Santa, elves sought in alleged Montreal grocery theft described as political act

MONTREAL — In what activists have described as a Robin Hood-inspired theft at a Montreal grocery store this week, several dozen people dressed as Santa and elves allegedly shoplifted thousands of dollars worth of food in an effort to denounce rising prices.

A group called Robin des Ruelles — Robins of the alleys — has claimed responsibility for the stunt, saying in a statement on social media that several Santas and about 40 masked “accomplices in elf costumes” entered a Metro grocery store on Laurier Avenue on Monday evening and stole items worth $3,000. The group said it planned to distribute the loot to needy Montrealers.

Montreal police said they are investigating a theft under $5,000 at the store. A spokesperson said investigators were reviewing surveillance and social media video but added that no arrests had been made as of Thursday morning.

Photos and videos of the incident were widely shared online and the group said in their statement that the food theft was a political call to action. The statement, entitled “When hunger justifies the means,” was distributed on behalf of the group by Les Soulèvements du fleuve, another local activist organization.

The Robins denounced the profits of large grocery chains and said that surging inflation has people struggling to buy food. “We are working more and more just to be able to buy food from supermarket chains that take advantage of inflation as a pretext to make record profits,” the group said.

“There is no other way to put it: a handful of companies are holding our basic needs hostage.”

In response to the theft, a spokesperson for the Metro grocery chain said shoplifting is a criminal act and unacceptable. Food inflation is influenced by numerous factors, Geneviève Grégoire said in an email. Those factors include disruptions in the global supply chain, volatility in commodity prices, changes in international trade conditions — and retail crime, she said.

“It should be noted that as a retailer, we are the final stop in the supply chain,” Grégoire said.

“The prices on store shelves directly reflect the costs of the supply chain.”

Grégoire also noted that Metro in 2025 donated $1.15 million and provided more than $81 million in food products to food banks.

The Robins said they deposited some of the loot in a public square in the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough at the foot of a Christmas tree on Tuesday evening, adding that the rest will be distributed through community food banks.

The group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to the Retail Council of Canada, retail crime is on the rise and accounted for more than $9 billion in lost sales in 2024.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press