"There is of course so much more that went into this decision [conversion of Catholicism] and that I plan to share in the future. But for now, praise be to God for His gentle, but relentless guiding of my heart toward Truth." 

"The change for Owens comes amid shifting sands in her professional life, including an acrimonious exit from The Daily Wire in March following statements she made and supported that were seen as antisemitic."

"Owens has lately made a decided shift toward more open support of Christianity, taking "Christ is King" as a mantra in many of her frequent online postings — often in support of ideas and policies seen as Christian nationalist and anti-Jewish."

"She began using the phrase online in November 2023, when she first came under fire from the well-known Jewish-American conservative and Daily Wire cofounder Ben Shapiro, who called Owens' support for antisemitic tropes and criticism of Israel’s alleged Gaza genocide "disgraceful."

Nate Tinner-Williams, National Catholic Reporter 

Candace Owens standing beside Oratorian priest Fr. Julian Large at the Brompton Oratory in London   Crisis Magazine

 

"[She is] a conspiracy-theory propagandist whose most fevered rants are antisemitic in both tone and content."

"[Antisemitism is] a grave sin as well as a social cancer. [Converts baptized or received into full communion must affirm the teachings of the Second Vatican Council's 1954 declaration Nostra Aetate, which explicitly condemns] hatred, persecutions [and] displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone."

"What kind of catechesis takes place at the Oratory once led by the great hymnist, Father Frederick Faber?

For Candace Owens is a conspiracy-theory propagandist whose most fevered rants are antisemitic in both tone and content. She has indulged in various forms of Holocaust denial; propagated the canard that Jews were responsible for the Atlantic slave trade; and promoted a thoroughly discredited 19^th-century book, The Talmudic Jew, which claims that the Talmud is a secret code for a Jewish takeover of the world—which would be quite a feat for .02% of the global population."

George Weigel, Catholic theologian, The Catholic World Report  

No sooner was this viral vector of Jew-hate accepted into the Roman Catholic Church, than an invitation was extended for her to appear alongside other right-wing Catholic 'personalities' known as vocal critics of Pope Francis, as a listed speaker at an upcoming "Catholic Identity Conference". Candace Owens who has proudly presented herself as a strident virago of pure, unadulterated hate -- as a throwback to the Middle Ages when Jews were charged with Deicide and considered practitioners of demonization whose purpose on Earth was to dominate decent Christians, when blood libels of Christian infants' blood used to make Passover flatbread proliferated, fuelling pogroms -- finds herself comfortable in the bosom of the Church.

 

Theologically, formally, the Catholic Church has long forsworn its hostility to Israel and its thousands of years of Jewish persecution. On the other hand the inheritance of Jew-hatred still dominates within segments of the Church and among many of its adherents. Catholic Ireland of today resonates with the indoctrination of generation after generation of the faithful who drank the poisoned cup of Jew-hate and find it now nigh-impossible to reject that evil pathology that thrives to the present day. Memories of the Spanish Inquisition resonate today in Spain with its government's befouling of Israel in claims of 'genocide' in Gaza.

 

The sacrament of Confirmation, a traditional Latin rite that took place in April 2026 consolidated Candace Owens' sacrament of Baptism at London's Brompton Oratory, in 2024. She is now the daughter of the Catholic Church, 'gone home', as she puts it. Her sentiments are not, perforce, viewed as radical and 'unChristian', they have an honoured place in the Church, sanctified by enduring custom no matter the Nostra Aetate. This popular public figure now has a pulpit in the Church to complement her YouTube channel where she spouts her venom to an appreciative audience.

 

Can one now anticipate that others of her celebrity ilk such as Tucker Carlson, Dan Bilzerian, Nick Fuentes and Hasan Piker will also be inspired to find God, and turn to the Catholic Church for the comfort of full communion? Do they really need to broaden their pulpit? Or do they somehow long for the loving arms of an hand-me-down religion that emanated from the original Judeo-faith teachings of a Mediterranean ethnic group of ancient heritage spurned by those who adore a Jewish sage and cherish the second-hand ethical morality of those they despise?  

Your Holiness Pope Leo XIV,

You are the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, and the spiritual father of over a billion Catholics worldwide. But you are also something new in the long history of the papacy: an American Pope. That fact carries immense symbolic weight, and with it an immense moral obligation and a spiritual calling of global significance.

