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 Jewish advocacy group Federation CJA in an interview Wednesday morning.
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 in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are among those which confirmed they have received the threat. Ottawa police say they are on site at several hospitals in the capital but indicated the RCMP is taking the lead on the investigation.
Gauthier, of Montreal police, said police sent a team to verify 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 on the email, though it’s unclear which department is leading the probe.
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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Federation CJA 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 Federation CJA is in close contact with police and its community partners, which he said include all synagogues and Jewish community centres in the city.