
Toronto police have arrested and charged a Toronto man in connection with a suspected hate-motivated crime that occurred on June 4, JNS reported on Monday.
Domenic Buchanan, 22, was charged with mischief relating to religious property and mischief interference with property.
According to the Toronto Police Service, Buchanan is alleged to have urinated on the steps of a "place of worship" and shouted antisemitic slurs.
The incident took place at the intersection of Woodbine Avenue and Queen Street East. Several synagogues and churches are located near the site, but police did not specify the type of house of worship that was targeted.
The police department stated that it is investigating the incident as a suspected hate-motivated crime. Buchanan is scheduled to appear in court at the Ontario Court of Justice on Aug. 19.
Toronto has seen an uptick in anti-Israel incidents since the start of the war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
In March, Toronto Police charged a local man with 29 offenses, including multiple hate crimes, in connection with a surge of antisemitic attacks and threats against the city’s Jewish community.
Data released by the Toronto Police Service in May found that the city experienced a historic high in reported hate crime incidents in 2024, with the Jewish community, once again, being the leading target.
According to the TPS’s 2024 Annual Hate Crime Statistical Report, 443 hate-motivated occurrences were reported to police last year - a 19 percent increase from 2023 and a 203 percent rise from 2014.
Although the Jewish community represents less than four percent of Toronto’s population, anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for 40 percent of all reported incidents, with 177 occurrences, the majority of which involved acts of mischief.
Also in May, Toronto Police announced an arrest in connection with a series of suspected hate-motivated threats targeting the Israeli community.
The arrest came after multiple alarming social media posts surfaced between Wednesday, May 21, 2025, and Saturday, May 24, 2025, explicitly threatening harm. Basel Al-Sukhon, 26, of Toronto, was taken into custody and charged with uttering threats and indecent communications.