We must be honest, Your Holiness. The Catholic Church has not always met this test. During the Holocaust, while Jews were deported from Rome’s ghetto just yards from the Vatican walls, Pope Pius XII remained largely silent.² Trains departed for Auschwitz. Men, women, and children were led to slaughter. More than 1300 Roman Jews were incarcerated at a military camp for two days in October, 1943 just two blocks from the Vatican. Pope Pius summoned the German Ambassador Ernst von Weizsäcker and demanded the release, not of the 1000 Jews but only of the 250 who had been baptized into Catholicism. The rest were sent by cattle car to Auschwitz in an eight-day Germany where nearly all were immediately gassed. Some eight Jews survived. 

And though he surely knew, the Pope’s voice never rang out with the clarity that history demanded.

Owens is one of America’s most visible and vile media personalities. She claims Catholic identity — proudly and repeatedly. She has described herself as “a proud Catholic” in interviews, insisted she is speaking from a “Catholic worldview,” and has even told critics, “You cannot cancel me — I stand with the Church.”⁴ On podcasts and public appearances, she invokes Catholicism as the foundation of her values, presenting her rhetoric as authentically Catholic.

This is what makes her venom doubly dangerous. She does not speak merely as a commentator. She speaks as a Catholic. Every time she minimizes Hitler, every time she casts doubt on the Holocaust, every time she rails against Jews or Israel, she does so under the mantle of Catholic identity. To millions of listeners, the message is clear: this is what Catholics believe.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, A Plea to Pope Leo: Condemn the Antisemitism of Candace Owens  

Candace Owens on set of “Candace”. (Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images)

 

"[Her allegations of a] hidden Jewish hand, supposedly instructed by millenia-old Jewish texts, that somehow connects psychiatry, pornography, Hollywood, the publishing industry [and] the Atlantic slave trade [exemplify her defamatory allegations]."

"They will learn any language, become what they have to become, move wherever they need to move. And wherever they go, they bring their filth with them."

Anti-Defamation League on Candace Owens as purveyor of rampant antisemitism

 

"Ms. Owens frequently hides behind the guise of “courageous inquiry” and “anti-establishment” rhetoric. However, by using her Catholic identity as a shield for antisemitic tropes, she is not merely engaging in debate; she is committing calumny — the grave sin of spreading malicious lies to destroy the reputation of an entire people."

"Her rhetoric has crossed a line from political commentary into the realm of the grotesque. By labeling the State of Israel “demonic,” she echoes the most dangerous spiritual libels of the past. Even more chilling is her move to minimize the horrific Mengele experiments of the Holocaust, treating the systematic torture of Jews as a subject for “edgy” skepticism. Perhaps most egregious is her flirtation with the “Blood Libel,” the baseless and bloody medieval myth that Jews consume the blood of Christians."

"The Catholic Church, through the landmark Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, definitively broke with the “teaching of contempt.” It affirmed that the Jewish people are the “elder brothers” and that any form of antisemitism is a sin against God Himself. For a layperson to publicly defy this teaching while claiming to represent “authentic” Catholicism is a perversion of the faith."

David Nekrutman, Executive Director, The Isaiah Projects

Toronto The Good No Longer -- Open Season on Home Invasions

"When it comes to crime trends, it's challenging to attribute increases to a single factor. We use data to identify trends and determine where resources and strategies are needed most."

"When we see areas of concern emerge, we adjust our approach and deploy resources accordingly."

"We know that any home invasion is alarming and terrifying for residents, and we take these incidents extremely seriously." 

Toronto Police spokesperson Nadine Ramadan 

 

"We had a unique crime trend that was happening here, which were extortions or shootings attached to extortion, which are targeting our South Asian business community."

"At the end of May, we made a pretty substantial arrest: 'For Brothers', a group that was primarily involved in extortion."

"Since that time, we've seen the number of extortions targeting our South Asian business community decrease."

Peel Deputy Police Chief Nick Milinovich 

Toronto police named Daijohn Richards, 23, of Toronto as a suspect wanted in connection with a home invasion in the Bridle Path neighbourhood in which a businessman's family members were shot and attacked with a hammer. Daijohn walked into a Toronto hospital with a gunshot wound on Thursday, after it's believed he was accidentally shot by an accomplice during the home invasion. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday and is now missing. Still from Video, CBC

 

The recent home invasion of a mansion on Toronto's prestigious Bridle Path area of three masked men who confronted the homeowner, his wife and two adult daughters was fairly different from most home invasions taking place in Toronto in that this was an unusually violent event. The invaders carried weapons -- guns and a hammer. Three of the home's residents were shot, and one had been bludgeoned by the invader carrying the hammer. Two of the residents' injuries were serious enough to require lengthy hospital stays; the other two were treated and released, to continue recovering at  home. 

