People hold a sit in on Bay St during a march for Gaza rally in support of Palestine in Toronto, on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey
MONTREAL – With prayers, protests, and a heavy police presence, Canada has marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and triggered an ongoing war.
Children arrived at Jewish schools under police watch in cities including Vancouver and Toronto.
Mourners remembered victims of the attacks and prayed for the safe return of hostages seized by Hamas, while others demonstrated against Israel’s military action in Gaza that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Events were mostly trouble-free, but in Montreal, what began as a large and peaceful pro-Palestinian march through the city’s downtown ended with police using chemical irritants and sheer numbers to chase off a group of protesters who used metal bars to smash the doors and windows of a row house under construction belonging to McGill University.
A masked speaker with a megaphone said it was to be part of a sports science institute named after Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, and urged the protesters to “take out your rage on the building.”
For the past year, the Hamas attack and the ensuing war have been at the heart of widespread protests, university encampments, and a spike in reports of hate crimes against Jews and Muslims.
In Montreal, several hundred people had gathered downtown to mark the anniversary with speeches, wreath-laying and prayers while a smattering of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted and police kept watch.
Channa Leah Natanblut, a Concordia student and one of the speakers, said Jews were hurting and mourning and it was important to deal with that sadness and show strength.
“It’s been a very hard year, but I think it’s important to show other Jews that we are not intimidated by the violence we’ve seen in the streets of Montreal “¦ their fear tactics are not working on us,” Natanblut said.
In the separate protest march from Concordia University to McGill, some protesters ran down a side entrance onto the closed off McGill campus, knocking down a metal barricade manned by campus security.
That group was confronted by a contingent of police on horseback, before being chased back off campus by police who ran at them, banging batons on shields.
At the beginning of the march, McGill student Rama Al Malah said students were there to commemorate one year since the beginning of what she called a “mass genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza.” She said student protesters wanted to reaffirm their support for Palestinians and reiterate demands to Concordia and McGill, including divestment from companies linked to Israel’s war effort and an academic boycott of Israeli institutions.
Police in major cities stepped up protections during the anniversary.
In Vancouver, children were dropped off by parents at the Talmud Torah elementary school under the gaze of police in bulletproof vests and at least one police dog.
Allie Saks, who has two children attending Talmud Torah, broke down in tears when asked about the police presence and parents’ unease.
“It’s hard to drop your kid off somewhere where you have to see police in front,” Saks said. “And it’s emotional for all of us. We’re all in a state of grief today and for the whole year – until our hostages come home.”
Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said last week that protests posed a “significant” risk of disorder on Monday, and officers trained specifically for large-scale events were being deployed.
Pro-Palestinian group Samidoun was planning a Vancouver rally which it promoted by referring to the Oct. 7 attacks as “Al-Aqsa Flood,” the Hamas code name for the operation.
A Toronto police van was parked out front of a Hebrew day school along Bathurst Street in one of the city’s most recognizably Jewish neighbourhoods. On the corner, a large poster called for the return of hostages.
Just up the road, at the Sherman Campus, a sprawling hub of Jewish groups and agencies, preparations were being made for a memorial event planned for Monday night.
A spokesperson for the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, which was hosting the evening event, said it was important to gather to “remember all the lives that were tragically lost on Oct. 7 in Israel, but also to recognize that this situation is still a live situation.”
“This is not an opportunity where we are remembering something that happened. We still have more than 100 hostages, including family members of Canadians, who are in Gaza being held by Hamas,” said Sara Lefton, the organization’s chief development officer.
Some victims’ families also launched legal action on Monday over the attack.
Tiferet Lapidot’s father, along with another Canadian who lost family members in the attack, filed a claim in Ontario Superior Court seeking $250 million in damages under Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, plus an additional $100 million.
The claim lists Hamas, various Palestinian organizations, the leaders of Iran and Syria and several Canadian individuals and groups among the defendants.
It alleges all the defendants are in some way responsible or liable for the losses and damages caused by the deaths. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Family members said the last time they heard from Lapidot was in a phone call from the Supernova music festival near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, where Hamas launched its attack.
“She called her mother at nine o’clock in the morning, telling her that she loves her and they’re shooting youngsters all around,” her uncle, Harel Lapidot, said Monday at a Toronto event marking the anniversary.
A year later, the family’s grief over the loss of the young woman he described as their “sunshine” is “getting worse day by day,” her uncle said. She was one of at least eight people with ties to Canada who died that day.
“It was the most horrific thing for us as a family to lose Tiferet. Tiferet was a happy young lady “¦ that was just dancing at a festival,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marked the anniversary in a written statement, saying his thoughts are with all Israelis and Jewish people, and with the Jewish community in Canada.
Trudeau condemned Hamas, which Canada recognizes as a terrorist group, and said his government remains committed to working toward a two-state solution, “where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognized borders.”
“Hamas has set the region down a path of war and violence. We mourn the Canadians and all civilians killed in the year that followed. We condemn Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, whose senseless attacks lead to more death and instability,” he wrote.
“The scale of civilian casualties since Oct. 7 is heartbreaking and unacceptable, and all actors must comply with international law.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said hostages must be let go and he condemned what he called “grotesque” antisemitism in Canada. “We unapologetically stand with Israel,” he wrote in a statement.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh repeated calls for hostages to be returned and said New Democrats mourn with Canada’s Jewish community.
Monday’s events took place against a backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East.
Hamas, which remains in control of the bombarded Gaza Strip, marked the anniversary by firing a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed to keep up its own rocket fire despite recent losses in southern Lebanon, where Israel has been mounting a ground incursion.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.
– With files from Jordan Omstead in Toronto, Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal, Chuck Chiang in Vancouver and The Associated Press.
