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Toronto council to reconsider ‘bubble zones’ and millions in security grants to address anti-Israel demonstrations
Toronto’s city council will re-examine how it responds to demonstrations—including incorporating “bubble zones”—as part of a new bylaw that would keep protests away from schools, community centres and places of worship. Council is also looking at adding $2.5 million for security grants to protect such buildings from car attacks. The issue will be discussed in council on Dec. 17.
If approved, the city manager would develop a bylaw “that supports the City’s commitment to keeping Toronto safe from hate and respects Charter jurisprudence that addresses impacts of demonstrations on the public and on access to publicly accessible spaces,” the report states.
City staff will consult the Toronto Police Service and the community. The bylaw would be presented to council’s executive committee by the first quarter of 2025.
A one-time operating grant of $2.5 million for items such as security bollards would be earmarked in the 2025 budget.
Council had considered enacting bubble zone legislation in May, but the item was narrowly defeated in a vote, and referred to the city manager to develop an action plan.
City staff will also review relevant municipal bylaws in nearby Vaughan, Ont., and in Calgary, which “address impacts of demonstrations on the public and on access to publicly accessible spaces.”
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow confirmed in a statement to The CJN that she supports the item.
“Toronto has seen a distressing rise in reported hate crimes including an acute rise in antisemitism. Hateful acts have no place in Toronto. The Toronto Police Service, as the primary responder, is working to maintain public safety and uphold the right to demonstrate lawfully,” wrote Chow.
“I welcome this staff report and the upcoming discussion at City Council to determine what more we can do as a city to foster safety and belonging across communities. I look forward to supporting the very immediate recommendation of a $2.5 million grant program to protect our most vulnerable people and community spaces from hate-motivated attacks.”
The report also calls for a review of permitting policies related to “demonstrations on publicly accessible City property,” which currently do not require a permit.
Toronto city councillor James Pasternak, of York Centre, was one of the early proponents of the previous bylaw that was defeated in May. He says the current item for action took “many months” to develop since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Just days after the attack, there were protests at Nathan Phillips Square, outside City Hall, by those who outwardly supported Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist entity by the federal government.
Pasternak has been critical of the city’s response so far, and says that it’s been a “battle” to get to this point.
“The city needs to take a principled stand, to uphold our current laws, to enforce the city of Toronto hate rallies policy… to respond to the hate rallies that are on our streets that were destabilized in the city, that clearly had many elements that went way over the line,” he said.
“I’ve observed some of them: swastikas, Hitler salutes… calling for intifada and the genocide of Jews. They were illegal, they were despicable, and the response by the city of Toronto has been inadequate.”
He says that police have been extremely responsive when it comes to protecting Jewish events, but that “they’re working under very difficult circumstances with a lack of political support and very thin resources,” and have requested increased support from the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in certain cases.
He calls it deeply frustrating that Toronto appeared to lag behind other municipalities in advancing no-protest zone bylaws.
The motion defeated in council in May would have asked the provincial government to look at creating a law in Ontario to protect vulnerable buildings that would include synagogues, schools and Jewish community centres.
“That [was] probably the nastiest fight floor fight I have seen in the 14 years I’ve been at City Hall. The mayor vigorously fought that, and then we were left with a vacuum.
“We really were one vote away, and all it was, was a benign request for the province to consider passing legislation that would protect places of worship, faith-based schools and faith-based cultural institutions, such as the Holocaust Museum or the Aga Khan [Museum]. So it was for all faiths, and it met enormous opposition, with a bizarre argument that this would affect Charter rights, and that this would affect labour picketing… [that was] both misleading [and] incorrect.
He says the new bylaw proposal, which won’t come to council until 2025, still amounts to “baby steps” when the situation calls for greater urgency.
“To wait another three months is deeply frustrating,” he says. “There’s no guarantee we’re going to get the bubble zones.”
“We don’t know whether we’re going to get the desperately needed collaboration with the other levels of government,” including the RCMP and OPP, he said.
