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A14 | NEWS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| THURSDAY,OCTOBER24,

The son of the owners of a To-
ronto restaurant was one of four
arrested in relation to a protest at
a People’s Party of Canada (PPC)
event that led his family’s restau-
rant to temporarily close after it
received a number of death
threats.
Hamilton Police said in a
statement Wednesday that Alaa
Al-Soufi, Kevin Metcalf, Maximi-
liano Herrera and Victoria Woj-
ciechowska were arrested on
charges related to a protest that
took place at a PPC fundraiser
late last month in Hamilton. Mr.
Al-Soufi was charged with two
counts of intimidation, two
counts of disguise with intent
and one count of causing a dis-
turbance.
Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Herrera and
Ms. Wojciechowska were charged
with a number of offences, in-
cluding theft under $5,000, as-
sault and obstruction of police.
A video of three protesters
blocking 81-year-old Dorothy
Marston from entering the event
went viral, racking up more than
seven million views on Twitter.
Mr. Al-Soufi was soon outed as
one of the protesters who pre-

vented Ms. Marston from enter-

ing Mohawk College, where PPC

Leader Maxime Bernier was set

to speak. Mr. Al-Soufi’s family re-

ceived a number of death threats

and the 27-year-old was allegedly

assaulted as a result of the inci-

dent, leading the family to shut-

ter Soufi’s, the Syrian restaurant

it owns in Toronto, earlier this

month.

In an interview, Inspector Da-

vid Hennick of the Hamilton Po-

lice confirmed Mr. Al-Soufi turn-

ed himself into police and was

charged in relation to the inci-

dent captured on video. He also

said police were looking for a

person whose hat was allegedly

knocked off their head by Mr. Al-

Soufi. If that person is found,

Insp. Hennick said, Mr. Al-Soufi

would likely receive an addition-

al charge of assault.

Loren Sabsay, Mr. Al-Soufi’s

lawyer, said that he and his client

are not yet sure how they will

proceed, given that Mr. Al-Soufi

was only arrested Wednesday

morning.

“We’ve yet to see any evidence

at all,” Mr. Sabsay said. “So it is

way too early to be able to say

what our approach is going to be

to these charges.”

The altercation between Ms.

Marston and the three protesters

sparked widespread controversy,

prompting Mr. Bernier himself to

weigh in on Twitter, calling those

who protested his fundraiser

“thugs.”

The Al-Soufi family posted a

statement of its own on its busi-

ness’s Facebook account, and

wrote that “Alaa regrets that he

did not step aside and/or stand

up against the act of verbal abuse

that occurred against [Ms. Mar-

ston], and would love the oppor-

tunity to personally extend his

apologies to her.” The post has

since been deleted.

Ms. Marston’s son, David Tur-

koski, told The Globe and Mail he

is pleased with Mr. Al-Soufi’s ar-

rest.

“[The arrest] is wonderful for

free speech and democracy,” said

Mr. Turkoski, adding that the ar-

rest made it clear that individu-

als shouldn’t be prevented from

attending speeches, regardless of

their political stripe.

Mr. Turkoski has reconciled

with the Al-Soufi family since the

incident. On Oct. 12, two weeks

after the protest, he posted a pic-

ture on Twitter of himself with

Mr. Al-Soufi’s parents. “What a

wonderful privilege and honour

it was to meet the Mr. and Mrs.

Soufi,” Mr. Turkoski wrote. “Rea-

son and tolerance without

screaming and fear is what we

need.”

He said his relationship with

the Al-Soufi family does not af-

fect his opinion of Mr. Al-Soufi’s

arrest. “I feel really bad for his

parents and family. They’re really

wonderful people. But it’s one of

those things where, if you look at

it, you know that cannot be real-

ly condoned.”

Soufi’s closing led to an out-

pouring of support for the res-

taurant on social media. After an

announcement from Paramount

Fine Foods chief executive Moha-

mad Fakih that he would help

Soufi’s get back on its feet, the

restaurant reopened less than a

week after it had closed.

