Jeremy Levi

Hampstead Mayor granted power to appoint special constables

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Hampstead council voted unanimously, in a voice vote, to grant Mayor Jeremy Levi the power to appoint special constables in case of an emergency in the town.

The bylaw points out that Quebec’s Police Act enables a council to grant the Mayor this power.

“In case of emergency, the Mayor is authorized to appoint, in writing, for a period not exceeding seven days, special constables with authority, under the supervision of the Director of the Montreal Police Service, to prevent and suppress offences under the municipal bylaws within all or part of the territory of the Town of Hampstead.”

During question period, the Mayor further explained that now that the bylaw has been passed, “I have instructed our Director General to consult with legal counsel to develop a working framework to analyze what would merit an emergency, what qualifies as an emergency.

“A special constable is a particular status of a peace officer in Quebec with a specific type of training and certification. It’s important to note that if and when a special constable is appointed, it’s under the Director of the SPVM. It’s a work in progress.”

Levi added that “obviously, the hostile environment that we’ve witnessed over the past few months has pushed us to look for all avenues with regards to Public Security as well.

“I’m not going to get into details of what we have done, for security reasons, but we are looking at making significant changes to Public Security, in a good way, and I’ll leave it at that.” n

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Hampstead will reinstate stop sign

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

A stop sign that was installed briefly at westbound Fleet Road and Baronscourt in 2021 and then removed a week after that year’s town election will be reinstated as a pilot project, Baronscourt resident Gordon Kugler was told by Mayor Jeremy Levi at the town council meeting.

Kugler, who said he was speaking on behalf of all 14 homeowners on the street, told the council, “we have insisted upon, and been ignored, quite frankly — [regarding] a stop sign at the corner of Fleet and Baronscourt for westbound traffic on Fleet and for people on Baronscourt turning left to go west on Fleet.

“This is an extremely dangerous intersection. Councillor Harvey Shaffer and the previous Mayor [William Steinberg] acknowledged it and they immediately put up a stop sign. A week after this administration was elected, the stop sign was summarily removed for no reason. Someone doesn’t have to get killed or seriously injured to make you act. Please put the stop sign back.”

Councillor Michael Goldwax said the sign was removed because it is not in compliance with Quebec’s Highway Safety Code, “so technically speaking, it wouldn’t be able to be enforced” by police, as stop signs have to be spaced a certain amount of metres apart.

“Having said that, we rediscussed this whole issue and said ‘let’s look at reinstating it on a pilot basis and see how it goes, what the reaction is, the exiting of the homeowners on Baronscourt onto Fleet,” the councillor added. “This means painting a stop line, erecting a stop sign and reviewing it based on vehicle traffic. We’re not against it, but we’re looking at our options right now.”

Mayor Jeremy Levi said there are similarities and differences with the intersection of Fleet and Minden, where there is also no stop sign on Fleet. Drivers on Minden can turn right to go eastbound on Fleet, but not left onto westbound Fleet.

“It’s only dangerous [for Baronscourt residents] if you turn left. If you turn right, there’s a stop sign at that intersection, so it’s not 100 percent a dangerous intersection. We’re going to put the stop sign back as a pilot project and we’ll take it from there.”

Kugler asked how soon the stop sign will be reinstated. Levi said that depends on scheduling and logistics. Goldwax pointed out a line has to be painted, as that has to accompany a stop sign.

“This is not going to take place in five months, but it may not be tomorrow.”

“We’ll proceed based on the results we get,” Councillor Leon Elfassy responded to some shouting residents.

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Hampstead Mayor asks for special constable powers

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi is asking the town council to give him the power to appoint special constables in case of an emergency.

Levy introduced a notice of motion June 3, as is the procedure, and the bylaw will be voted on at either a special meeting in June or at the next regular meeting in July. The notice of motion was given by Councillor Michael Goldwax and, from comments overheard by The Suburban, is likely to be approved unanimously.

The resolution notes that Section 108 of Quebec’s Police Act authorizes a town council to grant the Mayor such a power. The resolution says that the Mayor can authorize, “for a period not exceeding seven days, special constables with authority, under the supervision of the Director of the Montreal Police Service (SPVM), to prevent and suppress offences under the municipal bylaws within all or part of the territory of the Town of Hampstead.”

