Ottawa police investigating complaints of hate speech at pro-Palestinian rally
Ottawa police are investi‐ gating allegations of hate speech used during a proPalestinian rally on Parlia‐ ment Hill on the weekend.
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said its hate and bias crime unit has launched an investigation following com‐ plaints about a demonstra‐ tion "in relation to the Gaza Strip" on Saturday afternoon.
In an email to CBC, the OPS said it's in touch with community leaders and insti‐ tutions about the situation.
Police offered no more specific details about the alle‐ gations, but several videos posted to social media over the weekend show hundreds of demonstrators in front of Parliament Hill on Saturday.
At one point a demonstra‐ tor who was leading the crowd in chants can be heard saying "October seventh is proof that we are almost free," and "long live October seventh, long live the resis‐ tance."
WATCH | Police investi‐ gate comment at pro-Pales‐ tinian rally in Ottawa:
CBC has not identified the individual making those statements. According to the Israeli government, militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attacks.
A surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government. More than 1,000 people were in‐ jured and about 250 more were taken hostage.
According to Hamas's top military commander at the time, the assault was in re‐ sponse to the continued blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside occupied West Bank cities over the past year and increasing attacks by set‐ tlers on Palestinians.
Federal leaders demn statements
While there have been nu‐ merous protests across con‐
Canada and on Parliament Hill since that day, federal leaders were quick to con‐ demn the rhetoric heard at Saturday's rally, calling it anti‐ semitic.
"There is a difference be‐ tween peaceful protest and hateful intimidation. It is un‐ conscionable to glorify the antisemitic violence and mur‐ der perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th," wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media Sunday.
"I condemn these progenocide, antisemitic chan‐ ts," said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in his own so‐ cial media post.
"We stand with Jews in Canada and around the wor‐ ld against these malicious words and deeds."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wrote that "hate, anti‐ semitism and inciting vio‐ lence is never ok. I unequivo‐ cally condemn those who chant things that are incendi‐ ary, hateful and that glorify October 7th's terror and death."
OPS says hate speech 'not as obvious'
Police were present at Saturday's rally but no ar‐ rests or charges have been reported.
Ahead of an Ottawa Police Services Board meeting Mon‐ day, Chief Eric Stubbs told re‐ porters the OPS has a zerotolerance policy for hate-mo‐ tivated incidents, but would‐ n't say whether he felt the rhetoric heard over the weekend was antisemitic.
"When it's obvious, we can react right away. Some‐ times it's not as obvious," he said. "We have a very difficult time sometimes trying to be neutral, trying to be in the middle and balance people's rights to express them‐ selves."
It's why the OPS is con‐ sulting with Crown counsel on the specific language heard at Saturday's rally to "ensure we have the proper charges," Stubbs said.
Under federal legislation, any prosecution of hate speech would need to be ap‐ proved by Ontario's attorney general.
In a statement to CBC Monday, Médecins du Québec, which organized a demonstration on Parliament Hill Saturday to draw atten‐ tion to the destruction of Gaza's health system and the killing of health-care workers, said the comments in ques‐ tion were made by someone belonging to a separate demonstration, organized by another group, happening at the same time.
"We became aware of statements made by an indi‐ vidual that called for celebra‐ tion of the October 7th mas‐ sacre, which was a war crime, and we completely dissociate ourselves from those state‐ ments," read the statement in French.
CBC reached out to the organizers of the other demonstration for comment but did not receive a re‐ sponse by publication.