"The government has been taking actions at home to protect the Jewish community, protect all Canadians, but particularly the Jewish community."

"And it's above and beyond protection, it's about the ability to truly thrive, live their lives freely and openly and thrive as Jewish people in Canada."

Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"[There will be] an increased police presence today and in the coming days [at synagogues and other places of worship]."

"We remain committed to working with communities across Toronto addressing hate, and ensuring people are safe."

Toronto Police Service statement 

 

"I'm thinking today of Jewish families across Toronto who have spent three years watching this kind of thing move closer to their homes, their schools and their synagogues, and who are tired of being told it's being taken seriously, while it keeps happening."

"Hate directed at any community is a threat to every community, and the people responsible for this [latest event, burning of Israeli flags on the anniversary of October 7] need to be found and charged."

Brad Bradford, Toronto City Councillor/Mayoral candidate 

 

"The hatred that fuelled October 7th did not remain on foreign shores."

"Right here in Canada, far too many synagogues, Jewish businesses and institutions have been the targets of harassment and hate." 

Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre 

Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke at Holy Blossom Temple on June 1, 2026, to announce new efforts to combat antisemitism. (Photo: Mitchell Consky/The CJN)

 

Sanctimonious statements of regret, condemnation, support and dedication to ensuring that Jews in Canada are treated with the same deference, security and equality as any other ethnic/cultural group is afforded somehow ring inauthentically when they're solemnly expressed by the very heads of government that belie their words of comforting reassurance by doing absolutely nothing within the laws of the land to ensure that those words carry on beyond verbal performance. The federal Liberal government, under its previous prime minister carrying over to the current office holder, Mark Carney has done nothing in the past three years to relieve Canadian Jews of the imposed burden of Jew-hate directed from identifiable sources.

 

Those are the very identifiable sources that make no secret of their hatred and contempt for the Jewish community in Canada, loyal citizens whose presence as Canadians were of a far longer duration than those who seek to harass and threaten them to the point of terrorizing them into leaving the country of their birth for other, less threatening havens. The Jewish record of citizenship in Canada is centuries old, helping to build the country, their entrepreneurship, loyalty and commitment unquestioningly bringing credit and prosperity to the nation. Later arrivals from sources of traditional, habitual antisemitism entering Canada have brought that 'culture' with them.

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney notes their presence with the startling statement that "Muslim values are Canadian values". Invariably, while condemning antisemitism, Mr. Carney, like his predecessor never fails to mention "Islamophobia" as a social menace alongside that of antisemitism, even as the truth cannot be evaded that those 'Muslim values' practised by all too many immigrants, refugees and migrants from North Africa and the Middle East motivate and engender endless 'marches' focusing on Jews and Israel needing to be expunged from existence through modes and methods including that of  'Globalize the Intifada', and 'Final Solution'.

 

Anti-Israel protesters were "parading in front of a synagogue founded by Holocaust survivors to protest a foreign conflict". The Lodzer Centre Congregation was founded by Polish Holocaust survivors in the 1950s. Photo by Google Maps

 

Canada's progressive-left, adhering to Critical Race Theory and DEI, promoted by the Liberal government has infiltrated academia, unions, corporations, government branches and those areas of the general public permeated with the ages-old pathology of Jew-hate. Vandalizing Jewish-owned businesses, firing at Jewish day schools, throwing explosives at synagogues in Montreal and Toronto, harassing and threatening Jewish students and professors at Canadian universities has become 'normalized' in Canada, propelled by the concerted action of Palestinian student groups and foreign actors. 

"Nothing could be more contrary to the spirit of Canada, let alone our universities, than that [Jewish students avoiding wearing symbols of their ethnicity, the majority of whom feel campus antisemitism is a serious problem they have experienced or witnessed]."

[But] in addition to continue to strengthen the response on campus and giving this a national effort on behalf of universities, it's going to require a much closer partnership between all the institutional players because antisemitism does not stop or start at the edge of campus."

"The one thing I've heard most consistently from Jewish students is that they want the same protections under the same policies that every student is entitled to on campus and that's something that universities have taken to heart."

Gabriel Miller, president, Universities Canada

 

"What the university can do is ensure that it has clear policies that are consistently enforced to ensure that people are behaving toward one another in the university environment in a way that's conducive to higher education."

"Ultimately Jewish people in this country are going to be driven out of public institutions, and out of society, in a very scary way that we've seen in other countries throughout history and that no one would ever think possible in Canada."

