Second Cup closes cafés, cuts ties with Montreal franchisee over 'hateful remarks and gestures'

Two Second Cup café locations at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have been shut down and the franchise owner's contract terminated after the individual was filmed at a protest on Thursday making "hateful remarks and gestures," according to the Canadian company.

In a statement posted to its social media pages on Saturday evening, Second Cup Canada said it has "zero tolerance for hate speech."

"In co-ordination with the hospital, we've shut down the franchisee's café and are terminating their franchise agreement," the statement reads.

The company said it will retain the staff and continue paying them until the locations at the hospital reopen under new management.

In a series of texts with CBC, the head of Foodtastic, which owns the Second Cup coffee chain, said the company's operations team reviewed several videos Saturday afternoon, one showing a woman at a protest raising her arm in a Nazi salute and another showing her hurling antisemitic remarks at other demonstrators.

"The final solution is coming your way, the final solution. You know what the final solution is?" the woman can be heard saying.

The phrase is widely recognized for its association with Nazi Germany's plan to exterminate Jewish people.

CBC has viewed the videos, which are being circulated on social media.

Foodtastic's president and CEO, Peter Mammas, said his team identified the woman as the franchisee and confirmed that the videos were taken at a pro-Palestinian protest outside Concordia University on Thursday. He said a franchise termination notice was served to her shortly after her identity was verified.

"We are completely against hate speech and anything that would [incite] violence," Mammas wrote. "We believe that everyone has the right to voice their opinions, but in the respectful and productive way."

CBC attempted to reach the franchisee for comment but has not yet received a response. 

Henry Topas, Quebec regional director of B'nai Brith Canada, said he views the behaviour shown in the videos as a symptom of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante's tolerance of "continual hateful protests in the street."

He also criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent "endorsement" of the "corrupt" International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant earlier this week accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes in the country's deadly war in Gaza.

"That creates an atmosphere that is horrendous, and that creates an atmosphere in which we saw someone walking around showing the Heil Hitler sign and saying that the final solution is soon," Topas said.