Police Investigating Fire at Toronto Jewish School

A logo at the Toronto Police Services headquarters in Toronto, in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov)

Toronto Police Service (TPS) says it’s investigating a fire at a Jewish school that happened in the early hours of July 30.

Officers responded to the fire at Leo Baeck Day School around 3:46 a.m., TPS told The Epoch Times in an email.

“The fire originated in an exterior storage shed, which was being used by an under-housed individual for shelter,” said a TPS spokesperson.

Toronto Fire Services successfully extinguished the fire, said TPS. The cause of the fire has not been determined but there were no suspicious circumstances at the scene. No injuries were reported.

TPS says it is actively investigating the incident. The Hate Crime Unit was consulted but police say there was no evidence the fire was hate-motivated.

School Bus Fire

The school fire comes a day after TPS responded to a school bus fire near a synagogue in North York.

Officers responded to the fire call at 5:09 a.m. on July 29, TPS told The Epoch Times in an email.

Police say the bus was parked in the Wilson and Bathurst area.

“The bus had been at that location for an extended period of time, destined for the scrap yard,” police said.

The incident is considered arson, but TPS said the Hate Crime Unit was consulted and found no evidence that the fire was hate-motivated. TPS continues to investigate.

Liberal MP Marco Mendicino raised questions on social media about the nature of the incident.

“A school bus is set on fire in a Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto. Police are investigating, but antisemitism will continue increasing until there are serious consequences for violent, dangerous hate crimes,” he said in a July 29 post on the X platform.

Mr. Mendocino, who was the federal public safety minister from 2021 to 2023, said that those behind the school bus fire must be arrested, charged, and prosecuted.

News of the fires solicited international response online, with Hen Mazzig, senior fellow at The Tel Aviv Institute in England, saying he was heartbroken by the attacks on Toronto’s Jewish community.

“Targeting Jewish spaces and even Jewish children because of a war taking place an ocean away is absurd,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.  “The Jewish community has been trying to warn protestors that their calls for intifada will lead to more antisemitic incidents around the world and what has occurred in Toronto just goes to prove that we were right. We will continue to stand up for Jews everywhere.”

As of May 31, there have been 187 alleged hate crimes reported in Toronto so far this year, with about half being deemed anti-Semitic, according to TPS.

A recent police report found there was a 47 percent increase in reported hate crimes in 2023 when compared with 2022. A total of 365 incidents were reported in 2023.

Over a third of the incidents took place after Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, sparking a military conflict in the region.

Mischief to property, assault, and uttering threats were the most commonly reported hate crimes, TPS said.

The Canadian Press Contributed to this article.