Noah Shack, CEO, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

The state of funding of universities that fail to comply with the Ontario government's directive to apply their own standards and policies will lead to the reduction of operational funding through a new directive of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities of the province. The directive mandates that the institutions retain authority over (and responsibility for) student associations and groups operating on campus that promote antisemitism and hatred. This is the provincial government finally positively responding to the plight of Jewish students.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the main campus of the University of Toronto are pictured on July 3, 2024. Demonstrators cleared the encampment on the university's grounds before the 6 p.m. deadline to avoid confrontation with police. (Alex Lupul/CBC)

 

The current mayor of Toronto, who stated on the anniversary of October 7 that: "I will never waver on my commitment to the safety of Jewish Torontonians. We will continue to invest in keeping communities safe and strong and will take action until every Torontonian can practise their faith without fear", should be struck by the lightning bolt of reality coming back to haunt her, through the upcoming municipal election. Mayor Olivia Chow, in fact, has stood by impassively while Jews in Toronto have been threatened by mobs of Jew-haters, even in their own neighbourhoods. Not once has she responded with the authority of her office to put a stop to the promotion of antisemitism.

 

She has stood, like the prime minister himself, foursquare with the Muslim community, appearing at their events in support and admiration, even to wearing the requisite Muslim garments for Muslim women as an indication of her comfort within the community. Not once has she moved herself to attend an event with the Jewish community in Toronto; doing all she could to evade a presence among Jews. During the mayoral election campaign she refused to take part in a discussion along with other mayoral candidates focusing on viral antisemitism in the city she governs. 

 

Source: Instagram

 

"Putin has the view that by summer the situation in Europe will change and support for Ukraine will fall away."

"This gives the Kremlin the motivation to continue its brazen attacks."

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, exiled London opposition figure

 

"We will take the path of escalation [to deter Europe]. As well as strikes on Ukraine to take full advantage of the lack of missile defence." 

"[Efforts to restart peace talks were going] nowhere." 

Unnamed Russian official

 

"[Moscow was stepping up an aggressive] shadow war [against Germany to undermine its support for Kyiv]."

"Russia is putting us to the test and closely watching how we handle this situation."

"From the perspective of the Kremlin leadership, any sign of wavering invites them to further increase the pressure on Germany."

"We have to stand up to that."

German Federal Intelligence Service chief Martin Jaeger 

 

"Look at what's happening with the economy."

"Look at what's happening to social policy, with the living standards of citizens of the biggest European states."

"In these conditions they have to ... switch the attention of their citizens from internal problems to problems of an external nature."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

The Russian leader has set out his demands: Europe must bend the knee, or the war will go on and on and on. Center for European Policy Analysis

Europe has its growing problems that must be dealt with. That's the Europe that has been solidly behind Ukraine in its existential counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin's aspirational territorial goals. There is political upheaval in Germany, and France is faced with escalating violent student riots, and Britain seems increasingly politically unstable to name but a few. All of which lead the Russian president to believe that playing his cards right will result in the fatigue that is growing among Kyiv's supporters coming to a crisis level where they can no longer offer the munitions and the funding they've been doling out as generously as they can, over the past four years.

 

Waging war is never cheap, and Russia's own economy is struggling with the international sanctions that have dampened its economy; a yawning budget deficit must be met with some manner of solution; war funding on borrowed time and burdening future generations call for a scheme that can undermine the solidarity that Europe has shown toward Ukraine allowing it to fend off Russian attacks and to successfully mount their own within Russia. 

 

With the Russian military striking at Ukraine's civilian infrastructure; schools, power plants and bridges with their jet-powered drones and ballistic missiles, Mr. Putin feels in striking distance of his goal -- if he can only demoralize the Ukrainian public sufficiently, and with them the European public wearying of supporting beleaguered Ukraine. Russia's war-weary citizens, insecure themselves never knowing when a Ukrainian drone will strike even in Moscow, and the waning economy does not so much perturb Putin that he feels any need to curtail his ambitions, certain as he is that he is within striking distance of his goal.

 

Irritatingly, despite the Trump administration's lack of interest in supporting Ukraine, bolstering Moscow's own determination to proceed as charted, German Chancellor Friedrich Merez, visiting Kyiv unexpectedly, announced another $1.5 billion in funding aid to Ukraine. With the far-right Alternative for Germany opposing aid for Ukraine breathing down his neck, his own political future is uncertain.  "Promising further billions in German taxpayer money that is missing from the pension and health insurance funds, while Germany is mired in its worst energy crisis. It's all too much to fathom", wrote Alternative for Germany's co-leader Alice Weidel, in her criticism of Germany's leader.  

"Meanwhile, there is little for Moscow to celebrate on the battlefield. Ukraine has regained the upper hand in drone warfare, inflicting more fatalities on Russian forces. At the same time, recruitment of new soldiers is likely slowing, as even rising contract-signing bonuses may no longer tempt the shrinking pool of po    tential volunteers. As a result, Russia is beginning to struggle to replace its battlefield losses." 

"Ukraine also faces personnel shortages but has nonetheless managed to stabilise the front line, seize the initiative in some areas (such as around Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region) and will now have the resources to strengthen its defences thanks to major new financial assistance from the EU."

