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Toronto police investigate after Jewish-owned bakery chain hit by gunfire and vandalism

(CNN) — Two Jewish-owned bagel shops in Toronto were damaged Sunday in incidents now under investigation by the Toronto Police Service’s Hate Crime Unit.

Two locations of Kiva’s, a bakery specializing in bagels, were attacked in the morning, with one shop’s window damaged by gunfire, police said in a post on X. The second location in the city also had a window damaged, but investigators found no evidence of gunshots there.

“At this time, investigators are examining whether the incidents are connected and working to identify those responsible,” police said. “There have been no reported injuries.”

CNN reached out to Kiva’s for comment on the attacks.

“We understand that this is concerning for those that work and live in this area, especially members of the Jewish community, and we have all the resources available to thoroughly investigate this matter,” Duty Inspector Scott Bradbury told reporters Sunday, according to footage from CTV, a CNN newsgathering partner.

The attacks rattled neighbors who say the bakeries are fixtures in the community and are places they visit every day.

“We live near the neighborhood, and this is where we come for our food, and we feel threatened and unsafe,” one resident who lives on the same street told CTV, adding that she feels her community is being targeted.

Even as residents described feeling shaken, she said the people who run the bakeries “have lots of people that are looking after them right now.”

Marjan Mekis, who lives nearby and visits every day for his daily Danish, called the attack “beyond sad.”

“It feels very personal to me,” Mekis said. “I could have been in there, or anybody in this neighborhood. It could have been daytime as opposed to nighttime. Thank God no one was in there. But still, what does that do? Shooting a bullet into a bakery because you don’t like the fact that they happen to be Jewish.”

“It doesn’t matter what God you pray to and what your religion is,” he added. “It’s not right.”

The damage to the two bakeries comes nearly a month after a deadly shooting in Montreal heightened concerns for Jewish communities in Canada. Last month, a gunman whose writings investigators say promoted antisemitic, misogynistic and anti-capitalist violence opened fire in Montreal, killing two people: an officer and an Israeli citizen who was described as a beloved member of Montreal’s Jewish community. The gunman was killed following a shootout.

Earlier in June, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a speech at a Toronto synagogue that the country is “failing” Jewish Canadians and pledged to invest tens of millions of dollars in security for houses of worship.

Carney said over two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes last year were directed at Jewish Canadians, with antisemites in Canada firing bullets at Jewish schools, attacking community centers and targeting Jewish-owned businesses.

There has been a sharp rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents globally since the Israel-Hamas war began October 7, 2023.

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Congressman Al Green and Alpha Phi Alpha Bring Slavery Remembrance to the U.S. Capitol

Click here for updates on this story    August 12, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Saturday, August 15, 2026, the U.S. Capitol will become more than the nation’s legislative workplace. For a few consequential hours, it will also serve as a classroom of memory, accountability and democratic purpose as Congressman Al Green (TX-09)hosts Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. for a Slavery Remembrance Legislative Update and Assembly at the Capitol Visitor’s Center Auditorium.Beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET, the program will advance Green’s continuing effort to establish August 20 as a National Slavery Remembrance Day — ensuring that the brutality of slavery, the resistance of the enslaved and their foundational contributions to America are never pushed to the margins of public memory. This year’s theme, “Harder Yet May Be the Fight,” feels both historical and unmistakably contemporary. Democracy, after all, is strongest when a nation can examine its entire record — not simply the comfortable chapters.And this movement did not begin yesterday.In July 2022, the U.S. House approved Green’s H.Res. 517, the Original Slavery Remembrance Day Resolution, by a 218–207 vote. In the current 119th Congress, Green introduced H.J.Res. 67, supporting the designation of August as Slavery Remembrance Month and expanding the national conversation about slavery, its continuing effects and those who fought to end it.Saturday’s assembly will also spotlight another consequential proposal: Green’s push to secure a Congressional Gold Medal for enslaved Africans and their descendants.His H.R. 4885, introduced August 5, 2025, seeks to posthumously award a collective Congressional Gold Medal to Africans and their descendants enslaved in America through the abolition of slavery in 1865.The historical contrast is striking. In 1956, Congress awarded Congressional Gold Medals to the four known surviving Civil War veterans, with the authorization explicitly covering veterans who served in either the Union or Confederate forces. Green’s argument raises a powerful question: Should the millions whose uncompensated labor helped build American economic power receive comparable national recognition?Standing alongside Green will be Alpha Phi Alpha General President Brother Lucien J. Metellus, Jr. The partnership itself carries historic weight.photo General President Brother Lucien J. Metellus, Jr. met with Brother Congressman Al Green (D-TX) Founded at Cornell University in 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha became the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men. Its legacy of civil rights, civic participation and leadership includes Alpha men such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.Metellus has warned against efforts to diminish the sacrifices and contributions of African Americans, saying Alpha Phi Alpha refuses to allow slavery’s evils to be forgotten or its ancestors left without proper honor. Green, himself an Alpha brother, puts the mission plainly: “Remembrance requires more than reflection; it requires us to confront our history.”That makes Saturday’s gathering bigger than a ceremony.It is an exercise in democratic citizenship.A mature democracy does not fear its history. It studies it. It names injustice without surrendering hope. Patriotism is not pretending America has always fulfilled its promises; it is demanding that America continually move closer to them.For Houston, the moment carries particular resonance. A Houston congressman is helping place a national spotlight on the enslaved people whose names too often disappeared while the wealth their labor generated remained.History may be written in books, but remembrance is written in public choices.On August 15, Congressman Al Green and Alpha Phi Alpha will make one choice unmistakably clear: America moves forward best when America remembers.EVENT DETAILS WHO: Congressman Al Green and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and General President Brother Lucien J. Metellus, Jr.
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