Torontorestaurantowners’sonchargedinPPCprotest

Hamiltonpoliceconfirm

AlaaAl-Soufiamong

fourarrestedforactions

atMaximeBernierevent

thatledtodeaththreats

againstAl-Soufifamily

DorothyMarston,s1,isconfrontedbyprotestersasshearriíesataneíentheldby-eople’s-artyeader

MaximeBernierinHamiltonlastmonth.Thealtercationsparkedwidespreadcontroíersy,and2׍yearoldAlaa

AlSoufiwasallegedlyassaultedafterbeingoutedasoneoftheprotesters.CHRIS YOUNG/THE CANADIAN PRESS

KCHOARD

VANCOUVERSwedish climate

activist Greta Thunberg says she

is not aware of an invitation to

speak in British Columbia’s

provincial legislature.

Earlier on Tuesday, the leader

of the province’s Green Party said

he had extended an invitation to

the 16-year-old Swede.

Andrew Weaver said he had

spoken to Speaker Darryl Plecas

and that he had agreed to allow

her to address the legislature if

Ms. Thunberg was willing.

Ms. Thunberg wrote on her

Twitter page late Tuesday night

that she doesn’t know anything

about an invitation to Victoria,

and had “definitely not declined

it because of concerns about

emissions from the public trans-

port ferry.”THE CANADIAN PRESS

THUNBERGSAYSSHEWASNOTAWAREOF

B.C.GREENS’INVITATIONTOSPEAKINVICTORIA

A steady stream of shocked locals
stopped Wednesday outside the
east-end Montreal house where
two children and their father
were found dead the night before
in what police are investigating as
two murders and a suicide.
Police say a woman phoned 911
just after 9 p.m. Tuesday to report
that three people were possibly
dead inside an east-end home – a
40-year-old man, a seven-year-
old boy and a five-year-old girl.
“She said she discovered three
bodies inside a house,” Constable
Manuel Couture said.
He confirmed the man was the
father of the two young victims

and that all three were declared

dead at the scene by paramedics.

The Quebec coroner’s office

identified the father as Jonathan

Pomares, 40, of Montreal. The

coroner does not release identi-

ties of victims who are minors.

Investigators questioned

neighbours in the area and con-

cluded their work at the scene

about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Their

working theory is that the father

killed his two children before tak-

ing his own life. “They’re still try-

ing to figure out how it happened,

why it happened,” Constable

Couture said.

A carved pumpkin sat on the

porch of the red-brick bungalow,

where the front steps quickly fil-

led up with stuffed animals and

flowers left by passersby. “Bon

voyage, little angels,” one note

left at the scene read.

One woman, who said she

lived nearby, said the gestures of

sympathy were meant to remind

the children’s mother that she

wasn’t alone at such a difficult

time.

Another woman said she

couldn’t make sense of the tragic

event. “Incredible that with all

the resources we have today

something like this can happen,”

she said, declining to give her

name. “Two angels too many on

this day.”

Police say there were signs of

violence on the bodies of both

children, and autopsies have

been ordered.

Investigators had to track

down family abroad in order to

advise them of the deaths –

neighbours and acquaintances

said the family came to Canada

from France. One neighbour said

they had lived in the quaint home

for less than two years.

Chantal Lachapelle said she

had trained with Mr. Pomares and

he worked as a cook in area

schools. “For sure it’s upsetting,

we spent nearly a month with Jo-

nathan last year in training. He

seemed like abon vivant,hewas

very friendly,” she said. “He told

us he had two kids and that he

came from France.”

Denis Gagnon, whose daughter

Chrystelle was murdered nearly

two decades ago in nearby Laval,

also stopped to pay his respects. “I

know what the mother is going

through, and it’s very difficult,”

he said. “It makes no sense.”

Officers who responded to the

case were offered assistance.

“We are police officers, but we

are also mothers, fathers of chil-

dren, and the first thing the com-

mander of the station did was

take them off the case and gave

them the attention and help they

needed,” Constable Couture said.

A spokesman for the Commis-

sion scolaire de Montréal said

psychological help has also been

provided for children at the

school attended by the two young

victims.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Policeinvestigatingafterbodiesoffather,twochildrenfoundinMontrealhome

SIDHARTHABA"EREE