Jewish schools and gathering places: elected officials want to arm security agents

Elected officials are calling on the government to temporarily arm security guards in schools and public gathering places, in response to attacks on Jewish institutions in Montreal.

“It is a recommendation because there is violence, threats, because there have been shootings which have impacted several schools and public institutions where there are children,” argues the mayor of the City. of Mont-Royal, Peter Malouf.

He is among the politicians who signed an action plan “to fight against hatred of Jews in Canada, and more particularly in Quebec.” According to him, we must not repeat the mistakes of the Middle East here.

This is why he supported this recommendation to the Quebec government to allow “trained” security agents present in community institutions, schools and other places where the public gathers to be armed “during this period of ’emergency”. Mayor Malouf specifies that this permission should only be temporary.

“What do you do if you’re at a school with your kids and all of a sudden there are bullets falling on the school? [Faut-il] have someone from security who has no means to combat this? It’s not something I want […] but does the government have a better solution?

Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi also wants armed guards or off-duty police officers to be allowed to secure community institutions, schools and places of worship. “The rise of anti-Semitism is unprecedented. All the members of the council, the residents of Hampstead and the Montreal Jewish community as a whole aspire to this,” he argues.

Agents armed with dogs

In Quebec, only couriers who transport money are authorized to carry a firearm. Under the Anastasia Law, the carrying of firearms is prohibited in public places, including schools.

Last fall, several Jewish schools in the metropolis hired private firms to ensure their security. This is particularly the case for establishments located in Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Dollard-des-Ormeaux as well as in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, in Montreal.

Although the officers did not have firearms, some were equipped with a very effective tool: dogs specially trained for security interventions, whose role is similar to the animals used by police forces.

“The dog has a deterrent effect. Someone who wants to attack a school will think twice when they see the presence of a dog,” explains the head of a security agency, who requested anonymity for strategic reasons.

These Malinois shepherds receive a year and a half of training, which can cost up to $12,000. “They can sense the presence of someone who is not in their normal state or who could have a weapon on them,” he adds.

The PLQ dissociates itself

The councilors of the Côte-des-Neiges–NDG borough of the City of Montreal, Stéphanie Valenzuela and Sonny Moroz, also support the idea of ​​arming security agents. The latter agreed to endorse this proposal on the condition that this permission is only granted to security agents already trained in the handling of weapons.

If they are also signatories of the document, the liberal deputies Élizabeth Prass and Michelle Setlakwe wanted, for their part, to dissociate themselves from the measure aimed at arming security agents. “These rules are not in accordance with the regulations in force in Quebec,” said the member for D’Arcy-McGee in an email.

The federal Liberal MP for Mount Royal, Anthony Housefather, as well as the mayor of Côte-Saint-Luc, Mitchell Brownstein, are also among the signatories. They tried on Monday to rally everyone around a consensus. “There appears to be confusion in the way this recommendation is worded. We will therefore work with all the signatories to reformulate the recommendation, underlined a spokesperson in the evening. The objective was to ask the government to allow off-duty police officers to work as private security agents, which is currently not authorized in Quebec.

More than a hundred acts of violence recorded in Montreal

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, acts of vandalism or hate crimes against Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities have increased all over the world.

In Montreal, a total of 164 hate crimes and incidents were reported between October 7 and December 19, 2023 by the two communities.

Places of worship, community centers, as well as schools were targeted by violent actions.

November 9, 2023: On the night of November 9 to 10, two Jewish schools in the Côte-des-Neiges district of Montreal were the target of gunfire. Employees found bullet holes in front of the entrance to the first school, while shell casings were found at the scene of the second incident, the two establishments being located a few kilometers from each other.

November 12, 2023: Three days later, the first of the two schools was again targeted by gunfire. This time, witnesses saw an individual leave the scene after discharging his firearm at the building.

November 26, 2023: A school in the Saint-Laurent borough in Montreal is vandalized. Graffiti calling the State of Israel “terrorist” was painted in front of the parking lot entrance.

November 27, 2023: The Council of the Jewish Community of Montreal is the target of a Molotov cocktail which was thrown against the front of the building. No people were injured and the building suffered minor damage, including a smashed window.

The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) reports that 38 hate crimes and incidents were recorded against Arab-Muslim communities and 126 against Jewish communities between October 7 and December 19, 2023.

– With the collaboration of Jean-Louis Fortin and Marianne Langlois