Ondrej Ditrych, European Union Institute for Defence Studies  

Now, post-'election' and firmly back in his throne for another 30-or-some-odd years, Putin having spoken of returning to talks post-election, now claims that during the election, Ukraine's drone attacks were responsible for cancelling prospects for any new ceasefire talks. Moscow's actions, said Merz, signalled "Russia's desperation in the face of its unsuccessful war in Ukraine". Once again threatening attacks on Europe and nuclear warnings according to some analysts, signals Moscow's desperation, with its finances under strain. 

 

Claiming a week ago, spurred by a British documentary series that depicts a fictional war game exercise, that it had information that NATO was preparing an "air and naval blockade" of Kaliningrad, the Russian Foreign Ministry gave warning to the western alliance that his country was "prepared to respond to any efforts to isolate its Baltic enclave with all its arsenal, including nuclear weapons". In response, NATO accused Moscow of "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric". 

 

The Belgian Defence Minister predicted "a dark winter ahead", while Denmark's defence intelligence service gave warning of "a low but growing risk that Russia will launch a limited military attack against one or several NATO countries on its border in the coming months". Russia's hybrid attacks in its low-decibel shadow war against Ukraine's European friends and neighbours have made them all nervous, particularly the Baltics. 

"[Putin is counting on] crises mounting."

"And that the current leaders who are seen as anti-Russian and inadequate just won't be able to cope."

"[The Kremlin is operating on] the understanding that there are different forces in Europe, and that there are those who don't want the situation to escalate to nuclear confrontation."

"[Moscow's policy on Europe has become] schizophrenic. Putin is signalling that there is an official and unofficial line that we don't want to go to war with Europe [while warning that] we have nuclear weapons if you will continue arming Ukraine and build around us all kinds of military infrastructure and threaten Kaliningrd and so on." 

"[But all Putin really wants, is for Europe to become] more pragmatic [and follow the path taken by U.S. President Donald Trump]."

Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow, Carnegie Eurasia Russia Center 

Russia’s economy is not yet collapsing. Nor is its military campaign against Ukraine. But the Kremlin is mortgaging the country’s future as underlying structural weaknesses in the economy begin to emerge. European Union Institute for Security Studies

"Sexual trauma always raises the question: 'Did it happen? Show me the evidence'."

"People ask for video clips or photographs.The survivors do not owe anybody anything. They only owe themselves the chance to recover. There was a clash between the well-being and mental health of survivors and the demand -- from foreign governments, journalists and others -- for stories and evidence."

"The stories belong to the survivors. Some survivors of sexual violence from Nova [Music Festival] do not want to speak publicly. They do not want the stigma. That should be accepted and respected."

"The public does not understand the scale [of the atrocities], because it is not only direct victims, it's survivors from captivity, Nova, the kibbutzim and the military."

"It is also first responders and people who handled bodies."

Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director, Association of Rape Crisis Centers, Israel 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu places a wreath at a memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, at Mount Herzl Cemetery, Jerusalem, on Monday, October 5, 2026.   Debbie Hill/Pool/Reuters

 

Videos? There were videos galore, taken with body cams worn by some among the thousands of Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas into southern Israel on October 7, 2023 for the very purpose of chronicling the sadistic bestiality they planned to carry out among Israeli girls and women. Videos that were proudly shown on social media so they could elicit praise from the admirers of terrorism. Many of whom would later deny that this was terrorism, merely a long-overdue reckoning of an oppressed people; oppressed because the Jewish state would not turn over its ancestral heritage to Arab colonizers.

 

The Israelis who lived near the border of Gaza in collective farming communities -- kibbutzim, were firm in their belief that kindness and helpful understanding of the plight of Palestinians living in poverty in Gaza would result in mutual friendship. Hiring Palestinians for agricultural work, giving them the opportunity to earn fair wages, to enable them to raise their families with a guaranteed income providing the necessities of life, and more. And to demonstrate just how accepting the kibbutz residents were, eating their meals alongside the invited Palestinians in the collective dining rooms.

 

Friendships were indeed made, and trust went with it. Among the kibbutznik help offered to Palestinians requiring medical attention whereby they would be driven to Israeli hospitals to receive needed medical care, for hospitals in Israel treat everyone in medical need. There appeared to be no cautionary approach but one of open wholesale acceptance. That there are no real differences between the Israelis living on the opposite side of the border to Gaza, and Gazans themselves. All are human, and worthy of care and consideration.

People attend a memorial service in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel, where many community members were killed and abducted on Oct. 7, 2023. (Ariel Schalit/The Associated Press)

 

And then came that early morning rocket barrage; not too unusual at any time, but a diversion on this occasion, to mask a more direct threat, that of thousands of dedicated terrorists from Islamic Jihad, the PLFP, Fatah and Hamas who flooded across the border after bulldozing down the protective barriers and dispatching the Israeli border guards who fought superior numbers and died or were taken captive as hostages. 

