MONTREAL, Aug 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Canadian police said Friday they are investigating this week's stabbing of an elderly Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery store as a hate crime, in what Prime Minister Mark Carney described as an "outrageous assault."

The woman in her 70s was attacked by a stranger while shopping at the store, known in Canada's capital city for its large kosher section.

The woman was taken to the hospital with injuries and released the same day.

A 71-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene and later charged with aggravated assault.

Ottawa Police Service said in a statement Friday that "this incident is considered a hate-motivated crime."

"My thoughts are with her, as well as her family and the Jewish community in Ottawa," Carney said in a post on X.

He added: "To the Canadian Jewish community: you are not alone. In full solidarity, we denounce the hatred and threats to your safety, and we will fight antisemitism wherever it manifests."

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called on Carney to strengthen hate crime laws.

"We must eradicate the growing scourge of antisemitism in Canada. Never again means never again," he wrote in an X post.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, recognizing the attack has "caused significant distress within Ottawa's Jewish community," said security would be expanded in certain neighborhoods.

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel sparked the war in Gaza, the number of antisemitic incidents has risen steeply in Canada. In Montreal, Jewish schools and community centers have been targeted with Molotov cocktails.

According to Statistics Canada, police-reported hate crimes rose for the sixth consecutive year to 4,882 incidents in 2024.

Of more than 1,340 religiously motivated crimes last year, 68 percent targeted the Jewish community.