 

A woman believed to be the home owner came back to the home with Toronto Police and came out with three dogs believed to be family pets according to a man who showed up with leashes on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. Photo by Jack Boland /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

 

The Toronto Police Service data indicate a 32 percent rise in home invasions in the past year. Among other crimes, such as a proliferation of hate crimes and fraud, the sprawling city of Greater Toronto with its over 7 million inhabitants also deals with a flood of social crimes that take place anywhere people gather -- violent physical attacks taking place at shopping centres, subway stations, public parks. Peel Region in particular has seen climbing incidents of shootings.

 

The number of home invasions taking place in Toronto this  year alone total 121. The Toronto police categorize home invasion by the number of victims involved. The  end of October saw 226 victims of home invasions, surpassing the total of 183 of the previous year. Among the 112 reported incidents 86 occurred in houses, with apartments and condos represented by 26 such events. All parts of the city saw the occurrences of home invasions; 22 of those events involved three or more victims.

 

This year there was one other shooting invasion aside from the Bridle Path shocker. That other event occurred in Lytton Park where a man was shot. St. Andrew-Windfields was the site of nine incidents located near Bayview and York Mills, while other multiple-attack areas had fewer but significant numbers of home invasions, ranging from 5 to 4. The Annex had a total of eight victims in one of its home invasion attacks. 60 of the invasions across the city involved one resident only. 

 

Police officers work at the scene of a home invasion in the Bridle Path neighbourhood in Toronto, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor

On some evenings home invasions took place in duplicate in the sense of two invasions taking place in the same areas of the city on the same night, though it remained  unclear whether the same criminals were involved in each. Of the multiple occasions when two invasions occurred in the same areas one involved two houses a mere 1.7 kilometres apart. Most of these invasions were night-time events, taking place between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. In many of these incidents, house residents were asked for the keys of their cars which were taken possession of, and the invaders left.

 

Car-jackings representing another problem of mass dimensions in the city. Usually young gang members  carry out these car thefts, the high-end cars they focus on shipped out to foreign countries, and the profit from the stolen vehicles used to buy prohibited weapons in the United States and smuggled into Canada. Vehicle thefts have been a problem of long duration in Toronto, stolen from parking lots, and from peoples' driveways. 

A still from security video shows a masked man on the doorstep of Lea Ledohowski's Toronto home trying to smash through her front window with a hammer earlier this year. (Submitted by Lea Ledohowski)

In lock-step with violence and tensions in the Middle East, dating back to the 7 October 2023 invasion of Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas into southern Israel, saw a sweeping maelstrom of sadistic savagery against Israeli women, children and men, who were slaughtered because they were Jewish-Israeli citizens, leading Israel to launch a responding invasion to root out Palestinian terrorists such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PLFP, Fatah operatives sheltering themselves within the civilian population. Toronto became a venue for hate crimes, with protest groups supporting Palestinians and targeting Canadian Jews with accusations and threats.

 

Toronto registered 443 incidents of hate crimes in 2024, levelling off in 2025, then finding reason to continue to rise in 2026 targeting the Jewish community. The continued prevalence and rise of hate crimes which include fire bombing synagogues and shooting at Jewish parochial schools, the ongoing vandalizing of Jewish-owned businesses, institutions and homes, has led Toronto Police to expand its hate crimes unit and to establish a counterterrorism security unit and task force where additional training is given officers.

 

Peel Region has seen an increase in homicides. "We operate on the idea that one homicide is too many -- at times [the numbers] can be sporadic, so it's important to look deeper into those incidents", remarked Peel Deputy Police Chief Nick Milinovich. Intimate partner violence in 2019, he pointed out, accounted for about half of homicides in the region. A unit was created to address the issue and since then the incidence of intimate partner violence has plummeted in Peel.

 

The Greater Toronto Area has seen robbery statistically reduced, although thefts over $5,000, fraud and cyber scams are on the uptick, a nationwide problem. There were 22,002 frauds so far in 2026 according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre -- with 15,402 victims and $535 million, the total estimated losses. TD commissioned a Leger poll that found 46 percent of respondents encounter scams or attempts at fraud weekly, even daily. 

"This is not the fraud landscape people are familiar with."

"Artificial intelligence has made impersonation easier faster and more convincing."

"The scammer no longer needs  your password. They just need your trust."

Detective Dave Coffey, Toronto Police Financial Crimes Unit   

A police officer works at the scene of a home invasion in the Bridle Path neighbourhood in Toronto, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor

 

"Do I have to worry now for my own personal safety?"

"Is there something directed at me? Is there something directed at my family?"

"It's destroyed. Completely destroyed."

"We're kind of used to the hatred that we get."

"It feels like a scene from some kind of a horror film. I don't feel it's real."

