OTTAWA — The RCMP says it's aware of social media posts threatening the Jewish community in Canada, calling it a time for "increased vigilance," while public safety and justice ministers from across the country said no one should be pushing for violence or supporting terrorism.
"Canadians have the right to feel safe to practise their faith and express their beliefs," said a joint statement issued Thursday by federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice and public safety, who were gathered for a meeting in Bromont, Que.
"There is no place for supporting terrorism or advocating for violence in Canada."
The statement was framed as a response to "calls for global protest and unrest" from Hamas, which Canada lists as a terrorist organization.
Hamas militants launched a deadly attack last weekend that killed hundreds of people in Israel, including at an outdoor music festival. Israel has retaliated with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007, and by cutting access to water and power in the territory. Israel's military has told more than one million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate the area, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing Friday to destroy Hamas.
The Associated Press reports the war has killed at least 3,200 people on both sides so far.
The statement from the RCMP came as several Canadian polices forces, including in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, say they have upped patrols in response to the Israel-Hamas war but have not identified any specific local threats.
A spokesperson for the Mounties declined to answer further questions about the social media threats, including whether the force was investigating.
The statement says any threats are taken seriously and investigated as warranted.
The Ontario Provincial Police issued a statement Friday morning saying it was aware of "global online threats of violence regarding the situation in the Middle East."
Speaking to reporters in Bromont after the ministerial meeting on Friday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said officials in law enforcement "are very much working together to ensure that Jewish communities and other communities are safe in the face of this threat."
Justice Minister Arif Virani said at the same news conference that while the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, it is also against the law to wilfully promote or incite hatred.
"We have to ensure … when the line is surpassed, that our law enforcement officials have the tools in place, the resources in place and the ability to ensure that they are making arrests when required," Virani said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters in Vancouver on Friday that Conservatives believe in freedom of speech and assembly.
"People are free to state their own opinions, even opinions that I find abhorrent," he said.
"That said, I'm free to state my opinion, which is that Hamas is a sadistic, terrorist death cult and it must be defeated, and I find it abhorrent that anyone in Canada or anywhere else would show their support for Hamas."
In Montreal, activists organizing a pro-Palestinian rally Friday evening said statements that associate protest with hatred are unwarranted. Earlier in the day, Quebec’s public security minister and higher education minister both said supporters of the Palestinian cause have the right to protest but warned police would not tolerate the promotion of hatred.
“I think this is a reflection of a campaign of fear that Canada has been leading, that the western powers have been leading in order to silence all support of Palestinian people, people who are advocating for innocent civilians that are dying under Israeli bombs," said Sarah Shamy, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Youth Movement. "As we speak, bombs are raining down on the people of Gaza. These are weapons and bombs that are funded by us."
Shamy, however, refused to condemn the attack by Hamas on Israel, saying only that colonized people have the right to resist their occupation.
The peaceful evening protest stretched for several city blocks as the tightly packed crowd marched towards the building hosting the Israeli Consulate, just west of downtown.
Outside the consulate, protesters chanted slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine and boycotts of Israel. Many protesters carried Palestinian flags, while others carried signs condemning the deaths of Palestinian children or celebrating "resistance" to Israel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2023.
— With files from Nono Shen in Vancouver, Pierre Saint-Arnaud in Bromont, Que., Jacob Serebrin in Montreal and The Associated Press.
Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the statement by federal, provincial and territorial ministers for public safety and justice was issued on Friday.
