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RESOLUTION NO 241103
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CÔTE SAINT-LUC CITY COUNCIL HELD
NOVEMBER 11, 2024
Council members present:
Mayor: Mitchel Brownstein, B. Comm., B.D.C., LL.B.
Councillors :
Lior Azerad
Sidney Benizri
Mike Cohen, B.A.
Steven Erdelyi, B.Sc., B.Ed.
Mitch Kujavsky, B. Comm.
Oren Sebag, B.Sc. RN MBA
Andee Shuster
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF CÔTE SAINT-LUC ON ANTISEMITISM AND INTIMIDATION AND THREATS UTTERED OUTSIDE CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM SYNAGOGUE IN WESTMOUNT
WHEREAS following an unlawful incident where pro-Hamas protesters took siege of the Federation CJA building in Montreal on March 4, 2024, a Superior Court injunction was rendered to prevent protestors from congregating within 50 metres of the sidewalk around the Federation CJA building, and certain synagogues and Jewish Day Schools;
WHEREAS this Superior Court order is intended to protect the institutions and those attending them against acts of unlawful nuisance, and/or disturbance of the peace by protesters who through their conduct intimidate, frighten, threaten, create a hostile environment, harass, or cause any person not to have safe access to the buildings and institutions;
WHEREAS the Superior Court injunction (attached herewith as Annex A) was expanded to encompass 27 institutions including synagogues like the Shaar Hashomayim in the City of Westmount, Jewish Day Schools and other organizations, and on October 16, 2024, the Quebec Superior Court renewed the injunction until April 16, 2025;
WHEREAS the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim synagogue has been one of the most significant and largest places of worship for the Jewish community in Montreal since 1846;
WHEREAS on the evening of Tuesday, November 5, 2024, members of the Montreal Jewish community and other communities peacefully gathered at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in the City of Westmount;
WHEREAS that evening, approximately 50 masked pro-Hamas protesters contravened the court order by standing directly outside the synagogue in an attempt to intimidate people from entering and shouted insults and threats including the phrase “Death to Jews!” and in at least one case referred to a person by name and said to them, “Tonight, Jew, you are going to die!”;
WHEREAS the Montreal Police Department (SPVM), did not disperse the crowd or enforce the peace and good order, despite being asked to do so by Westmount municipal officials and others as it was clear that the masked protestors were violating the Superior Court injunction, nor did the police relocate the protestors to at least 50 metres from the curb fronting Congregation Shaar Hashomayim;
WHEREAS on October 2, 2024, (hours before the start of the Jewish High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah) five individuals were detained for actions including allegedly planting firebombs or Molotov cocktails outside Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue in the City of Côte Saint-Luc, and then released within a few hours as families were about to attend services at synagogues across Montreal;
WHEREAS for more than a year, SPVM Director Fady Dagher has publicly and repeatedly told Montrealers that he does not want the Jewish community to be prevented from, or feel prevented from going about its community activities;
WHEREAS for more than a year, radicals under the guise the pro-Palestinian cause have violently attacked synagogues, Jewish Day Schools and community centres, targeted businesses owned by Jewish Quebecers, harassed citizens attempting to gather for community events, and disrupted university life;
WHEREAS many members of the Jewish community of Quebec are viewing these attacks as a pattern of violence designed to systematically disrupt community life and to intimidate its members;
WHEREAS Montreal has become the epicenter for antisemitic actions across Canada, with police reporting 212 heinous crimes and hate incidents targeting Jews in the year since October 7, 2023, a level of antisemitism that is unprecedented;
WHEREAS in the recent 57-page report on racism by Montreal’s Commissioner for the Fight Against Racism and Systemic Discrimination, there was no mention of any act of antisemitism or any act of hatred against Jewish Montrealers;
WHEREAS in a joint statement on November 6, 2024, Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Rabbi Adam Sheier and Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron Rabbi Reuben Poupko stated that, “it is open season on the Jews of Montreal,” and that “the anti-Jewish mob has successfully intimidated the police, the prosecutors, and the mayor”;
WHEREAS it has been observed that in other jurisdictions when antisemitic acts are not responded to by the police and government authorities, there is an escalation in antisemitic actions, most recently on display on the streets of the City of Amsterdam;
WHEREAS our society would find it intolerable to have masked individuals shouting insults and threats at individuals of any other race outside a place of worship or any other community centre;
It was
MOVED BY COUNCILLOR STEVEN ERDELYI
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR LIOR AZERAD
AND RESOLVED:
“THAT the Côte Saint-Luc City Council (“Council”) calls on the SPVM Director Fady Dagher and SPVM Assistant Director Vincent Richer to ensure that peace and order as required by the Superior Court injunction will be enforced if additional protests are held within 50 metres of the institutions covered by the Court orders;
THAT in the event that the SPVM refuses to maintain peace and order and enforce the 50-metre rule required by the Superior Court injunction, Council calls on Quebec Premier François Legault and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to send officers from the Sûreté du Québec and RCMP, respectively, to enforce the law;
THAT Council calls on the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante to ask that all demonstrations be peaceful and that she denounce all language which is hateful or incites violence and supports terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah;
THAT Council calls on Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, and Montreal Executive Committee Member responsible for Public Safety Allain Vaillancourt to meet with the leadership of Côte Saint-Luc, other demerged cities and the representatives of the Jewish Community to explain how the City of Montreal will protect residents;
THAT Council calls on the Government of Canada to make it illegal to glorify terrorism and symbols of terrorist organizations as has been happening repeatedly in Montreal with the open support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Samidoun;
THAT Council directs its City Clerk to send copies of this resolution to the members of the Montreal Agglomeration Council, D’Arcy-McGee MNA Elisabeth Prass, Quebec Minister of Public Security François Bonnardel, Quebec Premier François Legault, Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Dominic Leblanc, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons.”
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
CERTIFIED TRUE COPY
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PASCALIE A. TANGUAY, AVOCATE
CITY CLERK