 

From there to the kibbutzim where unaware Israelis became targets for instant death. Among the terrorist horde were ordinary Palestinians, some of whom knew the layouts of the kibbutzim quite intimately, some of whom had drawn maps to instruct the invaders where each kibbutz's security center could be found, the security members neutralized before the intruders fanned out and shot at people waiting for buses, barged into homes to torture and kill children in front of their parents, parents in front of their children.

 

Where homes with their residents locked into safe rooms were torched and everyone inside burned to death. The site of the Nova Music Festival nearby, swarmed with terror operatives opening fire on those attempting to flee, firing through the walls of small huts where young men and women gathered to huddle together in the faint hope of not being discovered and survival. Where women caught fleeing were gang-raped, their bodies mutilated, limb from limb.

 

A newly completed study from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel expected to be released in the new year was geared to studying possible recovery of survivors of sexual violence of that fateful day when savagely depraved men with no conscience shoved metal rods into women's vaginas, even grenades. And nor did the captured men escape sexual violence before their gruesome tortured deaths. The ARCCI's  2024 report -- Silent Cry: Sexual Violence Crimes on October 7, assembled an account of sexual and gender-based violence during and after October 7. The awaited report examines long-term impacts of the sexual trauma.

 

"The health system -- like therapists, hospitals, security personnel -- did sensitive work. They initially met and questioned released hostages. They were generally trauma-informed: they understood not to ask what did not need to be asked. But three years later, what is hugely missing is a national initiative to help people navigate mental health, rehabilitation, employment and bureaucracy. If people do not have someone helping them through the system, they can hardly survive. This will take a decade", explained Orit Sulitzeanu.  

 

The scale and scope of the widespread suffering of those who directly experienced and survived the atrocities, including those who were witness to them, represents a national tragedy as well as a national responsibility to care and to nurture wounded psyches back to health, if at all possible. The horrors of the acts of inhumanity that took place on October 7 are well enough known internationally. Skepticism yet abounds, and what's perhaps worse, disinterest.

 

Commuters in Tel Aviv conduct a moment of silence on the highway as part of a memorial ceremony on Wednesday. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

 

A severely wounded country reacted as would any other nation following the broad and unforgivable human rights violations that beggar the imagination and brought pain and suffering throughout the country and traumatized the wider Jewish community throughout the diaspora. And yet despite the shock and pain, Jews once again found themselves abandoned by the larger, broader community in countries where they have lived for generations upon generations. 

 

Israel which had suffered such a devastatingly grim wound found itself facing hostile condemnation by its putative allies who aligned themselves with the Palestinian propaganda machinery painting Israel as the aggressor and Palestinians the long-suffering victims who had merely acted out their frustration of a people denied their future state. Terrorists shielding themselves behind and among a civilian population with the direct purpose of saving themselves while submitting civilians to risks of fallout from the response to an unspeakable act of terrorist atrocities used the deaths of those they had manipulated into occurring, as proof of their victimization. 

 

Polls taken by Palestinian polling agents clarify certain realities; in the wake of October 7, with all the details freely available, Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza are in the greater majority in agreeing that the October 7 atrocities had their support, as would reiterations of that vile event. When hostages were being taken into Gaza, both live and dead Israeli men and women, Palestinians were overjoyed and celebratory. Some took to beating the dead bodies of men and women, used as objects for trade in freeing Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. 

 

The family of Hilly Solomon visits her memorial photo and plaque at the Nova festival memorial site early Wednesday in Reim, as Israel marks the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

 

"This story has become connected to bigger political arguments about Israel and Zionism. But atrocities are atrocities, whatever one's politics. They should be examined first as human acts."

"Sexual violence does not necessarily leave something a survivor can show the world."

"That makes it easier for people to place everything in apolitical context and say, 'You are lying'. I think that is horribly sad."

Orit Sulitzeanu, Association of Rape Crisis Centers, Israel 

The Beset-by-Racist-Hate Belleville Jewish Community

"Two weeks after the near massacre at Belleville Synagogue, residents of the city and nearby communities, including members of the Jewish community, say they’re feeling targeted again after hateful antisemitic flyers were discovered at the synagogue building itself as well as distributed at neighboring homes. Belleville police are investigating. They haven’t released many details. B’nai Brith Canada says these Belleville flyers are believed to be influenced by or even linked to a US-based neo-Nazi group called the Goyim Defense League."

"It distributes these antisemitic materials and blames Jews for everything from COVID to abortion and other white supremacist theories. Several Jewish advocacy groups say the GDL has made inroads into Canada in recent years. The Belleville synagogue shooter apparently blamed Jews for being responsible for COVID, and his refusal to take a vaccine while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces led in part to his being kicked out in 2022. Jewish groups warn that online libels and conspiracies about Jews and Israelis are fueling hate and violence against Canadians."