Jennie Volfson, co-owner Mimimelon, Montreal bakery

A man peers inside Mimimelon in Montreal’s St-Laurent borough, which was the target of an arson attack on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. Tim Snow / Montreal Gazette

 

When someone she had never before seen suddenly came through the bakery door and shouted "All the Jews will burn", then left, Jennie Volfson was startled, but didn't give it too much thought. Like other Jews in Quebec, and just about everywhere in Canada this past few years, verbal attacks, threats, even more subtle interactions betraying that old familiar curse of rampant antisemitism have become so commonplace, you just move on and deal with that bad taste of a social compact gone suddenly awry. It was only a few months later that she remembered that brief, unpleasant incident.

 

On Monday of last week, November 2nd, at 11:30 p.m. she had an alert from her security company that someone was tampering with the rear door of her restaurant. Surveillance footage later viewed showed an individual making an effort to enter the bakery but having been foiled. Denied entry the person threw a liquid against the exterior of the building, setting it on fire and swiftly leaving the premises.

 

Firefighters lost no time in responding, and the flames were quickly and efficiently put out before they could spread to the interior. Two days later her security company once again called, on Wednesday, 4th of November. She immediately contacted emergency services to respond, at around 12:30 a.m. The result of this second fire was far more dramatic. Ms. Volfson estimates that her Mimimelon family restaurant has been destroyed.  

 

Jennie Volfson surveys the damage done to her bakery Mimimelon in St-Laurent on Wed., Nov. 4, 2026. It was the second of two arson attempts against the bakery in a span of 48 hours. (Tim Snow / Montreal Gazette)

 

Damage to the building was described as "considerable" by Police spokesperson Raphael Bergeron, who stated that indications were that the fire had been set deliberately. Local surveillance cameras would be examined by police and fire investigators in an effort to  determine all possible circumstances leading up to the fire. Physical circumstances, he most certainly meant to allude to, not the circumstances whereby society is inhabited by those whose unreasoning hatred for a racial minority prompts them to act on their vicious antisemitism.

 

Mimimelon arrived as a family business for Volfson, her husband and father-in-law in January of 2015 when they bought the business and turned it into a kosher bakery specializing in a unique peanut-free,  tree-nut-free and dairy-free producer of specialized products for people with allergies. The restaurant quickly became a favourite eating place with the Jewish community in Montreal. "We see people get engaged, get married, have kids", she reminisced. 

 

But that pleasant time when Mimimelon was known as a friendly gathering place where regular clientele would come by for coffee and pastries, where staff watched families grow over the years is gone. The haters who want to see "Jews burn" have seen to that. Does anyone outside the Jewish community notice? Care? What will it take for authorities at any level to take notice and feel responsible to act to correct the situation? Will they ever? Never?

 

For the second time in two days, Mimimelon, a bakery in the St-Laurent borough, was the site of an arson attack on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. Tim Snow / Montreal Gazette

 

"Tibet Action Institute [TAI] has documented intensifying efforts to discredit, intimidate and silence Dr. Gyal Lo -- a former university professor in Tibet and China and one of the most prominent Tibetan human rights advocates in the world today."

"The campaign has included harassment of his family members in Tibet; Chinese state media attacks on him by name; efforts to discredit  his academic reputation; defamatory depictions online; incidents of suspected surveillance and intimidation in Toronto and Geneva; and now, abuse of international legal processes."

The Tibet Action Institute 

 

"Prime Minister Mark Carney's "values-based realism" -- business first, human rights second -- has suffered a a reality check by the Chinese government, as it hounds and persecutes a Tibetan activist and Canadian citizen in Toronto."

Gyal Lo, an expert on China's assimilation policies in Tibet, and an eyewitness to its "residential schools", fled China in 2020, fearing for his life."

"China has now served  him legal documents in Canada in connection with a civil suit in China."

Michael Higgins, investigative journalist, National Post 

Prime Minister Mark Carney, fourth right, meets with President of China Xi Jinping, fourth left, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

 

Canada's latest Liberal prime minister, Mark Carney, took up where his predecessor left off, making friends with the world's greatest trade predator to curry investment and trade agreements. Justin Trudeau left China, tail between his legs after being summarily rebuffed, and Mark Carney followed in his jet contrail years later to make nice with Chinese President Xi Jinping in his pursuit of trade agreements with any country that is not the United States with President Trump's punishing trade tariffs. 

 

Canada, which prides itself on its human rights record, has latterly limped along fatuously with diminished pride, making trade and investment agreements with exemplars of human rights abuse which include Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China. These Liberal-celebrated nation-to-nation compacts with the world's signal abusers of human rights and supporters of terrorist organizations most of which appear on Canada's own terror lists, represent the Canadian prime minister's "principled and pragmatic" game plan to extend Canada's trade prospects in attempting less reliance on its bullying neighbour. 

