'If they want to intimidate us it's not going to happen': Synagogue stands together after antisemitic graffiti
CBC
WARNING: This story contains references to and images of antisemitic symbols.
A Jewish congregation in Winnipeg came together for Sabbath in a show of strength and resilience, a day after their synagogue was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, including a slew of swastikas.
"The intention was to intimidate and frighten people. Maybe put people in a position where they didn't want to show up," said Rena Secter Elbaze, executive director of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
"Luckily people are resilient … if they want to intimidate us, it's not going to happen."
The synagogue on Wellington Crescent, which also operates a childcare centre, was targeted early Friday morning, Elbaze said.
A person wearing a hoodie was recorded on video surveillance cameras at the front of the building at around 4:30 a.m.
Elbaze said swastikas were painted on window panes that were inserted in the building's wooden doorway and other antisemitic graffiti, including the word "hate" was sprayed on a marble facade.
The synagogue has dealt with a handful of antisemitic graffiti incidents in the past, including on garbage bins or around the building's perimeter, but Elbaze said the front hadn't been defaced until this week.
"It was meant to damage and to be disrespectful," she said. "I feel saddened, I feel shocked … I don't like to be made to feel that we don't belong here."
A spokesperson for Winnipeg police told CBC News officers received a report of graffiti on a building in Wellington Crescent and the force's Major Crimes Unit is investigating the incident.
Police said they aren't aware of any similar incidents in Winnipeg in recent days but Elbaze said the graffiti is part of a larger trend of anti-semitism growing in Canada.
"Even if this turns out only to be an isolated attack, we still have to stop it. We still have to send the message that this is not allowed here."
Elbaze said maintenance crews at the building managed to clean the graffiti from the windows but some of the paint seeped in the pores of the marble and it is going to take longer to remove it completely.
The incident happened just hours before the start of Sabbath, a weekly day of rest and worship in Judaism.
The raven is the Yukon territory's official bird — and it holds cultural significance for many Yukon First Nation communities.
The federal government has proposed fining people and organizations up to $1 million for failing to comply with the requirements of its planned foreign influence transparency registry.
The race to become the next leader of the P.E.I. Progressive Conservative party is down to two men.
Julieth Torres remembers the thrill of pitching in at her grandmother's catering business, seeing people's faces light up as they took bites of the lovingly prepared food.
Like a crown on the hill, Pincher Creek’s Lebel Mansion brings a sense of history and warmth to the skyline above downtown.
The United States' capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, is an event worth celebrating for one Venezuelan refugee living in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Interveners in Halifax Water’s rate case are telling the regulatory board that the utility’s new proposal, which would cut its initial request by nearly half, is still inordinately high.
From the wintry symbol of a red northern cardinal to the rare New Brunswick sighting of a painted bunting, birds were the top subjects of this week's Your Lens submissions.
Fields of wheat are a staple in the landscape of Manitoba’s prairies, but this year many farmers plan to grow alternative crops.
Abel Charles throws on a pair of headphones and pulls his radio studio microphone closer to his face.
A new study by biologists at the University of Victoria has revealed why the simple back-and-forth motion of drift logs on B.C. beaches has destroyed critical ecosystems that keep the ocean healthy.
According to Niagara native, Lindsay Davies, the complaint that Ontario is a boring province when it comes to outdoor adventures is just plain wrong.
As of Jan. 1, most job postings in Ontario need to include salary figures, carbon monoxide alarms need to be on every level of a home and municipalities are now out of the recycling business.