A threatening email was sent early Wednesday morning to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada, including several in Montreal, prompting an RCMP investigation.
The email was sent at 5:11 a.m. to roughly 125 organizations, many of them synagogues and nearly all of them linked to Jewish communities, according to RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier.
CBC News has viewed a copy of the email, which contains violent death threats involving explosives.
Wednesday morning, Indian media outlets reported that an email with seemingly identical wording had been sent to “at least 100” hospitals, companies and government institutions in New Delhi.
Poirier said the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team out of Montreal is leading the investigation and is trying to determine the sender’s IP address. He said the team was aware of the email sent in India and that it was in contact with international partners to see if suspects had been identified, and whether similar emails were sent in other places as well.
“Montreal police have deployed in some of those synagogues. And they basically went there to ensure that there was no suspicious packages or suspicious activities. So far, they found nothing,” Poirier said.
“It’s the exact same thing that occurred in the rest of the country.”
Montreal police Const. Sabrina Gauthier said the first call in the city about the threatening email came at 7:10 a.m. from a synagogue in Hampstead and was followed by several others.
Gauthier said police verified each building that had received the threat to make sure there were no explosives inside or out, but found nothing.
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.”
‘Failed’ assault on community psyche
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,” 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, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante posted on X that the city was following the situation closely.
“Threats, violence and fear are unacceptable. I denounce these threats in the strongest possible terms and thank [Montreal police] for their work,” Plante wrote.
She also reposted a statement from the borough mayor of Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, condemning “this antisemitic act.”
Police services in Toronto, York Region, Hamilton, Ottawa and Calgary have all released statements confirming that synagogues and other Jewish organizations received the email and that officers were sent to each one of them. Each said no explosives had been found.
In Ottawa, a hospital received the email. A spokesperson from the Queensway Carleton Hospital told The Canadian Press that police determined the situation was “low risk” but an extensive sweep had been carried out at the hospital and grounds.
Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith Canada confirmed that its Toronto and Montreal offices also received the email.
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.
As reports of hate-motivated crimes skyrocket, CBC’s Ioanna Roumeliotis explores how the divisiveness of the Israel-Hamas war is playing out on the streets of Toronto and gets exclusive access to the police hate crimes unit to find out how it’s responding.
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.”
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.