Update on Holocaust Memorial Vandalism Criminal Case: Community Impact Statement
- ALCCA Staff
- 12 hours ago
- 7 min read
In July, Iain Aspenlieder entered a guilty plea in an Ottawa courtroom to causing mischief to the National Holocaust Monument¹ – a crime that severely impacted the Jewish communities and our allies across Canada. This Monday, the Court heard submissions on what the appropriate sentence should be for this offence.
The prosecutor, Mr Karimjee, asked the Court to impose a jail term just under two years, to be reduced to account for pre-trial time in custody. The defence requested a short jail term, with little or no additional time in custody. The Court reserved its decision on sentencing.
During the sentencing hearing, Aspenlieder addressed the Court. He claimed that he was not motivated by hatred against Jews, although he demonstrated he was unrepentant by stating that he is proud of what he did and that he intended to traumatize Jews to make his political points about Israel. It was quite extraordinary, but not surprising in the circumstances, to see Aspenlieder reinforce his own lack of remorse in addressing the Court.
A date will be set for the sentencing on December 5 after additional written arguments are filed.
At the request of the prosecutor, ALCCA coordinated a Community Impact Statement (CIS) on behalf of a broad coalition of community organizations and members, Jewish and non-Jewish. It was important to convey the message to the Court that this crime severely impacted not only the Jewish community, but all Canadians of good will.
Representatives of a number of these organizations read their portions of the CIS to the Court. The collective statement communicated the seriousness of this crime and its effect on the safety and security of the community and explained why it is regarded as an antisemitic hate crime. The Honourable Harry LaForme, ALCCA’s Honorary Chair, provided a critically important Indigenous perspective on the crime.
The following organizations and individuals contributed to the Community Impact Statement (CIS):
Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA)
B’nai Brith Canada
Bring Love (a Catholic organization)
Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation
Canadian Organization for Hindu Heritage Education
Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre
The Honourable Harry S. LaForme, O.C. & I.P.C.
Upstanders Canada
For convenience, ALCCA’s portion of the CIS (read to the Court by Janice LaForme), is reproduced below.
ALCCA Community Impact Statement
ALCCA’s statement was co-authored by Mark Sandler, LL.B., LL.D. (honoris causa), ALCCA’s Chair, and Rochelle Direnfeld, LL.B., a member of ALCCA’s Board and its Senior Criminal Counsel.
ALCCA is a national, non-partisan coalition of over 60 community organizations working to combat antisemitism and hate across Canada through advocacy, training and education, policy reform, and respectful dialogue. Our work includes training for police and prosecutors on legal measures to combat hatred of all forms, educational programs on antisemitism, advocacy on issues relevant to antisemitism with policymakers, based on expertise of our members, and constructive dialogue with those who share the desire for civil discourse, even on the difficult issues that face us. Our members include many Jewish organizations and, equally important, non-Jewish members allied with our core principles.
On July 25, 2025, Ian Aspenlieder pled guilty to causing mischief to a war memorial. According to an Agreed Statement of Fact filed with the Court, on Monday June 9, 2025, in the early morning hours, Mr. Aspenlieder attended the National Holocaust Monument in the city of Ottawa, threw red paint on the front of the monument and wrote the words “Feed Me”, throwing more red paint on the east side of the monument. This caused some members of the Jewish community to fear for their safety and the safety of their loved ones.
Further, the Agreed Statement of Fact reveals that Mr. Aspenlieder left an imprint of his hand in red paint at the site. It is for the Court to determine what inferences should be drawn from this evidence, not the community, but we wish to explain the impact of this evidence. In May 2024, the Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah (Holocaust) Memorial in Paris was desecrated with painted blood-red handprints. In the Jewish community, the red handprint is well recognized as referring to the lynching and murder of two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank by a crowd in October 2000, at the beginning of the second Intifada and is memorialized in the infamous photo of one of the murderers raising his blood-soaked hands to the cheering crowd. The imprint of Mr. Aspenlieder’s hand in red paint reinforces the deep pain, fear and lack of security felt by the Jewish community as one of its sacred sites was vandalized through what is regarded as murderous symbolism. The Honourable Harry LaForme elaborates on the significance of this symbolism in his statement to the Court.
