Mass bomb threat sent to Jewish institutions across Canada

A threatening email was sent early Wednesday morning to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada, including several in Montreal, prompting investigations by police in multiple cities and the RCMP.

Cst. Sabrina Gauthier, a spokesperson for the Montreal police, said a 911 call came in at 7:10 a.m. from a synagogue in Hampstead about an email it had received saying bombs had been placed in the building. 

The email was sent to more than 100 synagogues, Jewish community centres and other institutions across the country, said a spokesperson for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in an interview Wednesday morning.

Jewish advocacy group B'nai Brith Canada said the emails sent at 5 a.m. threatened explosions, including at their offices in Toronto and Montreal.

Synagogues, Jewish community centres and hospitals in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are among those which confirmed they have received the threat. Ottawa police say they are on site at several hospitals in the capital but indicated the RCMP is taking the lead on the investigation.

The Toronto Police Service said it had searched buildings on Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West for a bomb threat.

"The buildings were evacuated as a precaution and cleared," TPS spokesperson Laura Brabant said in an email to CBC News. 

"We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto."

Gauthier, of Montreal police, said police sent a team to verify the interior and exterior of the building on Harrow Crescent in Hampstead, an independent municipality in western Montreal. 

"The team did not detect any immediate threats," Gauthier said over the phone. 

She said police soon received calls from Jewish establishments in other Montreal neighbourhoods that had received the same email and is verifying those locations as well. 

A spokeswoman from the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa said the police determined the situation was "low risk" but an extensive sweep had been carried out at the hospital and grounds.

The RCMP is now conducting a Canada-wide investigation on the email, though it's unclear which department is leading the probe. 

Reached by phone, Rabbi Michael Whitman of Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff Synagogue in Hampstead, said he could no longer comment on the email his temple had received as it is working with the security arm of Federation CJA.