He pointed to an incident where protesters interrupted and managed to cancel a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in 2023, at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
RCMP had jurisdiction for security in that case, because it involved heads of state, he said.
“It was a total fiasco, with a small number of hooligans blocking the entranceway, and no real attempt to create a security corridor, either for the prime minister of Italy or our own prime minister. So you had hundreds of people in there for a state dinner which was cancelled, and it made international headlines, and it was very embarrassing for the city of Toronto.
“We need the provincial and federal governments to help backstop Toronto Police Service. We cannot manage the situation with the thin resources we have,” he said.
He also called for the enforcement of current laws, and for the ministry of the attorney general “to stop dropping charges that police are laying.”
“Unless there’s that collaboration among the three levels of government, this is just going to be endless. The approach of, ‘This will pass,’ and de-escalation will not work when it comes to the groups involved in this chaos across our city. The time for waiting it out and keeping everybody apart and sending everyone home… Clearly, you know, after 14 months, that has not worked.”
Councillor Josh Matlow, of St. Paul’s, voted against the bylaw motion in May, but instead moved the motion for the city manager to develop an action plan.
Matlow said he’ll support the item for consideration at council Dec. 17, and emphasizes that the reason he voted against the previous bylaw had to do, in large part, with not referring the matter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government to create a law.
He has previously told The CJN that the motion at council in May wouldn’t have stopped, for example, the two separate incidents of gunfire at Bais Chaya Mushka, a Jewish girl’s school, when attackers shot at the school overnight.
“It’s already against the law to shoot at a school,” said Matlow.
The safety zone legislation for vulnerable buildings doesn’t address some of the most concerning kinds of incidents, like demonstrations harassing Jewish-owned businesses, or vandalism and antisemitic graffiti, including on posters for the hostages in Israel, which he says has been a reported concern in his district.
“Our problem as a Jewish community is not having protesters standing in front of synagogues on a Saturday morning asking us not to pray,” he said. “It’s about anywhere [members of the] Jewish community are being harassed, and intimidated. It comes in lots of forms.”
The bylaw will need to address, in particular, one specific element of demonstrations.
“It’s about behaviour at these protests more than about protesting… [we have to] protect people’s Charter rights, but also address hateful intimidating behaviour at protests.”
He supports the infrastructure grant and mentioned that street furniture such as bicycle racks could be part of planning discussions depending on the needs and physical locations of individual buildings.
Matlow commended the increased communication and collaboration between city staff and Toronto police in responding to protests so far, including what he says has been an increase in “intelligence sharing,” cooperation and collaboration between city departments and agencies includes TPS, its Hate Crimes Unit and city staff tasked with emergency management.
Councillor Brad Bradford, who moved the original council motion for the safety zone bylaw, says that since Oct. 7, 2023, the Jewish community has been calling on city administrators to do more to address the uptick in hateful incidents.
“The community… has been subjected to harassment, violent intimidation, and significant rise of antisemitism,” he said.
Bradford mentioned the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in downtown Toronto, which several councillors and Chow have also cited, as an example of a Jewish building they want to ensure is protected.
“It’s unfortunate that we need more hardened infrastructure to protect these [vulnerable] facilities, and it’s been promised for many months, and we haven’t yet seen it. So I’m glad to see that that’s moving forward, but it’s nowhere near the urgency that is deserved and required.”
In his own Beaches-area constituency in the city’s east end, an Israeli restaurant, Limon, was targeted with threatening, harassing phone messages and a protest. The Chabad of Danforth-Beaches has seen hostage signs regularly vandalized, he said.
“They continually have the Bring ‘Them Home’ sign taken down, ripped down, stolen, thrown out. We’ve seen that numerous times over the past [15, 16] months. They’re a resilient community, but it doesn’t send a very positive message,” said Bradford.