"Canada and other governments have opened the door for these attacks on their own soil by relegating human rights issues to private exchanges and failing to push back as Beijing openly doubles down on repression."

"They urgently need to reverse course."

Chemi Lhamo, advocacy manager, Tibet Action Institute  

Prime Minister Carney is not the least bit interested in the fact that Freedom House has noted that "China conducts the most sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world". Nor that the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China stated that in its exchanges with China, Canada was "far too often prioritizing trade and investment over human rights", accusing Canada of being "inattentive to human rights in China", urging Carney to "put human rights first". 

 

In Mr. Carney's famous Davos speech when he spoke of "principled and pragmatic" approaches, he somehow overlooked the 'principled' aspect of his negotiations with dictators and human-rights abusers and those whose intentions are completely adverse to any self-respecting democracy, much less their unabridged connection to and support of terrorist groups led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

In forging new ties with China, that he believes advantages Canada with new trade opportunities, Carney spoke of his new "strategic partnership and that "We must be pragmatic. We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be". This is the same Carney that spoke glowingly of Canada's "commitment to fundamental values" and "respect for human rights". "Engagement is not approval", he said sanctimoniously in Turkey where gays are persecuted. His only commitment, he responded, was the promotion of human rights in Canada.

 

"Promoting and ensuring that all Canadians can live their full selves in Canada -- first and foremost, that's our responsibility", he declared righteously. On that score, Jewish Canadians might have quite a lot to say. Given the Liberal intake of the past decade and ongoing, of immigrants, refugees and illegal migrants into Canada of people from North Africa and the Middle East, who enter without intelligence scrutiny, and the ensuing aggravation, persecution, harassment and threats from that growing community toward the much smaller but traditional Jewish community, with no government notice, much less concern other than to mouth mushy statements that antisemitism is not welcome in Canada, Mr. Carney remains uninvolved and not "all Canadians can live their full selves in Canada" where violence against Jews continues apace. 

"Only in Canada can you write a national security strategy without mentioning the specific malign actors that seek to threaten Canadian security and interests."

"China and Russia are omitted altogether."

Richard Shimooka, Aleander Lanoszka, Balkan Devlen, Macdonald-Laurier Institute  

Canada's foreign interference inquiry in its final report last year labelled China as "the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada's democratic institutions", China viewing Canada "as a high-priority target". Inconvenient details. 

"Canada and China will … pursue pragmatic and constructive engagement in public safety and security."

"Our law enforcement agencies will increase co-operation to better combat narcotics trafficking, transnational and cybercrime, synthetic drugs and money laundering – and create safer communities for people in both our countries."

Signed legal agreement between Carney and Xi  

Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with President of China Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

"The world became a very small place [after the shooting because of the outpouring of support for police which came] from literally around the world."

"[Police] are convinced … there was divine intervention [during the Yom Kippur shooting, because the right officers were at the right place at the right time]."

"Our message to all assembled is that we will be with our Jewish community – or any community that needs us – now, at the moment of need, and after."

Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd

 

"I just worry that we’ve become so polarized as a society, [and people with different views] can’t even talk to each other, let alone hear each other or discuss [issues]."

"[There is] too much drama and emotionally-driven [behaviour instead of people basing ideas on facts and data, not what they’ve heard from others]."

"[I am shocked when reading online comments suggesting] violence is somehow justified."

"How have we forgotten our history? … We’ve been down this road before, and it never leads to good ends."

Reverend Brad Beale, priest, St.Thomas Anglican Church, chaplain Belleville Police Service 

Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd, left, speaks as part of a prayer walk Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026 at Robin Jeffrey Park in Belleville, Ont. Listening at right was Rev. Brad Beale, the police service’s chaplain and a co-organizer of the event. Luke Hendry / The Belleville Intelligencer

 

This week an interfaith prayer walk took place to promote peace and unity joined by religious groups, police and citizens in Belleville, Ontario, following on the violent and deadly attack on the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in the city. The armed attacker who shot and seriously wounded the Belleville Police officer seated in an unmarked vehicle in front of the synagogue did not survive his shoot-out with wounded  constable Jeff Smith and his colleague Michael McCurdy who prevented the attacker from creating his intended slaughter inside the synagogue. 

 

He had shouted as he ran toward the vehicle where constable Smith was dispatched to help protect the house of worship and its congregants, "You are going to die for the Jews", before discharging his weapon at the constable's head and back. In the end, the one-time member of the Canadian Armed Forces died as a result of his venomous racist hatred. Both constables have yet to return to work; constable Smith engaged in a long convalescence from life-saving surgeries, and constable McCurdy recovering from the trauma of the lethal engagement.

