Jews are being targeted in Canada, says Carney

Canada is failing Jewish Canadians and the community is being brutally targeted by hate, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

Carney said across Canada, antisemitism has surged to levels not seen in the post-World War II era. He noted that last year, over two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes were directed at Jewish Canadians. Jews make up only 1 per cent of the population. “The horror and shame are global. Our actions must be local. They start with clearly admitting that Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,” Carney said at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.

Carney said antisemites in Canada have fired bullets at Jewish schools and thrown firebombs at synagogues and attacked community centres. He said they have targeted Jewish-owned businesses and driven Jewish students from common spaces on university campuses. Carney said antisemitism plagues Europe, Australia and the United States. But he said the crisis of antisemitism in Canada is “specific, severe and demands a targeted response.”

There has been a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents globally since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023. Noah Shack, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said before the speech that the Canadian government must do more to strengthen community security and combat hate. Carney said his Government has introduced legislation over the last year to combat antisemitism and other forms of hatred.

He said $75 million (USD 54 million) in funding will provide faith-based institutions with things like security infrastructure and additional security personnel.

“It pains me that we had to commit $75 million to this, any dollar to this,” Carney said.

The Prime Minister announced the launch of a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion that will examine the nature, scale and drivers of antisemitism. It will measure its impacts and investments in education, prevention and community safety will follow, his office said.

“I want to be clear about what these potential measures are, and what they are not. They are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere,” Carney said.

“They are the basic standards we owe one another, in our shared public institutions, to ensure that no Canadian community is driven from those institutions by hatred.”