Find out why this Canadian city’s Jewish Federation just joined an American security network

Hamilton is one of the first Canadian sites to seek help from south of the border.
Secure Jewish Network
Inside the Secure Community Network’s Jewish Security Operations Command Center, in Chicago, which operates 24/7, monitoring threats to Jewish communities in the United States—and now, also in Canada. (Screenshot courtesy of the Secure Community Network/YouTube)

Hamilton’s Jewish community agencies—including synagogues, schools and camps—spent the evening of Jan. 20 learning new security protocols to handle antisemitic protests, vandalism and terrorist attacks. The “Guardian Training” session was part of Hamilton’s new membership in the U.S.-based Secure Community Network (SCN) program, run by the New York based-Jewish Federations of North America. Hamilton is the first Canadian Jewish communities to directly join the network.

Hamilton received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding over three years, and quickly used part of it to hire a former local police commander as their new regional security director, whom they sent for training in Chicago where the SCN’s 24/7 command centre is located. There, former FBI agents and ex-military experts sit in a computer-lined war room and monitor attacks and threats to the Jewish world.

After Oct. 7, Jewish leadership in Hamilton were looking for an answer to protect their community, but its small size of 5,000 people made it unrealistic to afford the needed staffing and resources to build its own security network. On this episode of The CJN Daily, we hear more about why other Canadian federations are looking south of the border for help: we’re joined by Glenn Mannella, the new regional security director at Hamilton’s Jewish Federation, and Gustavo Rymberg, the Federation’s CEO.

Related links

  • See what the Jewish Federations of North America’s Secure Community Network command centre looks like, and how it saves Jewish lives. 
  • Learn why Hamilton’s Jewish Film Festival was moved after original venue cancelled, after Oct. 7, in The CJN.
  • Read more about private security agencies setting up to act to protect the Jewish community in Canada after Oct. 7, in The CJN.

Credits

  • Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
  • Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
  • Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors.

Ellin Bessner: I’m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Welcome to the CJN Daily, a podcast of the Canadian Jewish News, made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.  The Americans set up their Secure Community Network after 9/11 to act as an iron dome for Jewish Federations. Take-up was slow at first, but since October 7th, about 130 federations, big to small, are on board. In Canada, Hamilton’s is the first one which the Americans directly manage. The idea is that with better training, intel, and an alert system than what’s available now in Canada, plus more money for security equipment and millions in matching funding from multiple Canadian donors, this will better protect the Jewish community across North America from tragedies like the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018.   Officials say their program is a success because of the training that saved the lives of congregants in Colleyville, Texas, in 2022, when the rabbi threw a chair at the attacker, saving everyone. Despite its small size of just 5,000 Jewish people, Hamilton has a loud and active pro-Palestinian community, whose members have gained national and international headlines since Oct. 7, including provincial NDP MPP Sarah Jama, federal NDP MP Matthew Green, Rabbi David Mivasair, and other members.  With local police budgets stretched thin, so they can’t patrol the Jewish areas 24/7, and security in Canada really a patchwork that varies from city to city, the Jewish Federation in Hamilton says it made sense to look to the US for help. To learn more, I’m joined by Hamilton’s new security director, Glenn Mannella, and by Gustavo Rymberg, the CEO of Hamilton’s Jewish Federation.

Glenn Mannella [00:04:08]: Thank you. Good to be here.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:04:09]: Hi Ellin. Very nice to be here.

Ellin Bessner [00:04:11]: This weekend, the Hamilton Jewish Federation was hosting an important event. Glenn, this might be the first big test.

Glenn Mannella [00:04:18]: Oh definitely. I started at the beginning of October. Shortly after, we did have the Liberal Party with some high-profile MPs attending. It was a sell-out. The Federation was doing some very good proactive work to make sure their events were safe. This event, obviously, as everybody can tell, has attracted a lot more attention because of Melissa Lantsman being the speaker. But, I mean, we just took what was already a good screening and security program and we’ve just enhanced it. The Hamilton police have been great to work with. As a retired police officer, I’ve been able to utilize relationships I already have with Hamilton police, make some new connections, and they’ve been very responsive. They recognize the environment we’re in right now.

Ellin Bessner [00:05:09]: What was the motivation for Hamilton not relying on its own Canadian-based systems, like for example Toronto has, but preferring to use the system that was set up by the Jewish Federations of North America?

