Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has condemned the Aug. 27
attack against a Jewish woman
in her 70s inside a west-end grocery store and offered his support and solidarity with the city’s Jewish community.
After a “thorough investigation,” the Ottawa police hate-crimes unit confirmed on Friday the stabbing incident is considered a hate-motivated crime.
“First and foremost, I feel for the victims and their families and the communities,” Sutcliffe said in a press conference Friday. “I feel very strongly in support of them but I also feel very emotional just imagining what they must be going through.
“Second, I feel upset because this isn’t Ottawa.”
Ottawa police said the woman entered the Loblaws grocery store at College Square with a friend around 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday when she was approached by a man and stabbed.
She was rushed to hospital with serious wounds, treated and later released.
Police said Thursday investigators have confirmed that the suspect and the victim were not known to one another prior to the incident.
Joseph (Joe) Rooke, 71, of Cornwall, has been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. The allegations against him have not been tested in court.
“I take pride in being somebody who deals with issues with reason and I try not to react emotionally and I take a dispassionate approach to the work that I’m doing,” Sutcliffe said. “But I have to say, it’s hard not to have a strong emotional reaction over what’s happened in our community over the last couple of weeks.
“There have been several incidents of violence and hatred, including two this week alone.”
Sutcliffe cited the recent vandalism targeting the Stittsville Muslim Association with “hateful” graffiti.
Sutcliffe said he has reached out to Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, who posted on social media that he was “deeply saddened” by the incident.
“I have had a chance to speak with the SMA to express my support and solidarity with their members,” Gower said in a statement. “This incident has caused a lot of shock and hurt in the community and I want to reiterate that residents of Stittsville stand firmly against hatred, racism and Islamophobia.”
The police hate and bias crime unit is also investigating that case. No arrests have yet been made, but Gower said there is video surveillance footage showing a person spray-painting a storage building on the property around 10:35 p.m. on Aug. 26.
The mayor also recently spoke out against a hate-motivated incident
targeting Muslim victims riding on an OC Transpo bus
.
“People should be able to go to the grocery store without experiencing the risk of violence. They should be able to take the bus without feeling afraid,” Sutcliffe said Friday. “They should be able to go to their place of worship without feeling intimidated.”
Sutcliffe said he spoke with the Jewish woman who was attacked this week to offer his support on behalf of the entire Ottawa community.
“Thankfully, she is ok. It could have been much worse. She indicated she was very grateful for the response of our paramedics and police officers and I am as well,” the mayor said.
“I know that this violent act has, understandably, caused significant distress in the Jewish community and I feel great empathy for them. I’ve connected with leaders in the Jewish community to express my support and solidarity on behalf of Ottawa residents,” Sutcliffe said.
“To the members of the Jewish community, I want to reiterate: You are not alone. We are with you, the entire community stands with you.
“I also wanted to indicate my empathy for our Muslim neighbours in Stittsville and throughout the community. This (incident at the SMA) is the second event in the past few weeks that has shaken them.
“To the members of our Muslim community, I want to reiterate: You are not alone. We are with you. The entire community is with you.
“But we have to do better as a community. We have to recommit to treating each other with kindness … compassion and respect.”
Ottawa police said they have issued directives to officers to step up patrols and increase police presence in areas of significance to the Jewish community. That includes the Baseline Road grocery store where the attack occurred, which has a large kosher section that caters to the Jewish community.
“Ottawa police have done a good job of that in the past,” Sutcliffe said. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the police taking this kind of action (responding) to an incident that’s causing fear and anxiety in the Jewish community (by) increasing their presence in the community.”
Sutcliffe previously announced a symposium this fall to “fight back” against hatred in the community, and said Friday more details will be shared in the coming weeks.
“I wish I had an easy answer, that there were a couple of steps we could take to make it all go away — it’s not that simple,” he said.
“We have to do the work every single day in the community to promote kindness and compassion and understanding. We have to push back when these events occur.”
The symposium will be an opportunity to bring people together from across the community to “talk about why this happens, how challenging it is when it does happen, how difficult it is to grapple with it and what proactive things we can do to create a kinder and more compassionate and more understanding community… so that everyone in our community feels safe,” said Sutcliffe.
“I want to emerge from that with a commitment on behalf of the community that we’re all going to work together to make everyone feel safe.”
College Coun. Laine Johnson, whose ward includes the College Square grocery store, called the attack this week “gut-wrenching” and said she has reached out to provincial and federal counterparts.
“Just as recently as Aug. 18 I was advocating to the (province) on the city’s anti-hate initiatives where we were discussing a role for the city to play as a systems navigator. There’s many groups that are doing really strong work in the city on anti-hate initiatives and ethno-cultural initiatives. But they do often request that convening systems-level support,” Johnson said.
The City of Ottawa is prepared to offer that support, Johnson said, and to work with community partners on third-party reporting for hate crimes, which are often under-reported.
