First They Come For the Jews ... Your Turn Next

"We have to take parliamentary security more seriously. We need as Canadians to open our eyes and recognize that political violence is not something that just occurs somewhere else, but that it is happening here in our own communities."

"[People have constitutional rights to express a point of view and disagree with fellow Canadians including parliamentarians], But it's also true that we're seeing more threats, more intimidation, more harassment, which can lead to harms both online and in the community."

(former) Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino

 

"My home has been outfitted with a greater degree of security than I feel is ordinary or that I'm personally even comfortable with."

"But when security officials tell you they need to make certain decisions in your best interest when it comes to personal safety and security, you listen to them."

Housing Minister Sean Fraser

Investigators collect evidence after the Montreal office of federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller was vandalized July 18, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Overnight Thursday the Montreal office of Immigration Minister Marc Miller was vandalized, according to police. "Marc Miller Child Killer" was spray painted across the building's exterior, the office windows were smashed and pink paint sloshed on the front of the building. Calling the vandalizing a "criminal act" on social media, Miller said his office had been "daily" threatened for months. "This was no longer a peaceful demonstration."

 

It didn't take long for anti-Israel protesters to proudly take responsibility on Instagram and Twitter for the act. The action, said an Instagram post is "a reminder that the mobilizations will not end and that we will not give in to the genocidal state". 

 

Police are determining whether the office was equipped with an alarm system and if it was, why no alert had been received at 911 central. Police were informed of the incident when a passerby called 911 to report the damage. Police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier confirmed that the interior damage was severe. Nearby surveillance cameras are to be examined for clues on the unfolding of the incident. 

 

Montreal police believe pro-Palestinian activists may be responsible for vandalizing Liberal MP Marc Miller's constituency office in Montreal. (Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada)

 

Coincidentally Marco Mendicino, former public safety minister, has been calling for the creation of "protective zones" around political constituency offices to shield staff and members of Parliament from a rising tide of threatening incidents. Under the plan anyone who intimidates or harasses people would be subject to harsher criminal penalties, up to jail time.

Several Members of Parliament from various parties have had their constituency offices targeted in the last few years. Graffiti spray-painted on the exterior and rocks tossed through windows. Mr. Mendicino received "a barrage of death threats", his family also has been targeted. As he walked to his office one day, a man spat on him When booking appointments with members of the public, he and his constituency staff are more now prudent, sparing more effort to screening.

 

Police say all vandalism, including property damage in the office, was committed from outside. (Gabrielle Proulx/Radio-Canada)

 

It is these MPs' own government that has been the source of the problem, in failing to properly vet those they appoint to critical human rights positions. As long as the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas 'protesters' targeted Jews, Liberal Members of Parliament were disinterested in pursuing any avenues of responding to the threats they faced. Now that they are themselves becoming targets it suddenly becomes a matter of great importance to provide them with protection.

Jewish shop owners, Jewish children attending parochial school, Jews attending synagogue to worship or community centres were harassed and threatened by the presence of these 'protesters'. Encampments set up at university campuses sought to exclude Jewish students from their classes, Jewish faculty members from their lectures, all the while slandering Jews and Israel, calling for a global Intifada, for a 'final solution' to the 'Jewish problem'. And no level of government intervened.

That permissiveness emboldened the 'protesters' who claimed it their constitutional right to free speech when they blocked roads, entrances to hospitals, invaded municipal buildings, demanded that schools and local officials denounce Israel. By doing nothing to protect the Jewish public, officials who shrugged and turned away, lent practical support to the pro-Hamas gangs that disrupted social life and engaged in active antisemitism.