By Joseph Marshall
A 38-year-old man was arrested early Friday morning after an attempted arson at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Westmount, just days after Prime Minister Mark Carney called antisemitism in Canada a crisis.
Montreal police were called to the synagogue on Sherbrooke Street West near Wood Avenue at about 12:15 a.m. after receiving a report that someone was trying to set fire to a place of worship.
According to the Montreal Gazette, police found flammables and a broken window at the rear of the building and believe someone tried to set the synagogue on fire from the inside. Firefighters quickly extinguished a small fire outside the building.
No injuries were reported and damage to the building was described as minor.
With assistance from Westmount Public Security, police located a 38-year-old man near the scene. He was taken into custody and was expected to be questioned later Friday.
Arson investigators are expected to examine local surveillance cameras as they try to determine exactly what happened before the incident.
Federation CJA said Friday that the attacker was masked and that its Community Security Network was immediately activated.
“The infrastructure put into place by Federation CJA’s Community Security Network (CSN) was immediately activated and directly contributed to the assailant’s arrest, preventing a much worse situation from occurring,” Federation CJA President and CEO Yair Szlak wrote in a message to the community.
Federation also thanked Westmount Public Safety and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal for what it described as a swift and effective response.
Rabbi Lisa Grushcow of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom told the Gazette that the damage was more than material.
“I’m walking through the hallways and I can still smell the smoke,” she said.
Grushcow also questioned how long Jewish institutions in Canada would remain “fair game” for acts of violence and described Carney’s announcement this week as “too little, too late.”
She said there is an immediate need for existing laws to be better enforced.
The attempted attack came four days after Carney announced new federal measures to combat antisemitism, including more security funding and the creation of a Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion.
Carney said Monday that antisemitism in Canada has reached crisis levels and acknowledged that Canada has failed its Jewish community.
By Friday morning, another Montreal synagogue had been targeted.
Federation CJA said the attempted firebombing should be understood as part of a broader pattern.
“This attempted attack on a synagogue in our city is, yet again, the result of over two years of unchecked antisemitism & anti-Zionism in the streets of Montreal,” Szlak wrote.
Federation also pushed back against the federal response, saying the Jewish community does not need another study to understand what it is already experiencing.
“Our community does not need another study to tell us what we already know and live every day,” Szlak wrote. “More money for Jewish security is appreciated, but only builds higher walls. It does not address the root cause of the problem.”
The organization called on political leaders at every level to say clearly that antisemitism and anti-Zionism have no place in Canada, and said governments must deal with what it described as radical extremism.
Friday’s attempted arson is the latest in a series of incidents targeting Jewish institutions in Montreal.
Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom was vandalized in February 2025, when antisemitic graffiti was painted on one of the synagogue’s facades.
Congregation Beth Tikvah in Dollard-des-Ormeaux was hit by incendiary devices in November 2023 and again in December 2024. The Federation CJA West Island office, located nearby, was also targeted.
In April 2025, a 19-year-old man was charged in connection with the December 2024 firebombing and vandalism at Beth Tikvah.
Federation CJA said it has received assurances from law enforcement that there will be increased patrols and additional police presence in and around the Jewish community over Shabbat.
The organization urged community members to remain vigilant, call 911 in an emergency, and contact CSN’s 24-hour hotline when safe to do so.
Police have not yet publicly identified the suspect. It was also not immediately clear Friday what charges he may face or whether police will treat the incident as a hate crime.
