The Toronto Police Service said on Sunday that its hate crime unit and its gun and gang task force are probing incidents, in which two locations of a Jewish-owned bakery train were attacked on Sunday, one with gunfire and the other with damage to a window.
“At this time, investigators are examining whether the incidents are connected and working to identify those responsible,” the police department said. “There have been no reported injuries.”
Olivia Chow, mayor of Toronto, identified the locations of what she said were “targeted attacks” as the Jewish-owned bagel shop Kiva’s.
The attacks are “vile and unacceptable,” Chow said. “We all have a responsibility to stand against hate. I will always stand with Toronto’s Jewish community against antisemitism. We will continue to invest in community safety and the necessary work of confronting hate wherever it exists.”
Melissa Lantsman, a member of the Canadian Parliament who is Jewish and deputy leader of the Conservative Party, stated that “when a Jewish-owned business gets hit twice, it’s not coincidence. It’s a targeted campaign of intimidation on one community.”
“Synagogues, schools and Jewish businesses come under attack again and again. This country needs to wake up to the hatred metastasizing in its streets,” she said. “Canada’s Jewish community isn’t asking for sympathy. They’re demanding action. Find the people responsible, arrest them and prosecute them.”
“Toothless bills, thoughts and prayers and more statements don’t quell a community’s anxiety. They just insult it. Task forces don’t act. No more councils that don’t speak up,” she added. “Just do the results part. Enforce the law.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, stated that every Canadian should be concerned about a shooting and attack targeting locations of a Jewish-owned bakery, “places where families gather.”
“Thankfully, no one was harmed. We are grateful for the swift response of law enforcement and encourage anyone with information to contact Toronto police,” CIJA stated. “These attacks come amid a broader rise in violent extremism across Canada and other Western democracies—a toxic brew of anti-Zionist rhetoric, local criminal elements, Iranian-backed proxies and ISIS-inspired terrorism.”
“Our leaders must be unequivocal: nothing justifies attacks on Canadians,” the Jewish group stated. “They must also ensure police and security agencies have the resources they need to protect our communities and keep Canadians safe.”
Gideon Sa’ar, Israeli foreign minister, stated that he was “following with concern the worrying news from Toronto of further attacks against Jewish businesses this morning.”
“While thankfully none were injured, this is the latest attack in a long and horrifying line of violence and intimidation against the Canadian Jewish community,” he said. “The Canadian government must confront this antisemitic violent wave.”
B’nai Brith Canada said that it is “alarmed by recent reports concerning attacks on Jewish-owned bakeries in Toronto.”
“The reported attacks targeting Jewish-owned bakeries in Toronto appear to be part of a relentless and escalating campaign of antisemitic intimidation that has seen Jewish schools, synagogues, community institutions, businesses and families targeted across Canada,” it stated. “These attacks are evidence of a systemic national crisis that governments can no longer address through statements of concern, temporary security measures and responses issued only after another Jewish institution has been targeted.”
The Jewish group said that the federal government must “establish a national task force to coordinate the response, investigate those responsible, examine any potential links to extremist or foreign-backed networks and, where the legal criteria are met, pursue the listing of those responsible as terrorist entities.”
“Jewish Canadians cannot continue to be left to secure their own schools, synagogues, community institutions and businesses against escalating threats. This is an emergency, and we expect our governments to fulfill their most basic responsibility, protecting our people, our institutions and our businesses,” B’nai Brith said. “The question is no longer whether Canada has an antisemitism crisis. The question is why our governments do not seem to have the resolve to confront it.”
Vince Gasparro, a Canadian parliamentarian who represents Eglinton-Lawrence and parliamentary secretary to the Canadian secretary of state for combating crime, stated that he has “been going to Kiva’s since I was an undergrad, and I know the owners well.”
“They don’t deserve this. Toronto police will have every resource needed to bring those responsible to justice,” he stated. “When they reopen, let’s all go by and help this great local business come back stronger.”
Per its website, the bagel chain was established in 1979 and operates three locations in Toronto.
The bakery’s website linked to a site from which to order, which said it wasn’t currently taking orders. A social media handle for the chain referred in one post to the food being kosher, and other posts referred to “fresh matzah bagels” on Passoever, latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts) for Chanukah, challahs for holidays, cheesecake for Shavuot, hamantaschen for Purim and honey cake for Rosh Hashanah. One picture showed a blue Star of David decoration hanging from the ceiling.
