Union for Reform Judaism summer camp officials have ruled out foul play after a fire broke out at their Camp George site in Northern Ontario on Thursday afternoon.
A fire broke out in Camp George’s dining hall in Senguin, Ont., at 5 pm Thursday.
According to the camp, no one was injured, and the fire department quickly contained the fire, preventing it from spreading beyond the dining hall building.
“The cause of the fire is being investigated and to the best of our knowledge, there is no suspicion of foul play,” Camp George said in a post to social media. “We are continuing to assess the situation and will provide updates as more information becomes available.”
A representative for the Ontario Provincial Police told True North that its officers attended the scene, determined it wasn’t a suspicious fire and that it wasn’t a police matter, and left.
The incident sparked concerns on social media that the fire was part of the trend of antisemitic acts of vandalism happening across Canada.
Last month, a Jewish girl’s elementary school was shot at for the third time since May in Toronto. For context, Toronto police have said that Jewish residents make up 4% of the population of the city but are the target of 45% of the reported hate crimes in Toronto.
Data also paints a much worse picture on the national level. According to a report co-authored by Israel’s National Center for Combatting Antisemitism and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism and released in October, Canada has seen a 670% increase in antisemitism since the previous year.
It said that despite comprising only 1.4% of the population of Canada, Jewish people account for 70% of religious hate crimes.
According to Camp George’s website, The camp was first opened in Canada in 1999. And brings Jewish youth from all over Canada and the United States for an overnight camp experience.