It is anticipated that Mr. Aspenlieder will say that his crime was motivated by anger towards Israel’s handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Canada’s failure to act and not by bias, prejudice or hate.
But this is precisely how antisemitism against Canadian Jews is perpetrated. Mr. Aspenlieder was entitled to his views on the Middle East conflict – and to express them forcefully. Indeed, as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism² clearly states, “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”. But he did not stand outside the Israeli embassy or Parliament to protest. Instead, he desecrated a national monument entitled, “Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival," designed to ensure that we remember one of the darkest chapters in human history, the mass extermination of over six million Jews and countless others, and acknowledge the remarkable contributions Holocaust survivors have made to Canada. This was a calculated choice made by Mr. Aspenlieder.
Mr. Aspenlieder’s actions can only be reasonably regarded as holding Canadian Jews collectively responsible for the conduct or perceived conduct of the State of Israel, an illustration of antisemitism specifically addressed by the IHRA Definition. And that is precisely what antisemitism is too often all about.
When there is conflict in the Middle East, antisemitic hostility and hate crimes spiral upwards. Since October 7, 2023, the number of these crimes has reached unprecedented levels in Canada. On July 22, 2025, Statistics Canada released new national data on police-reported hate crimes. In 2024, there were 4,882 police-reported hate crimes across Canada — 1,342 of which were motivated by religious hatred. Of those, 920 targeted the Jewish community, representing the largest number of reported incidents against any identifiable group based on religion. Hate crimes targeting Jews also accounted for a disproportionate share of all religion-based hate crimes in Canada at 71%. In 2023, 959 such incidents targeting the Jewish community were reported, equally troubling numbers.
Similarly, there was a marked rise in Public Incitement of Hatred charges in Canada from 2022 to 2023, abating only slightly in 2024. See Appendix “B” attached for the most current Statistics Canada Report on Hate Crimes in Canada. B’nai Brith’s statement also brings to the Court’s attention the events captured by its audit of antisemitic incidents.
Moreover, a recent study commissioned by the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism documented the intolerable levels of antisemitic incidents now being experienced by Jewish students in Ontario's K-12 spaces. Too many of such incidents occurred under the watch of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, identified alongside the Toronto District School Board as systemically under-responsive to the events described. Aspenlieder's crime is a manifestation of a serious Ottawa problem, an Ontario problem, and indeed, a Canada problem.
Until our society fully recognizes that it is deplorable to attack spaces associated with Jews, as well as Jewish students and other community members based on opposition to Israel’s conduct, antisemitism will continue to flourish. Attacking a holocaust memorial is particularly repugnant because it feeds into the growing instances of Holocaust denial, minimization and inversion (labelling Israel/Israelis as Nazis) utilized to demonize Jews and delegitimize Israel’s very existence (as opposed to criticizing its government or behaviour). If an attack on a holocaust memorial is not regarded as antisemitic, then Jewish community members feel that it will continue to be “open season” on attacking Jewish Canadians regardless of their political views.
Contrary to what may be asserted on Mr. Aspenlieder’s behalf, his motivation does not mitigate his crime. From the perspective of the mainstream Jewish community and its allies, his conduct was an abhorrent act of hatred toward a minority, now vulnerable population that intimidated and provoked fear among Canadian Jewry and Ottawa citizens. The act required planning and demonstrated a complete disregard for societal norms, in which we respect communal and civil spaces and treat each other with tolerance even if we do not share the same viewpoint.
This is precisely why the Criminal Code treats crimes that are motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred against identifiable groups, whether distinguished by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability, as deserving of strong, deterrent and denunciatory sentences – especially where a particular group, such as Jews, is being targeted in unparalleled numbers.
In our view, Mr. Aspenlieder's crime should be no exception.
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NOTE: Read the full CIS here.
Endnotes
There is a separate offence with enhanced penalties for mischief to a war memorial.
In 2019, the Government of Canada adopted the non-legally binding International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism (IHRA Definition) as part of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. While other definitions of antisemitism exist, the IHRA Definition is the most authoritative, comprehensive, and representative definition of antisemitism in the world today. It is the product of a 16-year-long democratic, iterative process, and as of the date of publication, has been adopted by 42 other countries, most provinces including Ontario and multiple international organizations.