Community leaders call for hate crimes protections after Toronto Jewish school shot at

After a Jewish girls' school in North York was shot at early Saturday morning, school staff, Jewish group leaders and politicians gathered Sunday to call for more police action to keep Toronto's Jewish population safe.

The school, Bais Chaya Mushka, was the target of gunfire early Saturday morning — the date of the Jewish high holiday Yom Kippur. It was the second time the school had been shot at this year, with a similar incident happening in May.

No one was injured in either incident, and suspects in both cases have yet to be caught.

Speaking Sunday at a news conference organized by United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto, Rabbi Nochum Sosover expressed his disbelief that his school was going through this again. He blamed a "soft response" to the first shooting.

"We didn't catch the perpetrators [in May] and that's the reason why they felt comfortable to do it again," he said. "More has to be done."

Though Sosover thanked the police for their efforts, he called on legislators from all levels of government to provide more protection against hate crimes and ensure perpetrators are caught.

"More has to be done," he said. "Do we need to have a real tragedy?"

The Toronto Police Service has two units investigating Saturday's shooting, including its hate crimes unit. Police said Sunday they had no additional details on the shooting or suspects. On Saturday Police said they had increased their presence in Jewish neighbourhoods, and would do so around the school while they investigate.

Michael Levitt, CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, said Sunday outside the school that antisemitism is on the rise and "Jews no longer feel safe in Toronto."

He said the government is allowing "terror-glorifying hate rallies" in Canadian cities, saying laws need to be more severe against gatherings promoting organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, both of which are involved in ongoing conflicts with Israel.

Coun. James Pasternak, whose ward is home to the school, told reporters that the city needs more police, including RCMP, to enforce against hate crimes. Pasternak said rallies in the city were breeding hatred.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in Toronto over the last year. Though arrests have happened at some gatherings, many have been peaceful demonstrations.

Ya'ara Saks, MP for York Centre and a member of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group, also spoke at the news conference, condemning the shooting.

"This is not how Canadians want to see our cities," she said.

She said the federal government is taking the safety of Jewish Canadians seriously. She said all levels of government must work together to combat hate crimes.

"The public safety minister has expressed time and again that we are working with the RCMP and all levels of police enforcement to ensure that the perpetrators of these acts, and all [such] acts across the country are held to account under the fullest extent of the law," Saks said.

Staff at Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School say classes will resume as scheduled next week, despite the shooting.