Michelle Stock, vice-president in Ontario for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, wrote in a statement that some of the demonstrations “filled with hateful chants, signs and antisemitic rhetoric” have left Jewish residents “fearful of attending places of worship, schools and community centres.”
Stock, who met with Mayor Chow in late October, says it’s about time that council acted.
“Although our community has waited far too long to see this, we are pleased to see that the city has finally decided to tackle this serious issue and will be discussing a policy framework regarding the city’s response to demonstrations at next Tuesday’s council meeting,” she wrote.
“Our Toronto community supports the bylaw option similar to those employed in the City of Vaughan. However, we caution that it should also be adjusted to reflect some of the limitations that we saw this past week at a protest outside the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue. Regardless, protecting places of worship and schools from protests within a 100-metre buffer zone is 100 percent necessary.”
She added that it will be key to see how the final bylaw addresses the “obvious limitations to how other bylaws have been implemented.”
At a protest at the BAYT synagogue on Dec. 9, the 100-metre buffer zone bylaw was not enforced. Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca has said he will consult with police and others as to what occurred.
The bylaw may be a hint of things to come at other levels of government, according to a town hall earlier in the week in Montreal featuring Deborah Lyons, Canada’s envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism.
At the event, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, the special government advisor on antisemitism, said that Lyons and CIJA supported a federal version of bubble zone laws, making it a criminal infraction to block access to a school, place of worship or community centre.
“Even though provinces and municipalities could do it better, because they could pass zoning bylaws creating a set distance between the buildings,” Housefather said at the town hall in Montreal, “they’re not doing it as of yet. We need to do that, because you can’t take away someone else’s freedom of speech by using your freedom of speech—and that is exactly what’s happening.”
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Jewish leaders welcome Canada’s decision to convene a second national antisemitism forum
Just one day after Israel’s president Isaac Herzog called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take “firm and decisive action” to combat the “intolerable wave of antisemitic attacks against the Canadian Jewish community”, the federal government announced on Dec. 20 it is convening a national forum on combating antisemitism.
Details are scarce, but the forum will take place in Ottawa in February 2025, under the direction of the justice department and the department of public safety. Political leaders from all three levels of government will be invited to discuss how to better coordinate the justice system and law enforcement and focus specifically on “the growing public safety threat of antisemitism,” according to a media release from the Department of Justice on Dec. 20.
“Canada has seen a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents, threats, and hate crimes,” the release stated. “The Government of Canada recognizes the urgent need for national leadership to ensure Jewish Canadians feel safe in their synagogues, schools, and communities.”
This announcement comes at the end of a turbulent week that saw Congregation Beth Tikvah Ahavat Shalom Nusach Hoari, west of Montreal, firebombed overnight on Dec. 18. It marked the second time since Oct. 7, 2023, that the Dollard-des-Ormeaux shul and adjacent Jewish school were targeted, as well as the West Island office of Montreal’s Federation CJA.
Then, on Dec. 20, in Toronto, the Bais Chaya Mushka girls’ school was attacked by unknown gunmen who opened fire at 2:30 a.m. into the front of the building. It was the third time this year that the school has come under fire. No one was injured in either incident.
Jewish leaders have been pressing Ottawa to do more than issue sympathetic statements condemning antisemitism. They want to address meaningful gaps in policing across jurisdictions, and to press police to better enforce existing laws. In 2023, there were 900 hate crimes against Jews reported to Canadian police; Jews were the target of 70 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes.
However, many community leaders point out that there have been few prosecutions, and are decrying that many of the charges eventually get dropped. Weekly antisemitic and anti-Israel street protests continue in many Canadian cities. Canadian and U.S. federal authorities have recently foiled several terrorist plots involving suspects who were charged with planning attacks on Jews in Ottawa, New York and Richmond Hill, Ont.
Second antisemitism summit since 2021
The February forum is being convened less than three years after the first antisemitism summit was held in July 2021, in the wake of the brief Hamas-Israel war earlier that year. Canada’s first special envoy on antisemitism, Irwin Cotler, helped steer that day-long event, which was held virtually due to the COVID pandemic. The guest list was restricted at first to Liberal ministers and lawmakers.
