Amend firearms regulations to allow security guards protecting synagogues to be armed, urges Jewish advocacy group - National Post
Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out By Stewart Lewis November 4, 2026 at 9:44 a.m. Last Updated: November 4, 2026 at 11:15 a.m. A Toronto-based Jewish advocacy organization is urging immediate action to amend federal firearms regulations.
Tafsik wants licensed, trained security guards to be able to carry firearms while protecting places of worship and private faith-based schools.
“We are asking Ottawa for one targeted change to an existing regulation, so that licensed, trained and vetted security guards can protect people at prayer and children in private faith-based schools, under the same strict rules that already apply to armoured-car guards,” says Sofia Marquez, head of Tafsik’s operations.
Tafsik put this proposal forward at an emergency security meeting that it organized for Toronto’s Jewish community on Sept. 30, 10 days after a gunman opened fire outside a Belleville, Ont., synagogue on Yom Kippur.
“Canada’s own intelligence agencies have warned that an attack on our community is a realistic possibility, yet the only armed protection a congregation can lawfully hire today is a paid-duty police officer, at about $125 an hour,” says Marquez, adding that “most synagogues, churches, mosques and temples cannot afford that week after week.”
Tafsik is lobbying federal members of parliament and senators, Marquez says. It already received support at the provincial level during the emergency security meeting, she adds. Community members, Jewish organizations, community security providers, Toronto police and government, including Ontario’s Solicitor General, Michael Kerzner and Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak, were present.
“We are now beginning meetings with federal ministers in Ottawa, MPs and senators,” Marquez says.
Legal “authorizations to carry” set out in federal Firearms Act regulations allow private security guards to carry firearms when transporting cash and commercial valuables. However, notes Merquez, the regs deny that same protection for “people at prayer and children in religious schools.”
Tafsik is calling on the Minister of Public Safety to introduce a regulatory amendment to change this.
The advocacy organization’s push comes amid intelligence warnings and increasing numbers of hate-motivated incidents across the country.
Federal assessments from the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre and CSIS have repeatedly warned that the Jewish community faces acute threats, particularly from lone actors targeting vulnerable community sites.
Police-reported hate crimes against Jewish Canadians accounted for 71% of all religion-motivated hate crimes in 2025 despite representing only 1% of the population.
The urgency for armed deterrence was evident on Sept. 20, 2026, when an armed attacker opened fire outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville during Yom Kippur services. “A mass casualty event was averted because armed police officers were protecting the site,” says Merquez.
However, she notes, at present, the only avenue for having armed deterrence at a religious institution or private faith-based school is hiring off-duty, paid police officers.
She says that the published York Regional Police rate for a constable is $89.06 an hour, plus a 24 per cent administration fee and 13 per cent HST. So, about $125 an hour, before a $39 hourly vehicle charge, with a four-hour minimum. For one post covering eight hours a day, that’s about $1,000 a day, or $365,000 a year.
Tafsik estimates it would cost about $30 an hour, based on current rates, to pay for licensed security guards. That is about $240 a day, or $87,600 a year, roughly a quarter of the paid off-duty police officer cost.
“For the vast majority of congregations, the present expense is impossible to sustain,” says Marquez. While federal grant programs such as the Canada Community Security Program provides limited, short-term funding for high-risk periods (capped at 90 days), it explicitly excludes recurring weekly services.
Tasfik is advocating for quick adoption of legislative reform. It suggests that proposed amendments would involve strict safeguards akin to those governing armed guards governing movement of cash and valuables. That includes stringent qualifications, authorizations restricted to active duty on the premises of the designated place of worship or private faith-based school, integration with police and firearms officers, and a prohibition against armed volunteers.
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