Levi told The Suburban that the bylaw, which has been adopted in other municipalities over the years, is being passed as a precaution in light of recent attacks against Jewish institutions, including the Belz School last week in CDN-NDG and other attacks on institutions in Toronto and Vancouver in recent days.

“The rampant wave of violent antisemitic attacks on Jewish institutions witnessed last week demands immediate action,” Levi posted on X. “I will not hesitate to invoke this power at the earliest opportunity through an emergency decree, ensuring the safety and security of all Jewish institutions in Hampstead. Enough is enough.”

The Mayor told The Suburban that the motion is “much broader than just armed constables.

“We can have unarmed special constables. We were talking about different tiers, special constables that can carry taser guns, that would have the certification to give traffic violations, if we were having a major event and we thought we needed to ensure safety on the road. There’s different scenarios on what would constitute an emergency. This gives us the ability to navigate through that.”

Levi added that the motion “gives Hampstead Public Security an additional tool to deal with [emergency] situations.”

The Mayor said there is no specific threat to Hampstead.

“This is just a precautionary measure. We’d rather be proactive. We received a comprehensive legal opinion on this, we did a deep dive. We’re looking at all kinds of measures to offer a next level of security for our community.” n

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Plante won’t act on complaint against anti-Israel barrage at Agglo, Norris cut

By Joel Goldenberg

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has decided that she and the island-wide agglomeration council will not act on B’nai Brith Canada’s complaint that the council broke its own rules in allowing a barrage of anti-Israel questions to be directed at Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi, in December and January.

Levi, who defended Israel’s right to defend itself in a video shot by anti-Israel activist Yves Engler and in social media postings, was not present at the December meeting, where seven anti-Israel questions were asked, and did not respond at the January meeting, where nine questions were asked. At the first meeting, the questioners told agglomeration officials they were asking about subjects like road conditions.

Plante said “it’s the house of citizens; citizens are allowed and they are welcome and we should be happy that they take the time and leave their home to come and ask questions. To me, this is democracy.

“Freedom of speech in these spaces are part of our values, and within our laws. As elected officials, it often happens that we get uncomfortable questions. I get a lot of questions that are uncomfortable and emotional from citizens. It is difficult, but it is also my job to welcome comments, questions. And right now, I know it might be difficult because of the conflict happening in the Middle East, but I think we should value the fact we are a democracy where any citizen can ask a question.”

Plante also said Levi acted on his right not to respond to the questioners. Former Projét Montréal majority leader Alex Norris — dropped from that role late Thursday — also mentioned questioners’ right to freedom of speech during that meeting.

Levi replied at that meeting, “If I understand correctly, Councillor Norris, what we’re saying is, we recognize that there are rules, but we’re not going to follow the rules.” Norris did not respond.

B’nai Brith’s complaint to the Quebec Municipal Commission about the December meeting said the agglomeration allowed questions that were supposed to be about city-related topics and were instead about the Israel-Hamas War and the situation in Gaza. The CMQ responded that an investigation is unnecessary. B’nai Brith filed a second complaint about the January meeting, which was also rejected.

Levi responded to the news of Plante’s refusal to act by posting on Facebook that, “It’s rather ironic that in the last two Montreal agglomeration council meetings, 16 individuals have attended under the guise of championing free speech, only to use it as a platform to criticize my exercise of the same right. Mayor Plante’s argument that allowing people to flout agglomeration rules in the name of free speech might have had some validity if it weren’t for Councillor Norris repeatedly suggesting that complaints be filed against me for exercising my own rights.

“If Mayor Plante genuinely supports free speech, she should consider making Agglomeration rules more accommodating to the range of topics discussed. Hampstead sets an example in this regard. Unlike Montreal, we don’t restrict questions to a 90-second limit, limit them to two per person, or confine the question period to 30 minutes. Council meetings in Hampstead sometimes involve passionate debates with individuals, making us perhaps the only municipality on the island of Montreal with such lenient rules for participants. During each question, I intentionally exercised my right to remain silent. However, this right was consistently undermined by Councillor Norris, who encouraged individuals to file complaints against me whenever I chose to remain silent.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs posted its reaction to Norris no longer being majority leader.

“Alex Norris’s disqualifying conduct at the Montreal Agglomeration Council, including allowing its use for repeated antisemitic attacks against Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi, was deplorable. Today, we are pleased to see he lost his position as a leader.” n

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