Ellin Bessner, The Canadian Jewish News   

Antisemitic flyer left at Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario on October 1, 2026.

(photo credit: X/SCREENSHOT/@Ryan_r_Williams)

 In Belleville, Ontario, residents suddenly found themselves the recipients of vile antisemitic flyers distributed in the east end of the city. A follow-up to the terrorist attack by a former member of the Canadian Military who had gone on a psychotic tear, armed and prepared to enter the Sons of Jacob Synagogue during the evening Yom Kippur service with assembled congregants whom he intended to become victims of a mass slaughter. Stopped by the presence of a Belleville police officer in an unmarked vehicle who became the assassin's first victim. Now recovering from his serious injuries, Constable Jeff Smith and a colleague who soon arrived as backup, managed between them to disable the attacker who later died in hospital from his injuries.

 

"It was so soon after the shooting. What's going on here?" asked the synagogue president Norman Weddum. The September 20 apprehended terror attack left the small congregation of the southern Ontario city in a state of shocked recovery, certainly in no condition to face unrelenting antisemitic attacks on an ongoing basis in their longtime community. The outrageously hateful propaganda of unremitting conspiracy theories, outright lies that no one in their right mind could even consider as reflective of reality serves to dent the community's sense of security.  

"Just over a week ago, I was there that night of the shooting, and like many in our community, I had only begun the process of trying to heal and regain a sense of safety."

"Seeing these flyers posted around the east side of Belleville near the synagogue yesterday has brought that night and all those emotions rushing back."

"Yesterday was a very difficult day."

Doug Lobel, synagogue congregant, Belleville resident 

According to Mr. Weddum, there were "a lot" of flyers distributed, that messaged and promoted conspiracy theories that blame Jews for the COVID-19 pandemic, abortion, gun control and mass immigration. Whether a single individual was responsible for the distribution, or a group that had fanned out to cover as much ground as possible before their presence was detected, was unknown. 

 

 

 

Discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces as a  result of refusing to be vaccinated against COVID, the synagogue attacker weeks before had theorized that Jews were to blame for COVID. A video where he could be heard shouting "You are going to die for the Jews", before he attempted to murder Corporal Jeff Smith en route to entry to the Synagogue and its congregants, was shared by police. The shooting, they said, had deliberately targeted the Jewish community; the attacker having the "means, the motive and the mechanisms" to carry out a larger attack. 

 

Since the distribution of the flyers by a group calling themselves the "Goyim Defence League", obviously named in mockery after the now-defunct, decades old Jewish Defence League led by ordained U.S. rabbi Meier Kahane, Belleville Police have assured Jewish residents that the "flyers being distributed in the east end of Belleville containing antisemitic messaging" have alerted police to "taking proactive steps to support the safety and well-being of residents". 

 

Measures such as increased patrols at places of worship include other community gathering areas. The GoFundMe account that was set up to rebuild the synagogue along with one to support Constable Jeff Smith has raised close to $1 million on the part of the Canadian Jewish community. Constable Mike McCurdy escaped injury when the two police officers shot back at the would-be assassin, but another fundraiser was initiated on his behalf as "the emotional toll of this experience is significant, and mental recovery is just as vital as physical healing". 

 

Residents of Belleville, Ont., including Jewish ones, found antisemitic flyers distributed at some homes and around residential areas. Flyers were also found plastered on the Sons of Jacob Synagogue, less than two weeks after the shooting attack and exchange of gunfire outside its doors on Yom Kippur that left the gunman dead and a police officer hospitalized with multiple injuries. (Credit: Submitted photo/The CJN)

 

"British Columbia is filing a lawsuit against OpenAI in California for its failure to notify law enforcement of threats made on its platform prior to the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School."

"This case highlights the urgent need for strong national safeguards for artificial intelligence technologies and online platforms. Our government has consistently advocated for measures to protect people, especially children and youth from online harms."

"I have written to federal ministers [Minister of Justice Sean] Fraser, [Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan] Solomon and [Minister of Canadian Identity Marc] Miller with clear policy ideas to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to ensure a pathway to human accountability for AI's actions."

British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma 

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma is calling for changes to the Criminal Code in the wake of reporting on the alleged conversations between the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter and ChatGPT. (Ben Nelms/CBC, Kiichiro Sato/The Associated Press)

 

"In response, Chat GPT explained why such violent content would be flagged -- and then offered tips on how to evade its own safeguards."

"It advised Van Rootselaar to always frame ... content as fictional or hypothetical in order to 'never get flagged again by OpenAI's moderation systems."

"[Over the next eight months, Van Rootselaar] discussed building and using firearms and homemade explosives, fantasized about becoming a notorious mass killer and asked about the timing of previous real-world school shootings."

