A man from British Columbia has been given an eight-month jail sentence for vandalizing a historic synagogue in Victoria with hateful messages. Arthur Roberts confessed to defacing the Congregation Emanu-El synagogue in downtown Victoria in the summer of 2025, pleading guilty to charges of mischief and uttering threats.
According to B.C. provincial court Judge Micah Rankin’s recent ruling, the synagogue, established in 1859, is the oldest continually operating synagogue on the west coast of North America. The vandalism was discovered by a congregant who found graffiti outside the vestibule last August. Roberts admitted to defacing the site with derogatory messages targeting Jewish individuals as “evil,” “monsters,” and child murderers.
The judge determined that Roberts committed a hate crime by intentionally exposing Jewish worshippers to a hateful message. Roberts received a six-month sentence for mischief and an additional two months for threatening to harm the police in a text message sent to his mother in June 2026.
Roberts was apprehended on August 22, 2025, after CCTV footage led to his identification by a member of the public. The court ruling, issued in Victoria, described Roberts as a 54-year-old man facing mental health challenges and expressing regret for his actions.
While Roberts may have been influenced by events in Gaza, the judge clarified that directing hate towards Jews collectively, rather than towards specific entities like the State of Israel, is antisemitic. The act of defacing a religious building with antisemitic language was deemed highly aggravating, causing a significantly negative impact on congregants, especially during a bar mitzvah held shortly after the vandalism, amidst rising antisemitic incidents in Canada.