Gustavo Rymberg [00:05:28]: Many different issues. Okay. Number one, you have to understand the realities of small communities. It’s not the same as Toronto and Montreal. The action that is taking place in Montreal and Toronto is totally different from what is happening in Hamilton or any other small community. But at the same time, they have access to much more resources and infrastructure that we don’t have. So their campaign is much bigger. There’s more money allocated for security. We have this opportunity where the Jewish Federations of North America are helping, especially small communities, to raise the money to put this program together. Also, they offer a program that is, in our case, great because, to be honest, as a CEO, my job is not to be a security expert. But everything changed in the last year. So for us, it was a win-win situation. Unfortunately, in Canada, we didn’t have the opportunity to access something like this.

Ellin Bessner [00:06:38]: What gaps are you trying to fill and what you’re training through this SCN is now bringing to Hamilton?

Glenn Mannella [00:06:50]: Yeah, one of the biggest parts of my job is conducting security assessments. One of our experts from SCN came up, and we were able to do assessments on all the synagogues in the area. I know security companies can do CPTEDs; police services will do it as a service to the community. But the way SCN does their security assessments is like nothing I’ve ever seen. We spent several hours at each of the synagogues photographing the property, assessing the entry points, assessing every window and door, looking at how their camera system works, and looking at how their alarm system works, basically doing a full assessment on the entire property and how they run their operations. Then going back and putting together a very in-depth report. From that report, we’ll highlight any gaps that we see in security and make recommendations on how to improve it. Then what they can do is the individual facilities take that report and use it when they apply for a grant to get the funding to address those gaps.

Ellin Bessner [00:08:02]: So funding from whom though?

Glenn Mannella [00:08:05]: That’s for the synagogues to make an application for a new CCSP grant. We used to be SIP Ottawa, right?

Ellin Bessner [00:08:12]: Okay.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:08:12]: Yeah, yeah.

Glenn Mannella [00:08:12]: That’s the purpose of that.

Ellin Bessner [00:08:13]: What are the specific challenges that Hamilton has, that you’ve seen, that you are surprised to learn or that we might not understand?

Gustavo Rymberg [00:08:22]: I mean, I don’t know if they’re unique for us, but synagogues, for example, training is a big issue. Something that Glenn is doing to SCN is we have to make sure that everyone—and for me, that’s a big priority in this new program—is, like, everyone, doesn’t matter where you are, knows what to do in the case of an emergency. Okay. We have many cases, you know, proof, evidence that a lot of the incidents that happened in synagogues in the States or also, maybe, you know, they were not as bad as they could be because people were properly trained.

Ellin Bessner [00:08:55]: But I’m surprised that that hasn’t been done already. I mean, CJN, I’m not going to criticize or anything, but law enforcement training has been, you know, there’s the three words, right? And we’ve done this for the.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:09:06]: Since 2021, but not with the same intent. Okay. And I think that the training is more consistent, more professional. It’s not only one training. It’s important for me that it doesn’t matter which synagogue I go to or if I’m attending an event in the JCC or an event in the theater. But I think that it’s important for everyone to have the same standards and the same security protocol. Every member of the community should be properly trained. We didn’t have until now the same level of protocol and the same level of training in all the synagogues. Okay. So each one is doing the best that they can. But I think now what we’re trying to do is standardize.

Glenn Mannella [00:09:51]: After over 30 years in policing, looking at the training packages that SCN rolls out, it’s excellent, like it? I wish I would have had this stuff to give the community when I was a police officer.

Ellin Bessner [00:10:01]: You went down to headquarters; this is what Chicago. Were you blown away by what you saw?

Glenn Mannella [00:10:06]: Blown away by the quality of the people that work there, of the security advisors, the people that do my job. I would say probably the high majority are former FBI agents, so they’re bringing incredible experience, counterterrorism investigations. A lot of tactical people with tactical backgrounds. So just a lot of specialization. So a, the people I’m, I’m humbled to be working with, the people I’m working with, put it that way. In my opinion, it’s what’s, it’s not just what I can bring to the table, it’s what’s behind me. If you looked at SCN’s website, you’ll see that they have their Security Operations Center. Seeing that and how it works is just incredible.

Ellin Bessner [00:10:47]: It’s like a movie. Everyone would see all the monitors and like we would not have that in a small town, Hamilton or Halton Police headquarters.

Glenn Mannella [00:10:55]: Exactly. And what I’m able to do is I’m able to plug into that database all of our locations, all of our key people, so that if there is a threat in the community, we can alert everybody immediately. If there’s something that the JSOC picks up as a threat in the area, they can alert me. What is JSOC? It’s the Security Operations Command Center, that big room you saw with all the monitors.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:11:18]: I haven’t seen that.

