Legal Update – Week of May 19: Teen Faces Hate Crime Charges, Smoke Bomb Protest Arrest, and Toronto Police Service Nakba Day Briefing
- Rochelle Direnfeld
- May 24
- 4 min read
Updated: May 25
Halifax Teen Charged with Threatening Violence and Promoting Hate
On April 24, 2025, a 16-year-old Halifax teen was charged with threatening and numerous weapons offences after police received a tip from a suicide hotline operator alleging the teen said he was going to shoot up Citadel High School and then take his own life. The charges were subsequently supplemented to include twelve counts of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, four counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and seven counts of careless use of a firearm.
He was also charged with two counts of wilfully promoting hatred against identifiable groups, namely the Jewish and African-Nova Scotian communities. The teen faces 33 charges in total. The identity of the teen is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
He appeared in Halifax youth court on May 12 for a bail hearing, but the proceeding was adjourned to June 5 to record his plea to the charges. While in custody, the teen is prohibited from having any contact with any students at Citadel High School.
Toronto Protestor Arrested After Smoke Bomb Incident at Café Landwer
In Toronto, on May 15, 2025, Shahrez Hydri, 38, of Beeton, Ontario was arrested and charged with mischief to property, namely interference with the lawful use and enjoyment of property as a result of setting off a smoke bomb in front of Café Landwer at the corner of University Avenue and Adelaide Street West. Mr. Hydri was part of a large group of protestors making their way to the Israeli Consulate commemorating “Nakba Day”.
The smoke bomb released noxious red fumes that caused diners on the patio to move inside the restaurant. Hydri was charged previously in connection with last year’s Walk for Israel event. Café Landwer, a restaurant chain owned by Israeli Canadians has been the target of several hate-motivated mischief offences since October 7, 2023.
Leaked Toronto Police Document Sparks Concern Over Antisemitism Training
In related news, Brian Lilley reported in the Toronto Sun on May 21, 2025, about a leaked Toronto Police Service internal document that purported to provide guidance to officers tasked with policing the “Nakba Day” protest that was planned for Saturday, May 17 at Sankofa Square in downtown Toronto. A screenshot of the document is produced below:
The “Nakba Day” narrative is described as if it were a statement of fact with absolutely no context provided. Officers are not expected to be historians or versed in all the complexities of the Middle East conflict. There are divergent narratives about the events surrounding the creation of the State of Israel and the displacement of Palestinians.
Credible historians take issue with features of each narrative, but this guidance to police provides a distorted one-sided depiction of historical events. It cites the deaths of Palestinians without even referring to the fact that Israel’s Arab neighbours attacked the Jewish state immediately upon its creation and sought its eradication after rejecting the United Nations’ two-state partition plan.
The police responded to concerns about this document by saying that this kind of information is provided for operational awareness only and not as a reflection of a position held by the police service. There are three problems with that answer.
First, if that is the intention, then the TPS ought to have said so. The guidance is not framed as statements made by organizers of the event but instead is put forward as historical facts.
Second, operational awareness would have been better served by alerting officers to the existing controversy represented by this event, and to the possibility of escalation of peaceful protest to hate speech, glorification of terrorism and incitement to violence, which has become all too common.
Third, as Brian Lilley aptly observed, when the document reads like unquestioned acceptance of propaganda, “you can be sure it makes many officers, especially Jewish officers, wonder about their place in the organization.”
Presenting one-sided or distorted historical narratives to the officers charged with policing these highly volatile and emotionally charged protests not only does an enormous disservice to those officers but fuels the growing mistrust and lack of confidence in policing by the Jewish community in this country. Words matter.
While the guide in question was likely uninformed and hastily researched, a more robust system of checks and balances is required before a guide such as this is provided to officers.
The officers of the Toronto Police Service deserve better and so do the citizens of Toronto.
About the Author
Rochelle Direnfeld was called to the Ontario bar in 1990 and has served in the Ontario Public Service for over 32 years as an assistant crown attorney, deputy crown attorney, crown counsel, and finally as a deputy director for Toronto Crown Attorneys in the Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. Rochelle retired from public service at the end of 2023. During her career, Rochelle prosecuted a wide variety of Criminal Code cases in the Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Rochelle focused a large part of her career on youth criminal justice, developing policy as well as training and lecturing crowns, the defence bar, the judiciary, and the police. Since 2019, Rochelle has been committed to battling hate motivated offences and has sat on the Attorney General’s Hate Crime Working Group, providing legal advice to crown counsel and police on hate crimes. In the aftermath of October 7, Rochelle returned to work with the Hate Crime Working Group at Crown Law Office - Criminal until November 2024. Rochelle also serves as vice-chair of the Board of Directors of BOOST Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, a wrap-around agency serving children and youth who have been victims of abuse, as well as their families.