Following that first summit, the Canadian heritage ministry promised a series of actions to combat antisemitism, and, as The CJN has reported, some of these have come into being:
- Boosting financial help for Jewish communities in the government’s next anti-racism action plan, which was launched earlier this year
- Adjustment of the Security Infrastructure Program, announced this year, to help Jewish places of worship, camps, schools and offices more easily afford to hire security guards, and fortify their security equipment
- Introduced an online hate bill, aimed at tackling hate speech on social media. It has not been adopted yet, due to concerns about infringement on free speech
- More money and staff for the work of the office of the special envoy to preserve Holocaust remembrance and combat antisemitism, including a new handbook on antisemitism, issued Oct. 31
- Funding to revamp the national Holocaust monument signage in Ottawa
- Hearings into antisemitism held on Parliament Hill, specifically looking at campus antisemitism
However, it has been more than a year since domestic antisemitism exploded in the wake of Oct. 7. The violence has cost the lives of more than 800 Israeli soldiers and thousands of Palestinians, including Hamas terrorists, in Gaza.
As of now, it appears that a Jewish Liberal MP from Montreal could play a key role in the summit. Rachel Bendayan, a lawyer who has represented the riding of Outremont since 2019, was named to the federal cabinet on Dec. 20. Aside from her new duties as minister of official languages, Bendayan was named associate minister of public safety.
While Bendayan’s office did not reply to The CJN by publication time, she said she was “honoured and humbled to be sworn in as Minister of Official Languages and Associate Minister of Public Safety,” in a post on social media. “Grateful to share this moment with my family. Ready to get to work.”
Her colleague Anthony Housefather took it as an important signal that Bendayan’s nomination came on the same day as the antisemitism forum announcement.
In July, Housefather, who has since repeatedly called for the Prime Minister to resign, was named special advisor to Trudeau on matters concerning the Jewish community and antisemitism. Housefather has been lobbying for this new summit, behind the scenes and publicly, for months.
“I will work very hard at this forum to push for immediate action and solutions across the levels of government and am gratified that my friend and colleague Rachel Bendayan is the new Associate Minister of Public Safety as her position will allow the Jewish community voice to be even more prominent in giving priority to the issue of anti-Jewish hate,” Housefather said in a statement to The CJN.
Housefather and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have been working with Special Envoy Deborah Lyons to get this new summit approved. As The CJN reported on Dec. 11, calls for the summit were growing louder in recent weeks.
However, according to Richard Marceau, a CIJA vice-president, a summit of words was meaningless unless such a forum focused specifically on policing, law enforcement and prosecutions.
“The forum’s ultimate value will be determined only by the concrete results that come from it,” said Marceau, adding that the values of all Canadians are at stake, not just for Jewish Canadians.
“Police need more resources and specialized training. Laws need to be enforced, charges need to be laid, and perpetrators must be fully prosecuted to end the domination of our streets by extremists,” he said. “And the glorification of terrorism must finally be made a criminal offence in this country. Through the Forum, we will push for these and other concrete measures—but what we won’t accept are photo ops and platitudes. Action to protect our community and all Canadians is long overdue.”
Ahead of Friday’s summit announcement, the other Canadian Jewish member of the federal cabinet, Ya’ara Saks, the minister of mental health and addictions, stood in solidarity outside the site of the Bais Chaya Mushka school in North York after it was shot at.
Saks told a media conference that no Jewish girl, including her own daughters, should have to wake up every morning and ask whether it is safe to go to school—although she didn’t give away any hints that such a summit announcement was imminent.
“The community has been very clear in what needs to be done,” Saks said. “We need all hands on deck, all heads coming together to navigate forward collectively, collaboratively and with one unified voice to ensure that the Jewish community stays safe.
