The summer I spent living over a bakery on Bernard Ave., one of my favourite things to do was to sit on my front balcony overlooking the street each evening and people watch.
From my perch, I would observe the well-heeled denizens of Outremont sip rosé on restaurant terraces, crowds throng for ice cream at Bilboquet, and broods of children from the Hasidic community stroll down the boulevard on their way to play in the park.
Even after dark, Bernard was always bustling along the stretch where Outremont melds into Mile End, along which synagogues and kosher delis are interspersed with posh boutiques and quaint eateries.
That view, etched in my memory, reflects Montreal at its best: a city where people of different cultures, beliefs and backgrounds have long coexisted peacefully; where the religious and the secular can share the same sidewalk and go about their business with respect.
But disturbing security cam footage recorded a few blocks east on Bernard last Friday night captured Montreal at its worst.
The snippet showed a Hasidic Jewish man being accosted between Parc Ave. and Hutchison St. by a light-haired assailant who sneaks up on him from behind and attempts to snatch his shtreimel. The owner removes his traditional fur hat, clutches it to his body, and backs away as the perpetrator lunges at him.
The hate crimes unit of the Montreal police is now investigating several incidents of Hasidic men being harassed on their way home from synagogue and having their shtreimels stolen by thieves who ambushed them from cars parked along neighbourhood streets.
You don’t need to be a seasoned detective to recognize this as an antisemitic attack targeting Jewish men for their distinctive dress.
But the question is, what — and more important, who — are we dealing with here?
There has been an evolution in how hate is manifesting itself in Montreal recently. And the different types and culprits being identified may demand more tailored responses, be it from police, political leaders or society at large.
Political polarization and frictions over wars in the Middle East have roiled the social climate in this city.
Hate crimes have surged dramatically in Montreal since Oct. 7, 2023. Many Jewish institutions — from schools to synagogues — have been struck by vandalism, firebombings or bullets. The Muslim community has also been dealing with rising Islamophobia.
But are Montrealers turning against each other as tensions flare? Or are deep rifts being exploited to undermine the city’s resilient social fabric? If so, by whom?
Far-right groups have been active in Montreal lately — and are making themselves more visible.
An investigative journalist uncovered that white nationalists were grooming and recruiting new members at a gym in St-Léonard.
A city councillor in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, another neighbourhood where diversity thrives, warned locals about the presence of a well-known extremist agitator and urged the public to call police if he was seen bothering anyone.
Just over a month ago, masked white supremacists unfurled a banner in a Shawinigan park, one of many gatherings across Canada that day to amplify and normalize their hateful message. That didn’t occur in Montreal, but it still hit close to home.
The coward who lashed out Friday night may not have acted alone. The number of incidents, as well as the modus operandi, suggest there could have been multiple perpetrators.
Could this be yet another example of groups with nefarious agendas flexing or was it a lone individual?
As Montrealers know too well, a single, troubled individual can, indeed, cause untold carnage.
Late last month, a gunman with a hodgepodge of apparent grievances — against women, Zionists, police, capitalists, pornography — unleashed a bloodbath in Côte-des-Neiges that cost a police officer and a bystander their lives.
The killer came from Alberta, but he chose our city to carry out his lethal violence. It’s a tragic example of how toxic ideologies are being freely peddled and poisoning minds in the unsupervised echo chambers of the internet. Radicalization can be a solo venture as well as a group activity.
But in a new wrinkle, it now seems like hate crimes are also being committed on demand, by proxy.
Gunfire aimed at the American consulate and synagogues in Toronto is alleged to have been ordered by a foreign terrorist who contracted hooligans locally to exact revenge for the U.S. and Israel bombing Iran, according to the FBI.
However, the recent court hearing for a man charged with setting a fire at a synagogue in Dollard-des-Ormeaux in 2024 shed light on how this worrisome trend may be playing out in Montreal.
The D.D.O. arsonist testified that he was offered $15,000 by someone he didn’t know over FaceTime to set a fire at an address he claimed he only realized after the fact was a synagogue.
The accused was vague and reluctant to reveal who hired him, leaving Montrealers to speculate. Are attacks that sow fear in our city also being masterminded by shadowy foreign actors far away? Is this the work of local gangsters, who are also known to lure wayward youth into committing serious crimes via social media?
Who else would offer money to terrorize communities, intimidate citizens and undermine our way of life?
These are urgent questions.
Montrealers who cherish mingling with neighbours of different origins on safe streets must be vigilant for signs of hatred in our midst and treat an attack on one person or group as an attack on us all.
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I started at The Montreal Gazette in 2000 as an intern. Since then I have covered the National Assembly and courts, worked on the assignment desk and written editorials, before debuting as city columnist in 2017.
ahanes@postmedia.com