Man, 71, accused of stabbing elderly Jewish woman in Ottawa has history of antisemitic comments

An anti-religion zealot who quit his job to pursue years of unrealistic court challenges and diatribes against religious belief — such as demanding justices of the Supreme Court resign for swearing an oath of office that invokes God — increasingly turned his public ire to one group, Jews, in the months leading up to his arrest after a Jewish woman was stabbed at an Ottawa grocery store on Wednesday.

Joseph (Joe) Rooke, 71, of Cornwall, Ont., has been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. Ottawa police said Friday the case is considered a hate-motivated crime.

Ottawa police said a woman in her 70s was stabbed in the torso by a stranger as she shopped at a west-end Loblaws, a grocery store known for having the largest kosher selection in the city. She survived and has been released from hospital. A male surrendered peacefully to police. The Jewish Federation of Ottawa said the victim was a “cherished member of our community” but did not release her identity, for her privacy.

Political leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, community leaders and Jewish groups are decrying the attack as another in a growing list of alarming antisemitic violence.

It is easier to jump to that allegation in this case because of court documents on Rooke’s failed legal pursuits and the virulence and frequency of posts on a public Facebook account that appears to be his.

After all, he declares it himself.

“Yes I am antisemitic and atheist,” says a Facebook post published on Canada Day this summer, part of a long anti-religion treatise that focuses on Judaism, Jews and Israel.

He follows his criticism of Israel for its role in the Gaza conflict by saying: “Judaism is the world’s oldest cult.” In the same post he writes “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”

About a year earlier, a post reads: “I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”

Rooke’s page documents harsh anti-religious, atheist beliefs and his increasingly frustrated obsession with pressing his point, in social media and in the courts.

His page lists his occupation as a “digital creator” and says he moved to Cornwall from Ottawa in the summer of 2020 but was originally from Hamilton, which, according to court records, he left in 2006.

In court documents says he is a status Indian and on social media he posted about members of the Six Nations of the Grand River, a First Nations reserve southwest of Hamilton, saying they are his relatives.

In 2017 he posted a childhood photo and noted: “I think I was better looking and probably nicer and easier to get along with then!”

Before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas, his public posts and his court actions spread the hate among religions more evenly. His public ire was more focused on Catholics and Muslims.

In July 2019, he quit his job to push his legal challenges and his obsessive anti-religious ideas. He announced on Facebook: “I quit my job on Friday so I can focus all my time on getting 2 legal actions through.”

Neither action was successful, even though he fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In 2017 he mounted a legal challenge against the Canada Revenue Agency in the Tax Court of Canada, apparently over a scholarship offered to him in 2011 by the University of Waterloo. That matter veered into his anti-religious zealotry, as he mounted a challenged over a professor at the school being called as a witness, declaring the prof has “no credibility” because he is “a staunch Catholic.”

“I know his answers already since we sparred about the issue during lectures,” he wrote. “I have had many interactions regarding the absolute nonsense of God/Allah and religion.” His case was eventually dismissed, despite Rooke’s continued objections and appeals.

In 2018, Rooke launched another court case, this one in the Federal Court of Canada. Unrepresented by legal counsel, he asked for the certification of a class-action lawsuit against the federal government over dental care for status Indians.

According to his court filing, obtained by National Post, he said his application for dental coverage from his dentist for a broken front tooth in 2015 was rejected the same day it was submitted. He said the system meant “the automatic denial of applications by bureaucrats.”

He meticulously documented his journey trying to have his tooth fixed and covered by the government and tried to file a class-action suit on behalf of all First Nations members denied dental care. He also asked his fees be waived. He filed a handwritten note that said he was unemployed living on a pension income of $2,443 a month, and asked the court to tell him what to do next to press his case. His issue was dismissed.

He reapplied, this time paying the $150 filing fee. It went through several stages of the court process before it too was refused. He then sought to appeal the decision, in 2019, asking for a new judge as well as the return of his $150. He claimed the judge was biased against him.

Here too, he leaned in on his anti-religious belief.

His argument was that all judges are biased due to their “religious beliefs,” as confirmed by their oath of office that include swearing “so help me God.” A judge hearing this argument used that against him: If all judges were biased then there was no point in handing his case over to any other judge. His request for the return of his filing fee was also denied, and he was ordered to pay a modest $250 towards the government’s legal fees.

Rooke continued to push the issue, trying to turn it into a challenge of judicial authority on the grounds of religion, eventually putting his case before the Supreme Court of Canada. He became fixated on the fact that even justices of the Supreme Court swear an oath to God.

“If the nine justices of the Supreme Court are unwilling or unable to defend their religious beliefs by forwarding credible and provable facts, then they should do the honourable thing and resign from their honourable positions as respected jurists,” he wrote.

He sought declarations from each of the justices that they believe in God, otherwise, “they have proven they cannot rightly and honestly hold the position with credibility and integrity.”

In an affidavit filed in his appeal he wrote: “Notwithstanding the endless, nonsensical claims to the contrary there are no tangible gods … When a person prays, they are praying to nothing.”

The Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

His older Facebook posts do not focus on Judaism or Jews.

He frequently wrote long pieces on social issues, usually revolving around his atheist beliefs and attacking “religious leaders of all faiths.” His most frequent targets were Christianity and Islam.

On Christmas Eve 2016 he complains of “silly” Christmas content: “Contrived and ostentatious religious Christmas rituals are at the top of this list and the Vatican is silliness central. It is the centre of the absurd and the nonsensical where one man in a big hat, adorned like a bland Christmas tree, will portray himself as something he is not.”

He tries to rebrand Christmas as a non-religious celebration, calling it Humanity Day.

In 2019, in another public essay, he wrote of the “ignorance and intransience” of the world’s religions, adding: “only the brands differ —catholic, Anglican, evangelical, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, etc. At their base they are all nonetheless composed of nonsense.” He didn’t even mention Judaism.

Ottawa police said it has been in contact with leaders of the Jewish community after the incident.

Ottawa police said detectives have reviewed some of the accused’s social media comments as part of an ongoing investigation. Police said investigators are looking at all potential motives behind the attack.

“Directives have been issued to officers to increase their presence in areas of significance to the Jewish community,” the police said in a public release.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he has spoken to the victim.

Pauline Colwin, a spokesperson with the Jewish Federation of Ottawa said the woman’s identity was not being released out of respect for the family’s privacy.

“Federation leadership has been in touch with the family to offer support, and we are grateful to know that she is recovering at home.”

None of the allegations against Rooke have been proven in court. He is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 2.

National Post with additional reporting by Gary Dimmock, Ottawa Citizen

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys

• Man charged after elderly woman stabbed at kosher grocery store in Ottawa
• Ontario students targeted by hundreds of antisemitic incidents, federal report finds

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.