Police in Peterborough, Ont., say officers will be canvassing neighbourhoods on Thursday evening for video evidence after antisemitic pamphlets were distributed.
The latest incidents occurred over the Canada Day long weekend in which pamphlets were found in the areas of Parkhill Road West, Crowley Crescent, Medical Driver and Weller Street. Many of the pamphlets were found inside plastic bags tossed on the driveways of homes.
The Peterborough Police Service says members of its auxiliary unit will be canvassing around 6 p.m. in the neighbourhoods of Parkhill Road West, Crowley Crescent, Monaghan Road and Hopkins Avenue for any video evidence.
The service said since May it has received 19 reports from residents about the flyers.
Pamphlets were also found in mid-May in neighbourhoods in the Lansdowne and George Street areas and East City, as well as in the Wolsely Street and Chemong Road areas in June.
“There is no room for hate in our community at any time,” said police chief Stuart Betts. “The number one goal of the Peterborough Police Service is public safety, and the Service is committed to this goal.”
Mayor Jeff Leal said he was “disgusted” and “saddened” by the literature being distributed across the city.
“Racism and discrimination of any kind have no place in Peterborough,” he said. “We stand with our city’s Jewish community and strongly condemn all forms of hate.”
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a non-profit human rights organization focusing on Holocaust education and antisemitism programs, also denounced the flyers.
“The Holocaust has taught us the dangers of spreading hateful conspiracies and the importance of confronting hatred before it leads to violence and other more extreme actions,” stated President and CEO Michael Levitt. “Such antisemitic propaganda is extremely harmful to the Jewish community and has no place in any neighbourhood, not in Canada nor anywhere else. We are hopeful that Peterborough police will find the perpetrators and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
Earlier this month, Richard Robertson, research Manager at B’nai Brith Canada, the country’s oldest independent Jewish Human Rights organization, told Global News he believes the flyers are being disseminated by a U.S.-based hate group called the Goyim Defense League (GDL).
Similar pamphlets have been found in Saskatchewan, he notes.
Statistics Canada in 2020 reported the Peterborough area had a rate of 19.4 police-reported hate crimes per 100,000 — the highest rate in Canada at the time. Its rate has since decreased to 18.7 cases per 100,000 to sit second behind Ottawa. The national average is 8.8.
Anyone with video or information is asked to contact Peterborough police at 705-876-1122 ext. 555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.stopcrimehere.ca.
Residents can also report hate/bias incidents through the service’s online reporting portal.
— with files from Robert Lothian, Global News Peterborough