Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair	Ruth Klein National Director of Advocacy

1996 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents

SUMMARY OF DATA

Nature of Incidents by Year

There were 244 anti-Semitic incidents reported to the League for Human Rights in 1996. This represents a decrease of 26.3% from the 331 incidents in 1995, which had been the highest number reported in 14 years of documentation.

The number of reported incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism was 81, up only 1.25% from the 80 incidents reported last year. The fact that the incidents of vandalism remained essentially the same as 1995, which had been 13% lower than the year before, continues a trend attributable to the demise of such groups as the Church of the Creator and the Heritage Front. It appears that ongoing community vigilance and education is also keeping vandalism from seriously increasing.

Anti-Semitic harassment dropped to 163 reported incidents in 1996 from 251 in 1995, a decrease of 35.1%. Harassment includes the distribution of hate propaganda; however, it must be noted that incidents of anti-Semitism spread over the Internet have not been included.

Geographic Distribution of Incidents

There were 98 reported incidents of anti-Semitism in 1996 in Toronto, down 38.4% from 159 incidents last year. Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and is also home to the largest Jewish population. Not surprisingly, anti-Semitic incidents in Toronto represented 40.2% of all reported incidents in 1996.

Montreal, which in 1995 reported 52 incidents, had 30 anti-Semitic cases in 1996 (12.3% of the total), Ottawa figures also declined, with 27 reported cases in 1996 (11.1%), down from 37 in 1995.

Last year the Audit reported an appreciable increase in anti-Semitic incidents in smaller communities in Ontario. The 28 incidents in 1994 represented a 40% increase over the year before; in 1995 there were 29 anti-Semitic incidents in regional Ontario; and in 1996 there were 32 incidents, 13.1% of the total number of reported incidents in Canada. This trend shows a consistent increase of incidents in regional Ontario outside of Toronto and Ottawa. It is clear that as police hate crimes units clamp down on hate and bias crimes in the cities, hate groups have increased their recruitment activity in smaller communities, such as Pickering, Brampton, Oakville, St. Catharines and the Niagara region.

Winnipeg reported 17 incidents in 1996, consistent with the number of reported cases of anti-Semitism over the last four years, and 7.0% of all incidents. It is noteworthy that Winnipeg’s figures remain steady while the overall national level has declined. In 1995, the number of reported incidents in Winnipeg represented only 4.2% of all reported incidents. Similar to Winnipeg, the number of reported incidents in the western provinces, while declining in real terms, declined at a significantly lower level than the rest of the country. In Alberta and Saskatchewan there were 11 reported incidents in 1996 (4.5% of total reported incidents), slightly down from 13 reported cases in 1995; and the number of reported incidents in British Columbia remained consistent with 23 incidents in both 1995 and 1996, representing 9.4% of the total number in Canada. Western Canada’s numbers contrast sharply with those in Eastern Canada, for several reasons. First, the decline of the Heritage Front (HF) has had a significant effect in Toronto and surrounding regions where it previously had had a strong presence. However, the HF had little presence in the West and therefore its decline had little effect there. In addition, the West has a cadre of active hatemongers, who unlike their eastern counter-parts, have had little trouble with the law (see below for details).

The Maritimes had 6 reported incidents in 1996 (2.5% of total incidents), double the number of incidents reported in the eastern provinces in 1995.

From Coast to Coast — Highlights of Specific Incidents

January

The editor of Peachland newspaper in British Columbia, receives unsolicited Institute for Historical Review Holocaust-denial material.

In Toronto, a knife wielding man screaming anti-Semitic epithets, threatens and assaults a Jewish individual. The man is arrested and charged with assault.

February

Stickers from the National Socialist German Workers Party – Overseas Organization (NSDAP-AO), an American neo-Nazi organization, are found on cars outside a B’nai Brith meeting.

March

In Winnipeg, a young hockey player is the victim of anti-Semitic slurs by a player from a rival team. The coach of the offending player, a police officer with the Winnipeg Police, suspends the player for his misconduct.

A Jewish individual, in Toronto, reports being harassed by Polish skinheads (Polskas) while walking on the street. Anti-Semitic diatribes become almost a regular feature in the Canadian Polish press.

April

NSDAP-AO posters commemorating Hitler’s birthday are posted on a lamppost outside a Winnipeg school.

The Jewish National Fund office located in the Calgary Jewish Community Centre receives a package bomb that fortunately malfunctions. The bomb’s detonator, which did ignite, injures the secretary opening the package.

May

A Professor of German language in PEI receives unsolicited German language hate material denying the Holocaust.

June

In Winnipeg, a swastika is carved in the grass with a lawn mower in front of a children’s playground.

In Sarnia, on the eve of “Aryan Fest Day,” two juveniles vandalize a home owned by second generation Holocaust survivors. The youths spray paint swastikas, the slogan “Brennan das Jude” (burn all Jews), and other neo-Nazi symbols on the wall of the house and on the street.

July

In Toronto, a house belonging to a Jewish family in the suburb of North York is broken into and vandalized extensively with anti-Semitic graffiti. Nothing is stolen from the house.

In Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa, 10-15 street signs are defaced with swastikas, and various phrases such as “white power” and “niggers.”

August

In Winnipeg, a Jewish group home for teens is vandalized with swastikas. A staff member’s car is set on fire.

A sign at a construction site for a new synagogue in Vancouver is defaced with a swastika and the words “Juden Raus” (Jews Out).

September

A woman at an East Coast university reports that she is being harassed by a former friend and classmate regarding her decision to convert to Judaism. The person routinely makes anti-Semitic remarks to the woman.

In a student residence at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, a swastika is painted over an Israeli flag in a mural depicting the flags of various countries.

October

Beginning in October and continuing to date, an individual leaves the same anti-Semitic message on voice-mail systems of several Toronto Jewish-owned businesses and organizations.

November

In Montreal, Le Soleil columnist Michel Vastel exclaims in a radio interview that Jews should apologize to Christians for crucifying Christ.

In a joint forces operation by various police forces, two individuals are arrested in the Durham region for distributing hate material to schools and residential neighborhoods.

A sticker “eliminate non-Whites” is stuck on the residence door of a Jewish Student at the University of Western Ontario (London).

December

A mock parcel bomb, containing all the ingredients of a bomb, except for explosives, is left at the London Jewish Community Centre.

In Toronto, an individual calls 911 from a phone booth claiming to have planted bombs in several synagogues. The police are forced to evacuate the synagogues, disrupting several wedding celebrations in progress.

Table of Contents | Introduction | Definitions & Data Collection | The Jewish Community in Canada | Summary of Data
Hate in Canada | Antisemitism in Canada | The Struggle Against Antisemitism & Hate | Recent Publications on Antisemitism & Hate
Figure 1 | Figure 1(a) | Figure 1(b) | Figure 1(c) | Figure 2
Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Appendix D

Institute for International Affairs | Commission for Jewish Culture | Sports Corporation | League for Human Rights | Publications
Government Relations Office | Centre for Community Action | B’nai Brith Foundation | Press Releases | The Jewish Tribune
Canadian Jewish Law Students Association | Links | Jewish Students Canada
B’nai Brith Canada