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2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft

2010s in Montreal2011 crimes in Canada2011 in QuebecArt crimeCrime in Montreal
History of MontrealIndividual theftsMuseum crimeOctober 2011 events in CanadaSeptember 2011 events in CanadaUnsolved crimes in Canada

The 2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft took place in two separate incidents during September and October of that year. In both instances, the same thief took a small ancient stone piece that was openly exhibited, without a protective case, and smuggled it out of the museum. One has since been recovered; however, the thief remains unidentified and the whereabouts of the other is not known. On September 3, one day before the anniversary of the 1972 robbery of 18 paintings, a visitor took a sandstone Achaemenid Empire relief. In late October, he returned to take a Roman marble head from its pedestal. The two works were collectively valued at $1.3 million, with the relief accounting for almost all of that amount. The museum did not disclose the theft until February 2012 to avoid compromising the joint investigation by its insurance company and Sureté du Québec's art theft unit. Security camera footage allowed them to obtain a description of the thief; investigators believed he was local. A reward was offered for the return of the works. In 2013, police were led to Simon Metke, an Edmonton man who had bought the Achaemenid piece for CDN$1,400 during a visit to Montreal two years earlier, believing it to possibly be a replica, after it was seen on a wall behind him during a CBC interview unrelated to the case. The museum ultimately declined to buy it back from their insurer and it was put on the market in late 2016. Charges laid against Metke were disposed with a conditional discharge after he pled guilty to possession of stolen property. Metke's story inspired a character in Kevin Smith's 2016 film Yoga Hosers, as well as the film's title. The relief itself was later found to have been taken from Iran illegally, and returned there after being seized from a dealer's wares during a New York art fair.

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2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft
Avenue du Musée, Montreal Ville-Marie

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H3G 2E8 Montreal, Ville-Marie
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1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery
1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery

The 1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery, sometimes called the Skylight Caper, took place very early in the morning of September 4 of that year. Three armed robbers used a skylight under repair to gain entry to the museum from its roof, tied up the three guards on duty, and left on foot with 18 paintings, including a rare Rembrandt landscape and works by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Corot, Delacroix, Rubens, and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as some figurines and jewellery. One of the Brueghels was returned by the thieves as an initiative to start ransom negotiations. None of the other paintings has ever been recovered and the robbers have never been arrested or even publicly identified, although there is at least one informal suspect. Collectively, the missing paintings have been valued at $11.7 million in 2017 dollars; although their value may have diminished since the theft as scholars have called the attribution of some of the works into question. However, the Rembrandt alone has been valued at $1 million; in 2003 The Globe and Mail estimated it to have appreciated in value to $20 million. The thieves appeared to know what works they were looking for; many of the works had been part of Masterpieces from Montreal, a travelling exhibition that had been to many museums in the U.S. and Canada prior to Expo 67, as well as some other special exhibits put on by the museum in the preceding years. It is not only the largest art theft in Canada but the largest theft in Canadian history.Investigation of the crime proved difficult in the early going, since it occurred over the Labour Day holiday weekend, when many of the museum's officials including its director were vacationing far away from Montreal. It was further complicated by continuing news coverage of the Blue Bird Café fire, Montreal's deadliest arson, three days earlier, dominating the headlines; the next day the killings of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympics in Munich further diminished media coverage. A sting operation conceived after the thieves returned the Brueghel (later reattributed to his students) and mailed photos of the other works to the museum seeking a ransom payment went awry; a later attempt to negotiate their return cost the museum $10,000 with no results. The thieves took advantage of weakened security, resulting from the renovations at the museum, which had left the skylight's alarm disabled. The renovations and the security flaws were themselves a consequence of the museum's tightening finances, which had worsened during the 1960s as many of the wealthy Anglophone community in Montreal that had supported the museum since its founding in 1860 began to leave for Toronto due to increasing concerns over Quebec separatism, especially after terrorist acts by the Front de libération du Québec had led to martial law in the Montreal area two years earlier. Sûreté du Québec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol continue to investigate the crime. Theories as to who might be responsible have ranged from the Montreal Mafia to Quebec separatists.

Concordia University Netanyahu riot
Concordia University Netanyahu riot

The Concordia University Netanyahu riot occurred on September 9, 2002 on the Sir George Williams Campus of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, when student rioters opposed a visit from the then former (and later subsequent) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The visit, to be held at noon at the Henry F. Hall Building, was canceled after pro-Palestinian students and Netanyahu supporters violently clashed.Jewish student organization Hillel had invited Netanyahu to speak on campus. Several hundred demonstrators blocked attendees of the event from entering the building.The attendees were escorted to the auditorium where the lecture was to take place, and later said the rioters had subjected them to antisemitic slogans and assault. Thomas Hecht, a Holocaust survivor, was kicked in the groin by protesters and Rabbi Howard Joseph and his wife Norma were assaulted and spat on. Protestors broke into the building through a side door but were blocked on the escalators by police and began hurling furniture from the mezzanine to the lobby. The police responded by firing pepper spray, which caused the Hall building to be evacuated and classes canceled for the remainder of the day.Around 1 p.m., a large window was shattered by rioters. At approximately the same time, a second window on the building's first floor, on the western side was broken when rioters threw a metal barricade. Five demonstrators were arrested, including VP of the student council Aaron Maté, and an additional twelve faced internal disciplinary hearings under the University's Code of Rights and Responsibilities.Netanyahu was not present at the protest, having remained at Montreal's Ritz-Carlton Hotel throughout the duration. He later accused the activists of supporting terrorism and "mad zealotry." "They're supporting Saddam Hussein, they're supporting [Yasser] Arafat, they're supporting [Osama] Bin Laden," he added.In the wake of the riot, the university instituted additional measures to avert future incidents, including the banning of any events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict for one month, as well as enabling the use of new student disciplinary rules in case of emergency.The National Film Board of Canada documentary Discordia, produced by Adam Symansky, documents the fallout from the riot by following three young Concordia campus activists. In 2003 GlobalTV also aired the documentary Confrontation at Concordia, produced by Martin Himel. Raymond Beauchemin, a 1992 Concordia University graduate (MA, English), wrote a novel, These Days Are Nights, inspired by the events of the protest.

Concordia University Library
Concordia University Library

Concordia University Library is the library system at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Concordia University has three library locations. The R. Howard Webster Library is located in the J.W. McConnell Building on the Sir George Williams Campus and the Georges P. Vanier Library is located on the Loyola Campus. On September 2, 2014, the Library opened the Grey Nuns Reading Room, a silent study space for Concordia students located in the former Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross. The Reading Room has seating for 192 students, with an additional 42 chairs in small reading rooms. A Political Science student was the first to enter.The Concordia University Library houses several special collections including the Azrieli Holocaust Collection and the Irving Layton Collection. Most Special Collections are located in the Vanier Library. The Library also maintains the university's institutional repository, Spectrum.The Concordia University Library is a member of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Concordia University Library also has partnerships with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and The Data Liberation Initiative.Since 1990, Concordia University Library has been hosting an annual public holiday auction, held every December, where all proceeds go to over 10 Montreal-based charities. The fundraising event is planned and run wholly by the Library staff, also featuring a potluck lunch.