 

The organized walk which included several hundred people from the community took place when local congregations expressed their interest in holding an event post the September 20 shooting to demonstrate their solidarity with the Jewish community under stress. The walk was also an opportunity to express the community's appreciation for the police whose outstanding service had protected the synagogue's congregants from certain death. 

 

Sandra Amaral of Brighton and Pastor Andrew King of Toronto, both Seventh Day Adventists, carry a banner promoting peace during a prayer walk Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026 in Belleville, Ont. People of numerous faiths came together for the event. (Luke Hendry / The Belleville Intelligencer)

 

"Hearing the shots, yelling for people to get down, hearing the glass breaking and screams, watching parents hold their children ... I cannot begin to tell you what we as a community in Canada, as a country, very nearly lost that evening,"  

"If you had asked us what we thought our security needs were on Sept. 19, before this all unfolded, what we would have told you is that our priorities were replacing broken windows and installing burglar alarms."

"In short, we were targeted because we dared to live publicly as Jews."

Shima Vigodda, vice-president, Sons of Jacob Synagogue

 

"When gunfire erupted outside, we instantly knew the gunman was there for us inside. We knew how serious the danger was. What terrified us was the possibility that the gunman could make his way into the building and reach us."

"We come together to pray, never imagining we would find ourselves fearing for our lives. The shooting was outside, but the terror was inside with us."

"[Another attack could have a different outcome.] The next time, we may not be so fortunate. And the next family may not make it home."

Doug Lobel, congregant, Sons of Jacob Synagogue 

A forensics officer points towards a police vehicle (out of frame) at the scene of a shooting at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue, where a man armed with a shotgun exchanged gunfire with a police officer stationed outside the Synagogue late Sunday evening as people were arriving for Yom Kippur. The suspect's shotgun can be seen lying on the ground adjacent to the officer. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

 

Belleville saw another two incidents of antisemitism when flyers with antisemitic messages were distributed in the neighbourhood of the synagogue shortly after the September 20 shooting. In October police announced charges against a Belleville resident in a third and separate case. The congregation, comprised mostly of volunteers who maintain the synagogue on a low budget, knows it must change its security to continue into the future. Bullet-resistant glass, inner- and outer-door replacement, a safe room, fencing and physical barriers are all needed. 

"That’s my neighbourhood. These are my neighbours and my friends. It shakes you to the core when you see that happen in a community that you just don’t think this will happen in."

"If it can happen in Belleville, it can happen anywhere in Canada. I don’t care if it’s in Hanover, Ontario; Owen Sound, or Weyburn in Saskatchewan. It can happen in any of these communities."

"[The officers’ presence at the synagogue meant Smith and McCurdy] truly [saved] what would have been, I think, by all accounts, a massacre — and that was averted that day due to the bravery of the police."

"[The online spread of hatred is a factor accelerating these threats. The speed at which the hate has spread is quite shocking."

Chris Malette, MP for Bay of Quinte  

Police stand in front of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ian MacAlpine

"[In Denmark, we get funding and economic support for getting an education, and we're very proud of this."

"[It would be wrong to dismantle one of the world's strongest educational systems."

Oscar Tonberg Hoffman, Danish High School Students' Association 

 

"I'm infuriated that we finally get a supposedly 'red' government in Denmark that includes the left parties and anyway we get cuts to our welfare and to the economies of  young people whilst they're funding corporate tax reductions and warfare."

"I hope they will look at this demonstration and change their mind."

Kiern Hindshaw, 23year-old agronomy student 

 

"It's important when you are in school and trying to educate yourself."

"It's hard to have to pay for yourself, so sometimes it's nice to have a little helping hand with the SU [student allowance]." 

Dagmar Demuth, high school student

Students protest as 21 organizations organizes a joint demonstration against cuts in educations in front of the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday Nov. 4, 2026. (Ida Marie Odgaard / Ritzau Scanpix via AFP)

 

Once a government in any country, including Scandinavian countries known for their social largesse, enacts a social program benefiting the populace, however absurd that program might be in the light of day, reading the details of a universal program that makes no exception for the wealthy, it becomes nigh impossible for any succeeding government to announce changes or restrictions on the benefit-holders. This is an obvious and recognized political swamp that governments however well intended, swim in through inattention to consequences. 

 

Make people dependent on social hand-outs and they and future generations have every expectation that they will continue, irrespective of whether or not they represent a sound fiscal decision by competent intelligent lawmakers who fail to foresee what a trap they've engineered before it's too late. People resent having their special benefits withdrawn or minimized. Once given, they feel they are entitled. And when a decision is made to modify the conditions of eligibility of a once-universal program, anger and resistance can be guaranteed.