"To have a chatbot engage in this way was, I think, quite astonishing. It's very troubling, because this is a person who has been already talking, for quite a while, about some very dark and disturbing things." 

Mark Follman, journalist, Mother Jones 

An RCMP vehicle is parked outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February 2026.

 

Transgender-identity, biological male Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, set out on February 10 of this year to commit a mass atrocity. Before leaving his home he shot his mother to death, along with his half-brother. That out of the way he made his way to the high school he had attended, to wreak mayhem and havoc there, carrying the lethal weapons that would enable him to pursue his deadly goal. He took the life of a teacher, and five students of the school. And finished his work by shooting himself dead. Those he managed to injure during his psychotic predation will carry the memory of the atrocity for the rest of their lives.

 

The RCMP detachment in the remote Northern British Columbia town at the foothills of the Rockies had had previous interactions with the young man that everyone referred to as 'she' and 'her', respecting his/her gender-choice identity. There were extensive files on Van Rootselaar dating back to the years when he/she was only ten years of age. At a time close to the event that represented one of the largest mass murders to ever have taken place in the country, the Van Rootselaar home's collection of firearms were taken into custody.

 

Van Rootselaar's mother evidently had a fascination for guns, and knew how to use them, ensuring that her son did as well, arranging for him to gain experience at a shooting range. Van Rootselaar's behaviour sparked attention by police to whom he was no stranger. Given the complicating fact that his was an unstable character, who engaged in troubling anti-social behaviour, it is more than a trifle puzzling that the weapons were returned to the Van Rootselaar home by the RCMP. 

 

Van Rootselaar had an initial ChatGPT account that he used extensively to probe for answers to questions about previous mass school killings and advice on how one might proceed to produce one's own. His troubling activity had been flagged by gatekeepers at ChatGPT which led to his account being suspended. He then proceeded to open a replacement account, and his interaction with ChatGPT continued unabated. Again it was flagged and the gatekeepers were all for notifying police, but a supervisor decided to nix it.

 

Some of the Tumbler Ridge shooting victims. Top row from left: Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert. Bottom row from left: Ezekiel Schofield, Emmett Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs.

 

Van Rootselaar, fascinated with guns and with violence, and with mass shootings, appears to have self-radicalized with the benevolent assistance of ChatGPT which it seems felt obliged to to support that emerging psychopathy toward full-fledged maturity. His mental equilibrium was obviously fragile. Gender dysphoria, mental instability, social hostility, fetish for mass shootings all came together, alongside a resentment of his mother and step-brother and a linkage to the school he had left prematurely in his decision to disrupt his academic exposure.

 

An inquest by the B.C. Coroners Service remains as yet incomplete: "The B.C. Coroners Service has not confirmed the dates for the Tumbler Ridge inquest at this time. Once all related investigations are concluded, we will send out a news release with more details", wrote its media relations staff in response to an inquiry. Clearly this confused individual who harboured feelings of disengagement from society was in need of psychiatric intervention. In B.C. as in other parts of Canada provincial psychiatric services for youth in need are inadequate.

 

The government of British Columbia, the RCMP and the medical community must view the decision to sue OpenAI for the part its artificial intelligence agent played in the unfolding of this horrible tragedy as a convenient shield against probes into their own failings in being badly remiss in the potential prevention of a tragedy of this magnitude. That OpenAI is liable is without question. That the government of British Columbia should be asking its own questions of itself and its agencies is also without question.

 

Victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting were memorialized in the days after the tragedy. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

"This action today is consistent with the province's long-standing commitment to hold powerful corporations accountable when their products or practices cause harm to people and communities."

"From tobacco  and opioid manufacturers to vaping companies, the Government of British Columbia has used the courts to pursue accountability and ensure that people in British Columbia are not left bearing the costs of corporate wrong-doing." 

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma 

 

"Safety is not theoretical; it is reflected in whether a child can wear a kippah to school without fear, openly express their Jewish identify, whether families feel comfortable attending synagogue, and whether community institutions can operate openly and securely."

"Antisemitic incidents continue to occur in schools, workplaces, places of worship, community institutions, public spaces, and online environments. Communities have reported harassment, intimidation, threats, vandalism, discrimination, hate speech, and violence. Many have expressed concern not only about the frequency of these incidents, but also about whether institutions consistently recognize and respond to antisemitism when it occurs." 

National Commitments to Combat Antisemitism report 

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about the rise of antisemitism to community leaders and community members at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on June 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

 

Canadian Jews have been living an ongoing nightmare for the past three years. Since the carnage of October 7, 2023 when Palestinian terrorists in their thousands flooded across the border from Gaza into Southern Israel -- to rape, loot, slaughter and kidnap children, the elderly, girls and women for barter, leaving 1,200 dead Israelis and the nation to mourn its dead to an onslaught of pure unadulterated psychotic sadism where terrorists with body cams videoed the mutilation, mass rape and murder of Israeli women and girls, the fires set in family-occupied homes to burn residents to death -- Jew-hate has surged in Canada.