“I am hopeful that we will all get together and do the right thing on behalf of the Jewish community.”
While full details of the new summit have not been released, its fate could be in jeopardy even before it begins.
Although Bendayan and the other cabinet ministers were sworn in officially on Friday, it is unclear how long the Liberal government will remain in power. Efforts are underway by the Opposition Conservatives and New Democrats to topple the government soon, either through a non-confidence motion when Parliament reconvenes on Jan. 27 or sooner. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is asking the governor general to force Parliament to come back before sooner than Jan. 27.
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UN Extends Peacekeeping Mission Between Syria and Golan Heights
Fences are seen on the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, March 25, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended a long-running peacekeeping mission between Syria and the Israeli Golan Heights for six months and expressed concern that military activities in the area could escalate tensions.
Since a lightning rebel offensive ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Israeli troops have moved into the demilitarised zone – created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – that is patrolled by the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
Israeli officials have described the move as a limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of Israel‘s borders but have given no indication of when the troops might be withdrawn.
In the resolution adopted on Friday, the Security Council stressed “that both parties must abide by the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic and scrupulously observe the ceasefire.”
It expressed concern that “the ongoing military activities conducted by any actor in the area of separation continue to have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, jeopardize the ceasefire between the two countries, and pose a risk to the local civilian population and United Nations personnel on the ground.”
Armed forces from Israel and Syria are not allowed in the demilitarized zone – a 400-square-km (155-square-mile) “Area of Separation” – under the ceasefire arrangement.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday: “Let me be clear: There should be no military forces in the area of separation other than U.N. peacekeepers – period.” He also said Israeli airstrikes on Syria were violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “must stop.”
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Shots fired at Bais Chaya Mushka girls school for the third time this year
Bais Chaya Mushka, an elementary girls’ school in Toronto, was shot at early in the morning on Dec. 20, the third time the school has been targeted in the past seven months.
Shots were fired at the school in May and then again in October, on Yom Kippur.
Officers from Toronto Police Service’s 32 Division responded to reports of gunfire to discover six bullet holes in the building’s exterior. No one was inside the school at the time and no injuries were reported.
“It’s incredibly unfortunate that I stand here to discuss yet another shooting at this school,” Supt. Paul MacIntyre of the Organized Crime Enforcement Unit said during a press conference outside the school Friday morning.
Police have made progress in previous incidents at the school, MacIntyre said, stating that two people, a man and a youth, were arrested in connection with the October shooting, and a firearm was recovered. Investigators are now working to determine whether the latest attack is connected to those earlier cases.
“We’ve solved the second case, and the same teams are now working on this investigation,” he said. “With just a few days before Hanukkah, we know how deeply disturbing this is to the Jewish community. We will leave no stone unturned.”
Insp. Roger Desrochers of the Hate Crime Unit said hate crimes require “careful investigation” to determine whether they meet the threshold for charges under the Criminal Code.
“These matters are challenging. Not all offensive actions meet the threshold for criminal charges, and each case must be weighed carefully,” Desrochers said during the presser on Friday afternoon.
Rabbi Yaakov Vidal, principal of the school, said it was challenging to inform parents about the third shooting this year.
“It’s very, very difficult. It’s very, very hard to be woken up in the middle of the night with such news—and it’s now the third time,” Rabbi Vidal said at a press conference outside the school.
“We were not sure if we were able to have school here, due to the police investigation, then we were told it was possible to have school here. I was actually looking for a different location… Parents are very, very frustrated, very afraid to send their kids to school. I am aware of a few that did not send their kids to school today. We hope they once again feel safe to do so every single day, as they deserve.
The school had full-time security during the day when students were present, but overnight security was too expensive, Rabbi Vidal said. “We may have to do this at this point. We’ll have to see what our next step is.”
The recent violence has raised questions about police efforts to protect Jewish institutions. MacIntyre said police have ramped up patrols in recent months under initiatives like Project Resolute but emphasized that officers are also working to balance broader community safety concerns.