 

The riotous and extremely well-attended rallies by students in France denouncing their government's lack of diligence in upgrading the school system, having sufficient numbers of teachers on hand, and failing to refurbish school infrastructure before they reach the stage of fatigue-collapse, has, despite the government crackdown, inspired students in other countries to feverishly embark on their own student grievances against governments not attuned to the needs and educational priorities of their youth population.

 

Denmark is a somewhat late entry, but there thousands of young Danes have protested over a plan by government to restructure a welfare program for students, where the prospect of cutting students allowances predictably enraged those accustomed to these benefits, sufficiently so to engage in street protests against their uncaring government.A dozen high school and university student associations have taken to the ramparts, marching from the City Hall Square in Copenhagen to Parliament over proposed cuts to their entitlements.

 

Students attend a joint demonstration against cuts in educations in front of the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, 4 November, 2026.  Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix Foto via AP

 

Across Denmark, an estimated 40,000 students from 57 schools were out protesting. Police in Copenhagen were in full-force presence to control the 13,000 student groups campaigning for an uninterrupted flow of  social largess benefiting Denmark's students. Chanting "Broken Promises", carrying signage that read "Save SU", and "Less Support, Less Educated" along with "Don't Cheat the Young", flagellated the Danish government for its betrayal of Denmark's youth.

 

Denmark's centre-left government, according to a draft budget bill, has plans to abolish the SU allowance for students who live with their parents and whose parents' total annual income is the equivalent of $146,950 annually. For students whose parents earn between $88,000 and $146,950, the amount they receive could become progressive. Until the present time, all students over age 18 have received that financial bonus so that both high school and university students have been recipients.

 

Roughly 14,000 students may lose their grant, according to the Higher Education Ministry, while another 8,000 students would see theirs reduced. SU represents a cornerstone of Denmark's egalitarian  university system, in force since 1970, which in theory enables all young Danes to receive an education irrespective of their parents' income. Student receive at present $242 monthly for those who live with their parents, and $1,559 for those who live on their own. 

 

Another proposal is for the government to alter eligibility for unemployment benefits  for recent university graduates to be paid only to those who have worked during 18 of the last 24 months of their studies. According to student protest organizer Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann, high school organizations attempted to share a dialogue with the government but were  unable to meet with success. 

 

The Socialist Peoples Party and the Social Liberal Party within the government had opposed education cuts, but have since, nonetheless supported this contentious move. "It's no secret that this not an initiative that comes from us", pointed out Interior and Economic Affairs Minister Pia Olsen Duhr who had vowed her Socialist People's Party would not touch the student grant system. "But we have made compromises in this government, and I fully stand by them", she stated. 

 

Students attend a joint demonstration against cuts in educations in front of the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, 4 November 2026. Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix Foto via AP

 

On any given day in 2021, an estimated 7 million men, women, and children were living in modern slavery in Africa, a prevalence of 5.2 people in modern slavery for every thousand people. Africa had the fourth highest prevalence of modern slavery among the five regions of the world, following the Arab States (10.1 per thousand), Europe and Central Asia (6.9), and Asia and the Pacific (6.8). Forced labour was the most common form of modern slavery in the region, at a rate of 2.9 per thousand people, while forced marriage was at 2.4 per thousand.

When considering the total number of people in forced marriage worldwide, 13 per cent (3.2 million) were in Africa, second to Asia and the Pacific, which at 65 per cent has by far the highest share of the world’s forced marriages. Fourteen per cent of all people in forced labour were in Africa (3.8 million), the third highest behind Asia and the Pacific (55 per cent) and Europe and Central Asia (15 per cent).

The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery in Africa are Eritrea, Mauritania, and South Sudan. The countries with the lowest prevalence of modern slavery in Africa are Mauritius, Lesotho, and Botswana.

Nearly 4 million men, women, and children experience forced labour in Africa, particularly in the mining, agriculture, fishing, and domestic work sectors.1 African job seekers misled by traffickers with false promises are subjected to forced labour abroad, such as in the Gulf states.2 Children are also exploited in their pursuit of education. For example, under the confiage (trust) system in Togo, children from rural areas are sent to cities to complete their education and live with relatives, who may force them into domestic servitude.3 Nigerian girls seeking employment as domestic helpers to help pay for schooling are also subjected to domestic servitude.4 In Senegal, talibe (student, seeker) children in Quranic schools are forced to beg.5

