In pictures: How the war in Gaza has resonated on the streets of Montreal | CBC News

For two years, the latest chapter in the conflict between Israel and Hamas has resonated in the streets of Montreal through outrage, grief, indignation and consistent calls for institutions and all levels of government to take firm stances.

As the home for just under a quarter of Canada’s Jewish population and a large student body across multiple universities with a long history of activism, Montreal is one of the cities that has encapsulated just how divisive this conflict is.

In just a few months after Oct. 7, 2023, matters of international politics jumped from being the third most common reason to take to the streets in Montreal — excluding strikes — to the first, according to data from a research group out of Université de Montréal, the Collectif de recherche Action Politique et Démocratie (CAPED).

According to Montreal police data, there have been well over 1,000 protests in connection with the Middle East leading to over 100 arrests.

The following recap of protests and other key moments  — though far from exhaustive — provides a snapshot of how a conflict unfolding more than 8,000 kilometres away continues to hit close to home for many Montrealers.

A year that ended in outrage

The day after Hamas’s surprise attack on Oct. 7, Israel launched retaliatory strikes into Gaza and formally declared war.

That same day, pro-Palestinian protesters marched from Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal to the Israeli Consulate in Westmount calling for a “free Palestine” and to show solidarity with Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

As the extent of the violence perpetrated by Hamas came into focus, the protest was denounced by then immigration minister Marc Miller and Premier François Legault, who called it “shameful.”

In total, 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas attack two years ago, 251 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip, and thousands more were injured, according to Israeli tallies. Among the victims that day was 33-year-old Montrealer Alexandre Look who was killed at the Nova music festival site.

As Israel significantly ramped up its aggression on Gazans, protests and counter-protests continued over the following months, where the motives and rhetoric of some came under scrutiny. At one of those events, a Montreal imam delivered a controversial speech calling on Allah to kill the enemies of the people of Gaza. Seven months later, Quebec Crown prosecutors decided not to lay charges. 

Other actions in Montreal through 2023 included a rally organized by the Federation CJA and the start of weekly marches and gatherings calling for the return of Israeli hostages, which continue to this day.

To date, Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 67,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It has also left much of the enclave in ruins, led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands and resulted in widespread famine.

An independent commission out of the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner found in a report last month  that Israel’s actions in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks amounted to genocide — an accusation pro-Palestinian protesters have echoed repeatedly in the last two years.

Students set up camp, walk out

In April 2024, students set up an encampment on the front lawn of McGill University’s downtown campus. It quickly grew in size and turned into an eye-catching protest that triggered court battles.

Protesters demanded that McGill divest from companies with ties to Israel, following in the steps of students who had done the same across the U.S. in the months prior.

In the following weeks, more encampments cropped up, notably at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Victoria Square in downtown Montreal. The encampment at McGill had become the longest-running one in Canada when it was taken down on July 10 by a private security firm hired by the university.

Later that year, students from Dawson College walked out of class to join a provincewide pro-Palestinian strike. Students from different parts of Montreal ended up occupying Concordia’s Henry F. Hall Building. 

Tensions continued to build as Montreal hosted the NATO Parliamentary Assembly the next day, which was met with an anti-NATO and pro-Palestinian protest which turned particularly violent that night.

The following week, Pascale Déry, Quebec’s higher education minister at the time, ordered an investigation into the on-campus climate at Dawson as well as Vanier College, citing complaints from students who felt unsafe due to rising tensions stemming from the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Déry, a former board member of the Quebec branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), was accused of being in a conflict of interest.

Surge in reported hate incidents

As the conflict escalated, the number of hate crimes and incidents reported to the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) spiked.

Between Oct. 7, 2023 and Oct. 3, 2024, the SPVM recorded 288 hate crimes and incidents against Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities, with 213 targeted at the former and 75 at the latter. 

By Sept. 30 of this year, the total number of reported hate crimes and incidents against both groups had grown to 390 — 296 targeting Jewish people and 96 against Arab-Muslim people.

Numerous incidents have prompted members of the Jewish community to express fear for their safety in the post-Oct. 7 climate. 

In November 2023, Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, a Jewish school located in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, was targeted by gunfire twice in the same week.

That same month, a fire was set at a synagogue in Montreal’s West Island. That same synagogue was targeted a year later.

More recently, in August of this year, a 39-year-old man was accused of hate-related crimes after the Israeli flag outside the Hampstead, Que., town hall was burned twice in just a few days.

Several Jewish community members have pointed to such incidents as proof that at least some of the pro-Palestinian protests contributed to a climate of antisemitism that authorities have not done enough to curb.

