Afternoon front page: Witnesses describe Ontario synagogue shooting; police officer suffers ‘significant’ injuries in attack; and more

Congregants were attending an evening service for Yom Kippur at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont. when it was interrupted by gunfire on Sept. 20, 2026. Photo by Google Maps

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It’s Monday, September 21. Here are the top stories we’re following today.

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Witnesses recount confusion, gunshots, smell of gun powder during Belleville synagogue shooting

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“I yelled for everyone to get on the floor, to crouch right down,” as they heard numerous gunshots hit the stained glass windows on the outer part of the synagogue during a Yom Kippur service on Sunday-night, said the synagogue’s president. One of the congregants recalled, “Sitting there, we hear, ‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’ We don’t know if there’s only one shooter. For me the biggest concern was … are they going to get into the building?”

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Multiple police and ambulance vehicles are shown Sunday, Sept. 20 responding to a reported shooting in Belleville. Photo by Derek Baldwin/Belleville Intelligencer/Postmedia

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Police officer shot outside Belleville synagogue identified, faces ‘significant road to recovery’

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Const. Jeff Smith was stationed outside a Belleville, Ont. synagogue on Sunday because of safety concerns, when dozens of shots rang out. Smith and the suspect are believed to have shot at each other. Both are in hospital, the officer is in critical but stable condition, while the suspect has life-threatening injuries.

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Bullets holes are seen in a window at the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont., after a shooting on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. Photo by Supplied

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‘Jewish people must be able to worship safely,’ Carney says about shooting at Belleville synagogue

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Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joined politicians from across Canada in condemning antisemitic violence, following the shooting at a Belleville, Ont., synagogue. Carney vowed that his “government will do everything in our power to support law enforcement in ensuring that the perpetrator is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Poilievre called on Carney to take further action: “This vile antisemitic violence in Canada must end, and this Liberal government must act now to protect our people.”

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Detail from a slide shown to staff at an Ontario elementary school. Photo by Jonathan Kay via X.com

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Ontario teachers told they serve white supremacist system that must be destroyed

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A projected slide from a recent all-staff meeting held at an elementary school in York Region, near Toronto, presented the assembled teachers with 10 “anti-oppression agreements.” Among them, “I will accept that the institution of Education is an instrumental tool for maintaining and furthering the ideology of white supremacy.” Tristin Hopper writes that the language the slide uses “isn’t all that different from any number of official materials distributed to Ontario teachers declaring that they are servants of a white supremacist hierarchy.”

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The Saint John Law Courts. Photo by Andrew Bates/Brunswick News/Postmedia

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Jamie Sarkonak: N.B. judge invents the Aboriginal right to be represented by an elder in court

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The judge ruled that it’s unconstitutional to bar Indigenous elders from representing Indigenous clients in provincial court on minor offences, as is currently the case. Sarkonak argues that should this low-level ruling catch on elsewhere, “this could go very poorly” as “courts would expect to hear more completely bonkers arguments” from Indigenous sovereigntists. “If you believe it’s your duty to advance Indigenous rights, as many of these judges do, you may very well decide that it’s time to give the radical Turtle Islanders what they want,” she writes.

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