Dozens of Canadian organizations targeted by bomb threat
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OTTAWA — Nearly 100 religious organizations, hospitals and institutions woke up Wednesday morning to a bomb threat in their email inboxes.
“We placed many explosives inside your building,” read the email, a copy of which was obtained by the Toronto Sun.
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“You will all end up in a pool of blood, none of you deserve to keep living. Everyone inside the building will lose their lives.”
The author continued that they had “nothing but scorn” for humanity, claimed they “won’t stop causing terror,” and urged recipients to give their group’s name to media outlets.
While the email makes no mention of any specific cause, several religious organizations — including B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish human rights organization — were among the recipients.
“An email was sent to one of our general inboxes for media inquires just after 5 a.m.” said B’nai Brith’s Rich Robertson.
“It was also sent to dozens of other institutions across Canada, and even some in the United States.”
Many of the recipients, he said, included several of synagogues and shuls, but also Ottawa-area hospitals.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) was not included in the list of bomb-threat recipients, but it maintains the email was not targeting Canada’s Jewish community specifically.
“We are in contact with law enforcement and all indications point to these threats being nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives,” said Eta Yudin, CIJA’s Quebec vice-president.
“There is no imminent threat. Jewish Canadians will not be intimidated — we will continue to take part in Canadian society and Jewish life. We will stay vigilant, but we will never be intimidated.”
A statement from the Ottawa Hospital confirms they received the same threat, but reported no changes to daily routines or appointments.
“Earlier this morning, a bomb threat was made to the Ottawa Hospital, along with the majority of hospitals in the region,” the statement read.
“The police have determined that the situation is low risk, however we are currently following all standard procedures, including a full sweep/inspection of our campuses. We will continue working closely with the police.”
Toronto police say they’re aware of the threats, and that police attended buildings near Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. W. in response to the email.
“The (buildings) were evacuated as a precaution and cleared. We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto,” read a statement from TPS.
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