Israel’s Independence Day, Nakba Day

Israel’s Independence Day was especially emotional for some Montrealers in 2024.

On May 14 of that year, people gathered in the city’s downtown, many wrapped in the blue and white Israeli flag, to celebrate.

People said it was important to attend the celebrations to assert Israel’s right to exist in the face of growing local and international criticism and to show support for hostages held in Gaza.

Leading up to the celebrations, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who at that point were organizing weekly marches to the Israeli Consulate in Montreal, called on supporters from across the province to join them in advance of Nakba Day, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, to mark the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians following Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948.

Later that year, in September, the Federation CJA brought back its March For Jerusalem event for one year only after not organizing it for a decade.

The deal to send Quebec-made weapons to Israel

After the U.S. announced in August 2024 it would send Quebec-made ammunition to Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters began to show up at arms manufacturer General Dynamics’s plant in Repentigny, Que., just outside of Montreal.  

This was months after Canada said it stopped approving new arms permits for Israel. 

Protesters accused the federal government of lying, being complicit in the disaster unfolding in Gaza and allowing weapons made on Canadian soil to go to the U.S., knowing they would ultimately end up in Israel’s hands.

Questions about the General Dynamics deal prompted then foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly to announce that Canadian-made weapons were prohibited from reaching the Gaza Strip regardless of how and where they were being sent.

General Dynamics continued to be the target of protesters, notably at the annual CANSEC arms showcase in Ottawa, and at a more recent demonstration in Repentigny on Aug. 22 of this year.

A few days earlier, people staged a protest outside of Joly’s home in Montreal, though she had moved on to another ministerial role by that point.

Calling out the media

Many people, regardless of their viewpoints, criticized traditional news outlets for their coverage of events related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

On Nov. 4, 2023, protesters marched from downtown Montreal’s Place des Arts square to the CBC/Radio-Canada offices, blocking the building’s entrances. 

They took issue in particular with some of the language being used to describe events overseas, such as “conflict” and “Israel-Hamas war.”

Two months ago, a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the lobby of the La Presse building, a French-language publication based in Montreal.

A few days later, protesters staged a sit-in at the CBC/Radio-Canada building, again taking issue with the corporation’s language and “the media’s muted reaction to the unprecedented targeting and killing of journalists in Gaza,” according to a news release distributed by the sit-in organizers, commUNITÉ514.

Speaking in the building’s atrium through a megaphone was Palestinian activist Samar Alkhdour. In 2024, she began holding daily sit-ins outside then immigration minister Marc Miller’s Montreal office.

She’s been critical of the Canadian government’s refugee program for Palestinians which has been plagued by visa delays. For years she tried to get her young daughter out of Gaza, but the federal government only approved her coming to Canada after she had died.

Pride Montreal

In the months leading up to Montreal’s Pride parade in 2024, the organization behind the event, Fierté Montréal, came under pressure to formulate a stance on the Israel-Hamas war and distance itself from sponsors with ties to Israel. That year, protesters interrupted the parade for about an hour.

In 2025, several groups cut ties with Fierté for a variety of reasons, one of them being – for some – the organization’s neutral stance on the war. Some shared feeling more comfortable advocating for Palestinians in a parallel parade organized by Wild Pride.

At the end of July, Fierté released a statement condemning the “ongoing genocide in Gaza” and in the same breath denying the participation of “organizations spreading hateful discourse” — most notably the Jewish LGBTQ+ group Ga’ava — in the parade.

That group and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) were re-invited shortly after.

2-year anniversary

In the last two years, Montrealers have marked Oct. 7 with gatherings and protests either mourning the lives lost during Hamas’s attack and calling for the release of hostages or denouncing the devastating Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza that followed.

Earlier this week, tens of thousands of students went on strike and staged protests at Concordia and McGill universities where they were met by some counter-protesters. 

The protests were marked by heavy police presence, a shuttered campus in the case of Concordia and the burning of an Israeli flag at McGill. 

One of the protesters’ goals, as stated by the Divest for Palestine collective and anti-capitalist group Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes, was to bring attention to the wider Israel-Palestinian conflict dating back decades.

Shortly after the two-year anniversary, Israel and Hamas both approved a plan for a ceasefire, setting the stage for an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in the coming days.

Israel had said it believed 48 hostages were still in Gaza, including 20 who were alive. Desperately needed aid is expected to flow into Gaza.

Much of the damage from the last two years has left many Montrealers and Quebecers with feelings of anger and disgust.

Those feelings haven’t just been directed towards Israel or Hamas. The actions — and perceived inaction — of local institutions, mayors, provincial and federal governments, may be scrutinized for years to come.