MONTREAL — Quebec Jewish organizations are receiving a total of $223,000 in grants from the federal government to improve their security.
Jason Kenney
Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, announced the funding at a press conference Aug. 28 at Federation CJA, which co-ordinates Jewish organizations’ applications to the Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Pilot Program (SIP), introduced by the Harper government two years ago.
SIP helps defray the cost of security infrastructure upgrades at not-for-profit community centres, educational institutions and places of worship linked to a community with a history of being victimized by hate-motivated crime, or its threat.
The recipients are: the YM-YWHA/Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in Snowdon, outside of which an explosive device was detonated in 2007 ($70,600); the Beth Jacob de Rav Hirschprung School in Outremont ($47,000); Hebrew Academy in Côte St. Luc ($25,400); Centre de la Petite Enfance of Jewish People’s and Peretz Schools ($14,700); Congregation Beth Tikvah in Dollard des Ormeaux ($14,618); Rabbinat Sépharade du Québec in Snowdon ($12,400); Solomon Schechter Academy in Snowdon ($11,700); Beth Rivkah Academy in Côte des Neiges ($9,750); Communauté Sépharade Hekhal Shalom in St. Laurent ($9,550); and Shaare Zedek Congregation in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ($7,285).
The grants must be matched dollar-for-dollar by the recipients.
Six other Montreal Jewish organizations received a total of over $144,000 in the first round of grants last year under SIP, a three-year, $3-million pilot project.
According to Public Safety Canada’s website, “the SIP Program has approved funding for 55 organizations across Canada” since its inception in 2007. Of those, 46 – or 84 per cent – have been awarded to Jewish community organizations.
“No community should live in fear… It’s unacceptable that any group should be victimized for their race, religion or culture,” Kenney said, noting there were nearly 800 hate crimes recorded in Canada last year.
Helping defray a community institution’s security costs is in the public interest, he said.
