Toronto police say a fire at a business in the city is being investigated as a suspected hate-motivated crime.
Police say they were called Wednesday morning to International Deli Foods in the North York area for reports of a fire. No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze.
Police say officers found graffiti on the outside of the building that read “Free Palestine.”
Staff Supt. Pauline Gray says Toronto police are not taking the situation lightly.
Police say their investigation will be conducted in consultation with the Ministry of the Attorney General and the help of the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office.
Coun. James Pasternak, who represents the ward where the deli is located, said on social media that the deli is a Jewish-owned business.
“We are shocked and appalled (by) the attack on IDF Foods at Petrolia and Steeles,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Police have said that between Oct. 7 – when the latest Israel-Hamas war began – and Dec. 17, there were 98 hate crime reports in Toronto, compared with 48 during the same time period in 2022.
They said that included 56 antisemitic hate crime reports, compared to 18 during the same time period last year, and 20 anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab hate crime reports, versus two during the same time period in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2024.
