On May 2nd, police reported that a man carrying a machete, an ax, and a gas can entered Centre Métropolitain de Chirurgie (CMC) at 999 Salaberry St. and and set a fire. There were $700,000 in damages, but personnel who were in the building were safely evacuated. The medical clinic, in Montreal, is the only one in Canada that offers gender reassignment surgery.
At the time, many expressed concern that the incident was a transphobic hate crime. The CBC spoke with one patient who was waiting for surgery who said, “I think that there’s a pretty large chance that this isn’t just a random arson given a lot of the backlash seen in Canada and the United States over the past several years about trans rights.” Online, these fears were echoed. Some compared the arson to the ongoing attacks from pro-lifers on American abortion clinics.
The #Montreal #gender affirmation surgical clinic postpones surgeries after arson. #trans #transphobia #hatecrime https://t.co/QIGWUBYgLo
— Heather Jarvis (@heatjarvis) May 11, 2016
I interviewed @sophiaphotos about lack of public reaction to the arson attack on Canada's only trans surgery clinic https://t.co/ucegM65Vsw
— Laura Brightwell (@mslauralipstick) May 10, 2016
cis folks need to wake up, this was in canada too, being seen as a hate crime as I called it, arson at the trans clinic in montreal
— Sophia Banks (@sophiaphotos) May 4, 2016
And in all honesty. Arson at the trans clinic in my city is stressful. People out there really hate trans women like me. And I am visible
— Sophia Banks (@sophiaphotos) May 4, 2016
Arson ‘sounds a lot like anti-abortion radicals’ https://t.co/0ECjY1ZM64 via @nationalpost #trans #canqueer
— ArielTroster (@ArielTroster) May 7, 2016
A new form of anti-trans violence! Police Treating Arson at Canada’s Main Sex-Reassignment Clinic as a Hate Crime… https://t.co/m8zZdErjbp
— Lynn Conway (@lynnconway) May 5, 2016
On May 21 it was reported that a suspect named Jayne Ellen Heideck had been identified. Investigators believe the a 42-year-old transwoman may have targeted the clinic as a result of being “unsatisfied with the results” of a surgery Heideck underwent there.
The Montreal Gazette, who reported the suspect as a “B.C. woman” confirms that, while the police had initially treated the fire as “a possible hate crime intended to intimidate the transgender community and/or its supporters,” this is no longer the case. “Our investigation has shown that it is not a hate crime,” Montreal police spokesperson Constable Manuel Couture said.