A Toronto man has been charged with willful promotion of hatred nearly a year after allegedly distributing antisemitic flyers in the city’s west end, Toronto Police announced this week, according to the Canadian Jewish News.
Police said in Monday’s announcement that a 62-year-old handed out flyers “promoting hatred against members of the Jewish community” in the area of Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue on January 2, 2025.
He is listed online as the “principal beekeeper at The Bee Shop which is located near the area where the alleged incident occurred, the Canadian Jewish News report said.
Police noted that charges of willful promotion of hatred require consent from the provincial Ministry of the Attorney-General. A conviction in such a case allows judges to consider bias, hate, or prejudice as aggravating factors in sentencing, according to a Toronto Police news release.
The suspect is scheduled to appear in court on February 3, 2026.
Toronto continues to deal with a sharp rise in incidents of antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.
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.
Last week, approximately 20 mezuzahs were stolen from the doorways of a seniors’ housing building near Bathurst Street and Steeles Avenue W., on the northern boundary of Toronto.
A week earlier, a Toronto model said she was forced out of an Uber ride-share vehicle after midnight when the driver learned she was Jewish.
In early November, a suspect smashed windows at Kehillat Shaarei Torah (KST) in Toronto, marking the tenth attack on the synagogue in just 18 months.
A day later, anti-Israel rioters stormed an event featuring IDF veterans. The off-campus event was organized by the Students Supporting Israel chapter of Toronto Metropolitan University. Five suspects were arrested in connection with the incident.