The RCMP has charged an Ottawa youth with terrorism for allegedly plotting an attack against the Jewish community, Global News has learned.
The youth, who cannot be named because he is a minor, appeared in an Ottawa courthouse on Saturday morning to face two charges.
He was taken into custody until his next court appearance, scheduled for Monday morning.
The RCMP said he had been charged with facilitation of a terrorist activity “by communicating instructional material related to an explosive substance.”
He was also charged with “instructing, directly or indirectly, a person to carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish persons.”
Police did not identify a specific target of the alleged attack.
Two national security sources said the alleged plot was believed to be religiously motivated against the Jewish community.
Global News has agreed not to identify the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.
A man who identified himself as the youth’s father Saturday said he “did not know what happened.”
The man, whom Global News is not naming so as not to identify the minor, said that the youth’s mother told him he was picked up by the RCMP on suspicion he was planning an attack on Jewish people.
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“Like something he and other people or something, or he (was) cooperating with other people to attack Jewish people or something like that,” the man said.
“But I know because I know if (he) committed any act of terrorism, I don’t think so. I just saw him recently, I know he was fine. He was normal I mean … He’s too young. He doesn’t have any plan of terrorism attacks or something.”
A Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) team was dispatched to the scene of the arrest, a senior national security source said.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs called the allegations “a staggering development of what unchecked anti-semitism has become in our country.”
“This does not appear to be dissimilar to what happened in Europe earlier this week, when several individuals were arrested across multiple countries, and charged with plotting attacks against Jewish institutions,” said Gerry Almendrades, CIJA’s National Director of Community Security.
CIJA thanked police for preventing the plot but said since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack “the Jewish community has been raising our extreme concerns about the frightening rise of antisemitic incitement and hatred in Canada.”
Police have spoken to the Ottawa Jewish community about the arrest, a CIJA spokesperson said.
Professor Amarnath Amarasingam, a Queen’s University expert on extremism, said the ripples of the Oct, 7 attack against Israel were being felt by diaspora communities.
“We’ve seen an uptick in attacks and hate speech on all sides, impacting all sides,” he said.
“While we have a more robust prevention system in place in Canada than a few years ago, when there is an uptick in activity due to foreign events, the systems in place have a harder time keeping up, and individuals are bound to fall through the cracks.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said in a statement posted on X that the plot “should awaken us to the horrifying rise of anti-semitism since Hamas’ genocidal Oct. 7 attack on Israel.”
“We must redouble our efforts to protect our people and defeat anti-Jewish hatred.”
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