Montreal pharmacist ‘shocked’ after swastikas painted on Saint-Laurent businesses’ windows

Pharmacist Joëlle Amselem said she was 'shocked' to see swastikas painted across her business's front windows in Saint-Laurent, Montreal.

Pharmacist Joëlle Amselem arrived at her place of business on Wednesday, which she has run for decades, to find swastikas scrawled across the front windows.

“I was really shocked,” said Amselem. “I mean we are in Montreal. Shocked, but at the same time, it’s one individual.”

Amselem called the police.

Montreal police (SPVM) report a 911 call around 3:10 a.m. about hateful graffiti on the front of the Proxim pharmacy, as well as the Boucherie Maison Amsellem and a neighbouring restaurant on Saint Louis Street in the Saint-Laurent borough.

Police took photos and have forwarded the file to the hate crimes squad. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

Amselem and her partner, Daniel Abikhzer, have been serving the neighbourhood for over 47 years. She said it is the first time the business has been targeted.

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“We’re a community pharmacy,” said Amselem. “We give very personal services to anybody. We’re very open to any ethnicity that is here in Ville-Saint-Laurent. I really don’t understand what would trigger such a heinous act.”

The act is one of many acts of antisemitism, according to the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith.

Paola Samuel is the organization’s Atlantic Canada and Quebec regional director. She said the businesses that were targeted were in a neighbourhood that is known to be Jewish.

“If it’s done in the middle of the night, early morning, it’s obviously pre-planned, because you can’t do graffiti just from the back of your pocket,” she told CJAD 800 Radio.

Samuel said that antisemitic acts have skyrocketed since the Oct. 7 attack and war in Gaza.

We’re up over 200 per cent of antisemitism in Quebec alone," she said. “There are 17 acts of anti-Semitism per day in Canada, according to B’nai B’rith numbers.”

She said the U.S./Israel attack in Iran will likely cause a further rise in acts.

“We were anticipating that our Jewish communities would be attacked, and it’s unacceptable that our community is constantly attacked for wars that are going on on the other side of the world,” she said.

Amselem is left both shocked and confused. She said, despite what’s going on in international relations, her business exists to serve the local population regardless of ethnicity.

“If this is related to any conflict around the world, the conflict is not happening here,” she said. “Why should events like this happen here in Montreal?”