The Ukrainian Canadian Herald has received this statement by the United Jewish People's Order (UJPO) on the recent shooting that took place outside a Belleville, Ontario Synagogue on Yom Kippur.
United Jewish People’s Order/ Jews for Social Justice (UJPO/JSJ) Winnipeg condemns the shooting outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue on Monday September 21, 2026. The exchange of gunfire between Belleville police constable Jeff Smith and Sean Ward, a former Canadian Armed Forces member, resulted in Ward’s death and Smith’s hospitalization. Fortunately there were no reports of injuries to any of the synagogue’s congregation. We wish Constable Smith a full and speedy recovery.
Since October 7, 2023 there have been nine incidents of shots fired at synagogues or Jewish schools in Canada. While some pro-Israel groups blame the pro-Palestine movement for these crimes UJPO/JSJ rejects this accusation. Just as in this latest incident those perpetrators who the police have apprehended had no connection to the pro-Palestine movement. In fact at a press conference on the apprehension of the perpetrators of shootings in Toronto the police chief tied the shooting events to an online “gun-for-hire” network recruiting youth to film their armed attacks to secure payments.
The incident in Winnipeg on Saturday, September 19 at the Winnipeg Islamic Centre Masjid Bilal where a person was detained by police for making “hateful and threatening comments” to children outside the mosque point to the broader problem of racism in our society. We condemn this act as well as all manifestations of antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian, anti-Indigenous, anti-black, homophobic, etc. forms of racism.