Ellin Bessner [00:11:19]: I’m just imagining it.

Glenn Mannella [00:11:20]: It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. They’re constantly monitoring for threats towards the community.

Ellin Bessner [00:11:26]: That’s something that you said as a police officer in your area until you retired from the force, you didn’t have that, right?

Glenn Mannella [00:11:34]: Every police service does have a cyber team. Every police service has the capability of doing, I would think, what our JSOC does. It’s just having the ability to reach out and get that information immediately is what SCN brings to the table that the Hamilton Federation wouldn’t have if they just hired a standalone security member.

Ellin Bessner [00:11:54]: What I’m hearing is that Hamilton cannot possibly have the same, I don’t know, size and reach and depth by tapping into local Canadian law enforcement systems. And it’s much more effective in preventing or at least warning of problems than you could ever find here. Yes, to say it in a more succinct way, better antennae.

Glenn Mannella [00:12:21]: I believe so. Yes. That’s a fair way to put it. A much better antennae.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:12:26]: And also to your point about the Canadian resources, pretty sure that the resources exist. But the thing with the SCN and JFNA, they were working on this for a long time. They are organized and they formalized this program. So that doesn’t exist in Canada yet. Maybe, maybe it will happen. Maybe this will be an inspiration for Canadian sources to do something like this. But for now, I think it’s working great for us. It’s a very good resource for security, for information, for safety, and for us to feel properly protected.

Ellin Bessner [00:13:07]: Can we talk a bit about the biggest threats that you feel—and this is for both of you—that exist in Hamilton?

Glenn Mannella [00:13:17]: The concerns, the complaints I’m getting from the community, the most frequent would be the issues of graffiti, posters, flyers that are, I guess they’re being promoted as pro-Palestinian. When there’s a level of anti-Semitism to them, they may not meet the threshold of a criminal offense. They’re not crossing the line of advocating genocide or promoting hate, but they’re causing significant concern and fear for the safety of the community. What I want, the community recognizes there’s going to be things that frighten you, concern you, that the police can’t do anything about. It hasn’t crossed the threshold for them. But that’s what I need to be notified of. And I’m going to track, we’re going to catalog it, we’re going to track it, and let’s say we get a pattern of graffiti or flyering that doesn’t cross the threshold, but then at some point it does, then we’ll have that evidence to give to the police and say, hey, this isn’t a one-time issue. This has been culminating for a while. People having comments directed towards them. Anti-Semitic comments by, by other people in the community. That’s way more frequent than I ever imagined. Online, you mean? Or in person, one person. People walking down the street, if they’re wearing symbols that, that indicate they’re Jewish, people are actually commenting at and making anti-Semitic comments. We’ve had people being told that they’re baby killers because they’re wearing a Jewish symbol. I was shocked to learn that that’s going on in our community. The police have been fantastic to deal with and when it comes to an event that.

Ellin Bessner [00:14:55]: Oh, they do have a Hate crimes unit now in Hamilton.

Glenn Mannella [00:14:57]: They have a hate crimes unit that is well-staffed, and we have an excellent relationship with them. But yeah, they’re strapped for resources like everybody else.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:15:05]: There is something else that I think is important to mention. Ellin is like the big picture in Hamilton, you know. The politics in Hamilton, you know, with the NDP, strong anti-Semitic and anti-Israel approach. The fact that Sarah Jama will be considered again as an MPP for the NDP, it’s a problem. The influence of Independent Jewish Voices and David Mivasair in Hamilton, they are a problem. The situation in the Board of Education, another challenge.

Ellin Bessner [00:15:35]: You almost hosted the Hizb ut-Tahrir Caliphate conference in Hamilton until the mayor said no.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:15:43]: I mean, it was canceled. So we, that’s done.  But there are many things fueling the online postings, and there’s all these external agents that fuel the hate. From my own perspective, I don’t like to take anything for granted. I came from a different background compared to most Canadians. I experienced living in Argentina. The bombs at the community center and the embassy came from nowhere. I always say it can happen anywhere, anytime, and we have to be prepared or aware that something like this can happen. That’s my biggest fear. Personally, maybe it’s my trauma from going through that, but it’s something we cannot forget.

Ellin Bessner [00:16:42]: Glenn, can I bring you back in for a minute? You mentioned earlier that you were shocked when people reported to you that on the streets or at campus, people are getting slurs, being called baby killers, and facing verbal assaults. How does it compare, and how has the view of what Jews are living like changed since you started this job?