When asked whether Jewish institutions should consider armed private security, MacIntyre said he does not support the idea, adding, “We are here to support the community and will continue providing all available resources to ensure their safety.”
Parents picking up their daughters at school expressed both their concern and their determination as the school dealt with a third shooting.
One mother was on the verge of tears as she discussed her decision to send her child to school this morning.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore. It’s the third time. The cops are here, so I feel safe today, but the rest of the time I don’t feel safe,” she said. “These are little girls they’re trying to scare. These idiots should be thrown in jail, but they can’t seem to catch them.”
Her daughter, who suffers from anxiety now, made a grim joke about how easy it is to attack her school, the mother said. “This is my eight year old thinking this. She doesn’t watch violent things.”
Rabbi Yosef Hecht, a Chabad rabbi in Aurora, said he dropped off his two daughters at school this morning “with a very heavy heart,” especially since it was the third shooting.
“Did they catch the people? Do they know who’s behind this? Is it larger than what they are really telling us, is there something larger that we’re not aware of yet?” he asked.
But despite his concerns, he didn’t hesitate to send his children to school. “I felt the school did a good job repairing it temporarily. It shows that, no matter what, we are going to be resolute, strong, and this will just make us stronger and more proud.”
Local leaders call for action
At a press conference earlier in the day, politicians and leaders of the Jewish community were on hand to condemn the shooting and press all levels of government for more action.
The shooting came two days after a Montreal synagogue was firebombed for the second time since Oct. 7, 2023, the date of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza.
“There are common-sense things that our leaders can do to deal with this problem right away. We need funding for police to get the job done and we need to put a stop to the extremism in our streets that’s inciting this violence. The time for our leaders to speak, to tweet, is over. Now it’s time for them to take action,” said Noah Shack, interim president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“The fact is, this isn’t an isolated activity, whether it’s a synagogue being firebombed in Montreal or this school here that continues to suffer from gunfire in an effort to intimidate the girls that are here. There should be no daylight between the mayor of this city, the police of this city and the community that is facing this kind of threat day in and day out,” Shack said.
City councillor James Pasternak said Toronto police are stretched thin and need support from provincial police forces and the RCMP, and called for closer ties between elected officials and police forces.
“The police act forbids elected officials from directing police operations but the police act doesn’t stop us from nuance. We have to back up our police services, give them the political will to stop these roving mobs… that are inciting some of the violence that we are seeing in this neighbourhood and across the land,” he said.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who said in a statement that the shooting was “unacceptable,” was criticized by some Jewish community leaders for her weak stance on the antisemitism that has escalated in the city.
“Mayor Olivia Chow’s continued platitudes in response to antisemitic hate in Toronto ring hollow in the face of her permissive approach to this growing problem,” B’nai Brith Canada stated on social media.
“She has enabled an environment where such acts are allowed to flourish. Banal condemnations without concrete actions leave the Jewish community vulnerable and unsafe.”
Enough is enough. Antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have no place in Toronto.
The latest shooting at the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School is unacceptable. Once again students, families, and neighbours are waking up to safety concerns.
My office has been in contact with…
— Mayor Olivia Chow (@MayorOliviaChow) December 20, 2024
Michael Levitt, a former Liberal MP and now the president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who attended the press conference, also laid responsibility on Chow.
“We have not seen the mayor of the city draw a line through this type of activity and come out and be strong enough,” he said. “Sure, when shots are fired, but what about when all the other incidents have gone on? We need our mayor take a stand with the Jewish community and make it clear that keeping the Jewish community safe is a priority.”
MP Ya’ara Saks appeared at the press conference to expressed her support for the Jewish community. She pushed back on the suggestion that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had not taken the issue seriously enough, pointing to increased funding for federal infrastructure grants, which can now be used for a wider variety of security resources.
This afternoon, the federal government also announced that a second national summit on antisemitism would be convened in February.
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