 

In the immediate wake of the atrocities, throngs of Jew-hating, keffiyeh-clad, masked 'protesters' marched in the streets, led by Palestinian student groups and foreign interlopers whose goal it was to radicalize the Canadian left to their cause. At university campuses across the country those same student groups set up 'Palestinian' encampments to harass and threaten Jewish faculty and students alike. The Hamas supporters insisted that university administrations relinquish all investments and associations with Israeli academia.

 

Memorial at Nova Music Festival massacre

 

Canada's Liberal government responded by condemning the unrest, and taking verbal umbrage at the antisemitism roiling Canadian society ... but never without also condemning 'Islamophobia', concerned with the hurt feelings of Canadian Muslims from among whose ranks the perpetrators of Jew-hate-mania erupted...condemnation of antisemitism becoming an add-on of lesser gravity. And nor did the federal government take any action to put a stop to the incessant viral calls to violence against Jews through the marchers' calls to 'globalize the Intifada', and for a 'Final Solution' alongside 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'.

 

Two successive Liberal governments, under Trudeau, then Carney, placed Israel under a spotlight of suspicion, while elevating the status of two Palestinian enclaves in the Middle East -- both of which have in the past 80 years committed violently murderous attacks against Israel and its Jews -- to a declared state status, minus the need to recognize the legitimate sovereignty of Israel, to stop its propaganda war against the Jewish state, to legitimize itself as a fledgling state through the democratic process, to replace its school curricula demonizing Jews and Israel, and to put an end to its infamous lavish payouts to 'martyrs' dedicated to killing Jews in Israel.

 

Pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment at the University of Toronto. A spokesperson for the group says they will not leave until the school meets a list of their demands. Photo: (Paul Smith/CBC)

 

Taking their cue from the federal government, provincial governments and municipalities followed suit, as did their police departments. Where police in Montreal and Toronto in particular dedicated themselves to 'protecting' anti-Israel, pro-Hamas marchers, in their right to 'free speech', while giving short shrift to Canadian Jews who came out to counter those threatening their position as centuries-long position of Jews of Canada, by informing the Jews their presence presented a danger of escalation and they must disperse or be charged. 

"The Government of Canada recognizes that antisemitism can be a matter of national security. Beyond the very real and immediate threat to Jewish individuals and communities, antisemitism is a core component of many violent extremist ideologies. Antisemitism is both an indicator and an accelerator of radicalization and its spread -- as history shows -- and it is not just a threat to public safety but to social cohesion and democratic values."

"The normalization of hate directed at Jewish-Canadians and violence directed at Jewish community institutions, undermines Canadian security and resilience, creating an environment where no vulnerable minority is safe." 

NCCA report 

 Toronto police are seen outside Shaarei Shomayim on Glencairn Avenue after the building was struck by gunfire in the early morning hours of March 7, 2026. CITYNEWS

 

It is, in point of fact, the Liberal Government of Canada and its Cabinet, its Prime Minister, that have succeeded in normalizing Jew-hate in the country. They did this through their default complicity, by doing nothing to uphold the laws against promulgating hate against an identifiable group that threatens their security. When Jewish businesses are vandalized, synagogues and schools shot at, Jewish neighbourhoods inundated with antisemitic literature, by groups of anti-Israel, Palestinian-celebrating vandals, the government deplores the situation but no remedial action is ever taken.

 

The declarations attributable to the investigations and conclusions reached by government-appointed committees ostensibly meant to reach a consensus leading to recommendations for government remedial action, could be artificial-intelligence-composed for all the authenticity and resolve they contain. Any grade-school Jewish child could compose something similar from the experience gained at an all-too early age in the growing menace of Jew-hate at every level, not excluding public schools and public museums.

 

This Liberal government now led by Mark Carney has been a complete failure on many levels for many reasons, none as abrasively averse to the Jewish-Canadian community's comfort level in equality and security in a grievously altered Canadian culture where the social compact all have relied upon and respected has all so suddenly been corrupted and threatening. It is the Liberal government that opened Canada's borders to refugees, migrants and immigrants from countries in North Africa and the Middle East whose cultures are radically averse to Canada's, whose values and system of justice and equality do not match Canada's.

 

No, Mr. Carney, your statement that "Muslim values are Canadian values" is quite incorrect... 

 

Above all, that which the government, traditional news media and corporate interests stand infused now with the taint of Critical Race Theory, DEI and the essence of 'woke' dedicate themselves to, offering praise for that which has not earned praise, accepting a low standard from those incapable of anything better, but satisfying the expectations of 'progressive' liberalism which has decided that Jews in Canada can look after themselves, because its government has no interest whatever in their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

 

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

"The capital is in a very dramatic situation."

