre of growing antisemitism?
• A disgruntled employee, in which case antisemitism might not be the cause at all.

Are these incidents all orchestrated by some group, or just copy cats, or even totally unrelated? That seems unlikely, but should not be excluded.

This is serious – authorities need to deal with this seriously

Canadian Jews are understandably nervous about their own safety and security. This must not be tolerated.

OFIP calls on relevant police departments to:

• carry out professional investigations on an urgent basis,
• find and arrest the suspects (whoever they might be) and bring them to trial.
• make public the results of investigations, even where arrests are dropped. There have been too many cases like this one in Ottawa where allegations of antisemitic attacks have been made headlines, only to disappear completely from public view. Efforts by CTIP to find out what actually happened have been stymied by police and courts..

OFIP calls on all politicians to show leadership by:

• facilitating the work of the appropriate police bodies
• refraining from jumping to conclusions without evidence or making inflammatory racist statements which can be appeared to be aimed at Palestinians/Arabs/Muslims.

Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.
Want to learn more about us? Go to Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine.ca