The Montreal Police logo is seen on a police car in Montreal on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Montreal police were investigating Thursday after a Jewish school in the city was hit by gunfire, only days after a Toronto Jewish girls school was also the target of a shooting.
Police responded after they received information that projectile impacts were visible on the school located on Hillsdale Road in the C̫te-des-Neiges РNotre-Dame-de-Gr̢ce borough.
Police arrived at the school at around 6 p.m. Wednesday and discovered signs of two bullets having hit the front of the school.
The Jewish Community Council confirmed the alleged shooting occurred at the Belz school, which is located at the Young Israel of Montreal Synagogue.
Police said there were no injuries, and they’re not sure when the shooting occurred. No suspects have been identified.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the latest violent act and promised that law enforcement was working to ensure those responsible would be caught.
“I was of course relieved that no one was hurt, but I’m disgusted by these vile and despicable acts of antisemitism. It needs to stop now,” he said Thursday in Toronto.
“To Jewish parents and students across the country, we stand with you. We will always work to safeguard your right to live proudly Jewish lives in Canada.”
The shooting was discovered less than a week after Toronto police said shots were fired at the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, and months after similar incidents at other Montreal Jewish institutions in the weeks following the start to the Israel-Hamas war.
Montreal police announced last week they had arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with gunshots that were fired at a Jewish school in the city in November. A separate Jewish school in Montreal was also targeted by gunfire and a synagogue in the city’s suburbs was firebombed in late 2023.
Nobody was hurt in any of the incidents.
Jewish organizations Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a joint statement Wednesday night condemning the news of the shooting and calling on Montreal’s municipal leadership to do more to combat antisemitism.
“We have had enough. Yet another Jewish school was shot at in the middle of the night – in Canada,” Federation CJA president Yair Szlak and CIJA Quebec vice-president Eta Yudin wrote.
“Thankfully no one was inside the building, but this violent hatred must no longer be tolerated.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also condemned the shooting.
“We are witnessing a terrifying escalation of antisemitism in this country,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The Trudeau government must step up and finally do something to protect Jewish people in Canada against this violence.”
Montreal police said a patrol car will be present near the school.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2024.