In Africa, forced marriage particularly impacts women and girls. One in every 300 females in the region was in a forced marriage compared to one in every thousand males.6 In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of child marriages increased in Sudan, Egypt,7 and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),8 and they nearly doubled in communities across Senegal and Uganda.9 Women and girls living in conflict zones also experience forced and child marriage, including as a negative coping mechanism by families to protect them from further violence10 and by fighters who abduct, marry, and exploit women and girls as domestic and sexual slaves.11 Forced commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls is used as a weapon of war by both state and non-state groups, reportedly in the Central African Republic, the DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan,12 and by both parties to the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.13

Global Slavery Index  Africa Walk Free 

 

Commonwealth Heads of Government  CHOGM

 

The leaders of Commonwealth states meet every two years in a celebration of links representing mostly former colonies of the colonialist British Empire. Among the 56 Commonwealth member-states, mostly from the British Empire, the summit has presented as opportune time to press Britain for reparations reflective of its role in the transatlantic slave trade. About a dozen former colonial British nations that include Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda, are relentless in their demands for billions in compensation owing to them.

 

The Commonwealth Heads of Government met in Antigua and Barbuda on Monday and although expressing deep regret on the part of Britain for their role in the slave trade, their tendency is to avoid the issue with no intention of responding positively to the demands for financial reparations. "Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain's leading role in ending the  transatlantic slave trade", responded Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK Conservatives. 

 

"If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?", she demanded to know. African nations themselves were warmongering slave owners and traders. Arab and Persian Islamic slave traders were responsible for forcibly bringing both Black and White slaves into their service in the Middle East and Turkey. This was (and remains) legal under Sharia law. Only non-Muslims could be legally held as slaves by Islamic tradition.

 

King Charles and Andy Burnham at Chogm in Antigua on Tuesday. The government is reducing aid to countries it judges rapidly developing, such as Antigua and India. Photograph: Chris Jackson/PA

 

In the world view of activists for reparations it is Europeans alone who are held responsible for slavery. The wealth that was acquired through the use of slave labour in Europe and the Americas motivated the racist predation of Blacks, those dedicated to forcing white guilt to acknowledge a responsibility to pay back the wealth accumulated by their ancestors through slave labour to now share it with those whose ancestors they had enslaved, are adamant in their reasoning.

 

A United Nations resolution earlier this year demanding western nations agree to "reparatory justice" was supported by the African Union. No explanation of what has happened to the $2trillion in aid in the past five decades handed over to African nations from the West. While the current office holder at 10 Downing Street has expressed his revulsion over Britain's role in the slave trade, as did his Royal Majesty, neither contemplate the possibility of responding in the affirmative to the demands. Prime Minister Burnham was applauded for Commonwealth leaders, nonetheless for an "essential first step" by stating his country should spend more on foreign aid. 

 

Between the beginning of the fifteenth century and the end of the eighteenth, millions lived and died as slaves in African Muslim societies. From the Mediterranean coast to the grasslands of West Africa, in the Nile Valley and the Horn, and all along the Indian Ocean littoral, Muslims predominated or exercised great influence. In all these regions slavery was economically, socially, and politically important, and its scale increased throughout our period before reaching wholly unprecedented levels in the nineteenth century. Islamic principles and practices shaped the nature of slavery in Muslim societies, but they did so in uneven and contingent ways. In this chapter, we will examine the ways in which Islamic ideas about slavery were negotiated in the historical experience of Muslim Africans. There are three major components of any system of slavery: reduction of human beings to servitude, distribution of the enslaved within and between societies, and the nature of servitude within a society. These categories are utilitarian, not absolute. Biological reproduction of slaves belongs in categories one and three. Category three implies the continuous reproduction of the meanings of category one without the initial act of capture or birth. Examples could be multiplied. The categories are heuristic aids, not precise hermeneutical tools. In these sections we will survey Islamic legal, intellectual, and moral discourses on slavery in relation to the historical record. This initial discussion will treat themes common to all of Islamic Africa, providing a necessary context. 

The History of Slavery, Part 3: Christian Slaves and Muslim Masters—Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean, 1500-1800

Enslavement was a real possibility for anyone who traveled in the Mediterranean or who lived along the shores in places like Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, and even as far north as England and Iceland. For example, in 1632, pirates captured the Irish city of Baltimore. They and others were snatched from their homes, taken in chains to the slave markets of Algiers and sold to the highest bidder. Some spent the rest of their lives rowing galleys. Others toiled in quarries or on farms. Attractive women were sent to harems and became a pasha’s concubine.

This episode looks at a little-known chapter in the history of slavery. Although few know the stories of these captives, the threat of piracy on the Mediterranean had a huge impact on the Western World. Thomas Jefferson developed the U.S. navy to eliminate the Barbary Threat. Miguel de Cervantes spent years in North Africa. Even John Smith of Pocahontas fame was a slave in Istanbul.

History on the Net