Val David Mayor Pierre Lapointe came to an Outremont synagogue last week to reassure chassidic summer residents that the Laurentian village is still a safe place for them despite the arson of a family home there. Lapointe made the visit the day after a house in an enclave of about 110 dwellings owned by Satmar families was destroyed in an overnight fire June 5 – as reported HERE on YW.

He told them at the closed-door meeting that his council has “zero tolerance” for anti-Semitism and will do what it can to ensure Jewish residents’ safety. He said he will see that any apparently hate-motivated incidents are looked into, although policing of the vast Laurentians is limited.

CJN