B’nai Brith Canada condemned the recent increase in swastika vandalism that has taken place across the country.
“The continued use of the Nazi swastika in an attempt to intimidate Jewish communities is reprehensible and unacceptable,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn in a statement on Thursday. “We trust that our law-enforcement partners will investigate these matters diligently and do everything possible to apprehend the perpetrators.”
On Thursday morning, a swastika was found by the entrance of the Beth Sholom Synagogue in midtown Toronto. Earlier this week, campaign signs for two Jewish parliament members running for re-election in Montreal were defaced with swastikas. A vehicle in midtown Toronto and the Charlton Public School, located in the Jewish neighborhood of Thornhill, was also defaced with swastikas in two separate incidents on Monday.
On Sunday, members of a Toronto-based Jewish baseball league found a giant swastika drawn in the sand at a public park in Richmond Hill where they were scheduled to play.
The rise in swastika vandalism coincides with the start of the federal election campaign, which formally began on Sunday. B’nai Brith Canada said that in recent years, incidents of anti-Semitism notably increase during both federal and provincial election campaigns in Canada.
Also this week, Toronto Police announced that a suspect was charged with one count of mischief under $5,000 for drawing swastikas on chairs at a park in June. Police are treating the incident as a suspected hate-motivated offense.
