The Toronto Police Service said on Saturday that it arrested Thomas Andrew Hardcastle, 50, the prior day and charged the Toronto resident with criminal harassment and making threats after what the department called a “suspected hate-motivated threatening investigation.”
The department alleges that Hardcastle sent antisemitic messages to a community center near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West and then visited the center and “uttered antisemitic threats directed toward the victims.”
The department didn’t say which community center. There are about a dozen synagogues and Jewish centers within a few-blocks radius of that intersection.
The attorney general must consent to bringing hate crime charges, which are often brought at a future date, according to the police department.
Jews were the targets of 82% of religion hate crimes in Toronto in 2025, according to police data.
Hardcastle is due in Ontario Court of Justice on Sept. 3.
“This is the saddest, most pathetic mid-life crisis I’ve ever seen,” stated Kevin Vuong, a former Canadian parliamentarian.