Glenn Mannella [00:17:04]: I’m glad you asked that. Back when I was a young police officer in uniform out in the community, you would want to sit in a coffee shop and have a coffee or lunch. You learn to live in what we used to call the yellow zone. You can’t be totally relaxed because you’re in uniform, and there are people who might harm a police officer.   You’d be sitting, having your lunch, but you’d be aware of everything and prepared to respond. I think the average Jewish person aware of global events has to live like that all the time. That’s not acceptable for a person to worry about needing to run out of synagogue or being aware of who’s entering the community center.  I grew up Catholic, without Jewish friends, so I knew little of the faith. The level of antisemitism we’re experiencing now likely wasn’t present when I was younger. It’s eye-opening.

Ellin Bessner [00:18:14]: What else has surprised you since you started this job that you’ve learned from the United States that you’re applying here?

Glenn Mannella [00:18:19]: In Canada, Hamilton, in particular, with politicians aligned with the pro-Palestinian movement, are emboldening the community, in my opinion. So Hamilton’s unique in that we almost accept this behavior. My counterparts in the US, from communities without such left-leaning politics, don’t see this. Their concerns are with white supremacist groups, whereas we see it from pro-Palestinian groups practicing antisemitism.

Ellin Bessner [00:19:02]: We live in Canada, not a gun culture like the United States. The laws are different regarding policing such threats. How do you navigate that with Canadian laws, learning from Americans?

Glenn Mannella [00:19:18]: A fair question. I had to modify materials with SCN experts because the US has armed security guards, not an option here. Hiring pay duty officers isn’t financially sustainable.   There’s discussion, even in the US, whether it’s better to have an armed congregation or hire armed security guards or off-duty police officers. They can also hire retired police officers who keep their firearms. We’re in a different position, with reportedly fewer guns, but the news shows growing firearm prevalence. In Halton, for over 30 years, gun crime was rare, but it’s increased in the last five years. So, concern about firearms and protection at facilities needs addressing.

Ellin Bessner [00:20:47]: You were going to say disadvantage, weren’t you?

Glenn Mannella [00:20:50]: Yes, it’s a disadvantage. We’re led to believe that, without lenient US firearms laws, there aren’t guns out there. But bad guys have guns. We lack guns for good guys. I’m not pro-gun, but we had reasonable laws a few years ago. It’s unknown if Canada will pivot to allowing armed security guards. We allow armed guards for money transport but not for synagogues and community centers. Where are our priorities?

Ellin Bessner [00:21:36]: Gustavo, does that mean Hamilton will be the safest community for Jews in Canada with the American network to tap into?

Gustavo Rymberg [00:21:47]: If not the safest, we’ll be well-prepared to deal with current issues. I know decisions made about security won’t make everyone happy.

Ellin Bessner [00:22:02]: But why won’t they make people happy? I’m not understanding.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:22:05]: Well, some may be unhappy. If you have to show ID twice at an event, it’s inconvenient, but necessary for security. Some people, presenting a threat, may not be welcome at our events.

Ellin Bessner [00:22:19]: I’ve heard some from the progressive pro-Palestinian milieu in Hamilton aren’t allowed into Jewish events and aren’t happy—IJV members, for example.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:22:32]: If any Jewish community member plans to disrupt or bring unrelated issues to our event, they won’t be allowed.

Ellin Bessner [00:22:47]: Thank you for sharing this important story with our listeners.

Gustavo Rymberg [00:22:51]: Thank you very much.

Author

Support Our Mission: Make a Difference!

The Canadian Jewish News is now a Registered Journalism Organization (RJO) as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency. To help support the valuable work we’re doing, we’re asking for individual monthly donations of at least $10. In exchange, you’ll receive tax receipts, a thank-you gift of our quarterly magazine delivered to your door, and our gratitude for helping continue our mission. If you have any questions about the donating process, please write to [email protected].

Support the Media that Speaks to You

Jewish Canadians deserve more than social media rumours, adversarial action alerts, and reporting with biases that are often undisclosed. The Canadian Jewish News proudly offers independent national coverage on issues that impact our audience each day, as a conduit for conversations that bridge generations. 

It’s an outlet you can count on—but we’re also counting on you.

Please support Jewish journalism that’s creative, innovative, and dedicated to breaking new ground to serve your community, while building on media traditions of the past 65 years. As a Registered Journalism Organization, contributions of any size are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.