"It's no longer possible to pretend that we can live now as we lived in peacetime."

"The enemy is tearing Kyiv apart."

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko 

 

"The Russians couldn't occupy us. So now they are doing massive attacks and massive killings."

"They are increasing the number of people they recruit through various methods. It is important that the governments of countries from which Russia recruits people for its army take action against this." 

"New interceptors are being actively tested. Some combat groups are using them, but, of course, some details still need to be refined to achieve enough effectiveness and scale. "

"We are speeding up the developers." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

Flames are seen at Kyiv's Dobrobut Hospital on Monday in the aftermath of a Russian drone strike. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press)

 

What is left of the 8,000 North Korea soldiers sent over to fight with Russia against Ukraine, is being fortified with the arrival of another 10,000 North Korean military operatives, as Russia ramps up its recruitment efforts for its ongoing offensive. The plan is to strike civilian infrastructure as the Russian military has always done, but now the focus has turned to Kyiv, which up until a short while ago managed to escape most of the missiles and drones targeting other parts of Ukraine.

 

Residents of Kyiv, while becoming accustomed to energy infrastructure hits, particularly in the winter months -- meant to demoralize them, suffering from unheated interiors and difficulties with food preparation in freezing weather -- were mostly able to go about their business as usual, as soon as energy was restored. During aerial attacks, people flooded into shelters, where the subway system tunnels proved a great asset. More latterly, however, transportation systems have been targeted to fully interrupt illusions of normalcy.

 

More recent aerial strikes have brought a standstill to traffic with a bridge linking Kyiv's east and west put out of commission. A fuming Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again ripped Vladimir Putin for his savage attacks on civilian areas in Ukrainian cities. The grinding conflict reaching into its fifth year with Moscow ordering massive nighttime raids whose effects are the destruction of municipal infrastructure, apartment buildings, government offices have reached a new low in violations of international rules of war. President Zelenskyy revealed Putin having declared "no rules now", gained through intelligence.

 

The ground combat in the east has morphed into a focus on massive aerial attacks, which until latterly Ukraine managed to mostly intercept, with most damage on the ground caused by pieces of shrapnel, from exploded missiles and drones. Russia's production of a new type of drone based on the Iranian Shahed, have been proven all too difficult to intercept. Their speed and deadly impacts allow them to evade interception and strike their targets with efficient violence.

 

In Kyiv the closure of its main bridges and restricted movements follow yet another wave of deadly strikes by fast-moving, jet-powered drones. Main roads are gridlocked while commuters seek out alternative routes or simply abandon their vehicles and attempt to walk to their destinations. Of eight bridges connecting Kyiv east and west over the Dnipro River, because of those damaged, vehicles going in both directions can move neither backward nor forward.  

 

A man escapes from an administrative building in Kyiv which caught fire after being hit by a Russian jet-powered drone. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

 

The aerial bombardments of recent months have placed Ukraine's capital city on constant alert, daily life completely disrupted. Approaching aerial threats cause air raid sirens to sound close to constantly throughout the course of a day, allowing an estimated three minutes for residents to seek shelter. Trains and gas stations have suffered repeated strikes. Rail and road networks have been hit, and attacks on energy facilities constantly threaten power and heating outages with the approach of a Ukrainian winter.

 

Some city residents, given the continual raids, have been forced to spend overnight in subway stations. People face air raid obstacles to reaching their work sites during the day, the loss of earnings added to the trauma faced now on a daily basis. "You just spend the whole day feeling completely beaten down", remarked one woman who spent fruitless hours attempting to reach her place of employment. This, as a 24-storey residential building was hit in southeast Kyiv, killing several and injuring many.

 

Intercepted jet drone, Kyiv.

President Zelenskyy calls for urgent measure to be taken for tougher sanctions to prevent Russia from its manufacture of the jet-powered drones, so difficult for Ukraine to intercept. Just days ago, the Ukraine military was able to use its own FP-7 tactical ballistic missile for the first time in combat. A small hint of future manufacturing success to come, but in the meanwhile, pleading with  Ukraine's western allies for greater military support, in particular for U.S.-manufactured Patriot missile interceptors.

 

Even as Ukraine buckles, but does not collapse under the newer and more powerful Russian attacks, Ukraine's military struck an oil refinery in Volgograd, and another in Samar, in southwest Russia. Disabling their capacity to supply fuel to Russian forces.   

"[Russia's production of jet-powered drones are] critically dependent [on foreign components."

"Every Russian drone can actually be stopped right at the production line. What is needed is the political will of these countries." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  

Ukraine's National Academy of Science building burns in Kyiv after a Russian drone strike. (Dan Bashakov/The Associated Press)