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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
There were 212 antisemitic incidents reported to the League for Human Rights in 1997. This represents a decrease of 13.1% from the 244 reported incidents in 1996.
There was an increase in incidents of systemic antisemitism, while the overall total number of incidents of harassment declined by only 5% to 154 from 163 the year before. Harassment includes the distribution of hate propaganda; however, it must be noted that incidents of antisemitism spread over the Internet have not been included in the data. Were the League to document the thousands of hits on antisemitic hate sites, our statistics would dramatically increase.
The number of reported incidents of antisemitic vandalism was 58, down a significant 28.4% from the 81 incidents reported last year. This may be attributed to the decline in organized hate group activity, a crackdown by police hate crimes units and ongoing community vigilance and education.
Table 1 and Figure 1 summarize the total number of antisemitic incidents reported to the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada over the last 16 years.
Figures 1(a), (b), (c) present the three year total average, and yearly incidents of vandalism and harassment respectively.
There were 98 reported incidents of antisemitism in 1997 in Toronto, which is exactly the as the number reported last year. Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and is also home to the largest Jewish population. Not surprisingly, antisemitic incidents in Toronto represented 46.4% of all reported incidents in 1997.
Montreal, which in 1996 reported 30 incidents, had 21 antisemitic cases reported in 1997 (10% of the total in Canada), Ottawa figures also declined, with 25 reported incidents slightly down from 27 reported cases in 1996.
In the last several years, the Audit reported an appreciable increase in antisemitic incidents in smaller communities in Ontario. The 28 incidents in 1994 represented a 40 increase over the year before; in 1995 there were 29 ntisemitic incidents in regional Ontario; and in 1996 there were 32 incidents, 13.1% of the total number of reported incidents in Canada. It became 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. In 1997, there was a crackdown on hate crime by the various Hate Crimes Units and specialized officers in police services across Ontario, leading to several arrests and a decrease in reported incidents. There were 20 incidents in Regional Ontario, down 37% from last year, albeit still 10% of the national total.
Winnipeg reported 17 18 incidents in 1997, which is one additional incident from the 17 reported in 1996. This is 8.5% of the national total in a city with only 4% of the Jewish population in Canada. It is noteworthy that Winnipeg’s figures remain steady, thus actually representing a proportional increase, while the overall national level has declined. In 1996 the number of reported incidents represented 7.0% of the whole and in 1995, the number of reported incidents in Winnipeg represented only 4.2% of all reported incidents.
In Alberta and Saskatchewan there were 7 reported incidents in 1997 which represents a decrease of 36.3%, down from 11 incidents in 1996. The number of reported incidents in British Columbia decreased slightly from 23 incidents in both 1995 and 1996 to 19 reported incidents in 1997. However, this represents 9% of the 1997 national total, consistent with the percentage of the total number in Canada last year. As in the past, 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 a strong presence. However, the HF had little presence in the West and therefore its decline has had little effect there. In addition, the West has a cadre of active hate mongers, who unlike their eastern counter-parts, have had little trouble with the law until very recently (see Figure 2 for details).
Figure 2 presents a summary of the 1997 data by region. Figure 2(a) is a proportionate representation of the Jewish population. Figure 2(b) shows a comparison between the Jewish population and the number of incidents in each region. Table 2 provides a more detailed breakdown of the data, indicating the specific nature of the reported incidents.
A teacher in New Brunswick was targeted with threatening phone calls following the publishing of a newspaper article on his "Holocaust and Hope" Study Tour to Poland, Germany and Israel.
A teen was assaulted and called a "dirty Jew" in a donut store in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
In Hamilton, Ontario, a family’s garage was broken into, the tires were slashed on the car and the hood was spray painted with a large gold swastika.
In Winnipeg three youths broke into a family’s home and spray painted the floors, doors and walls with "ie Jews" and swastikas. The police arrested the youths.
In Toronto, a Jewish-owned hair salon was vandalized with "Jew Hatred" spray painted onto the dressing room mirror.
Viciously anti-Jewish posters from the group "Euro-Christian Defense League" were plastered on light standards along St. Mary’s Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
A school with many Jewish and Black students in Thornhill, Ontario was spray painted with swastikas and the word "nigger".
In Montreal a storefront synagogue was vandalized with the words “Hitler is the best”.
Several animal rights organizations, furriers and farm associations were sent video tapes of the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew with the added title "and Jewish Ritual Slaughter", promoting the links between animal rights and antisemitism.
A Jewish woman was repeatedly harassed with hate mail and hate faxes at her workplace, an Ontario government agency. The mail featured swastikas, anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant and anti-French slogans.
In Toronto, the police apprehended an individual who through 1996 and well into 1997 targeted dozens of Jewish owned or managed businesses with the following message on their answering machine: “The Anti-Christ and the Hebrew Satanists are going to be annihilated.”
A Jewish cooperative in the heart of North York, in Toronto was repeatedly vandalized with swastikas and graffiti carved into cars in the parking garage.
Polish Skinheads assaulted a Jewish girl in Toronto. Two young offenders have been charged and the case is currently in court.
Antisemitic pamphlets suggesting the Jews killed Jesus were distributed at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
For two consecutive nights, rocks were thrown through the window of a Montreal synagogue.
A woman was threatened with firing for requesting time off to observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
A Jewish employee in Winnipeg arrived at work one morning to find swastikas and antisemitic graffiti at his work station.
A TV evangelist on Ontv, formerly CHCH tv in Hamilton, Ontario, called Judas a "tight-fisted, money changer" and suggested that Jews object to gentiles being granted salvation. Ontv and the producer of the program apologized.
A Sukkah at the synagogue in Regina was vandalized with graffiti.
Campus newspapers across Canada were targeted with an advertisement for the "Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust". To date, two newspapers have published the ad but many more reported the incident to the League without running the ad in their paper, after the League alerted campuses across the country.
Professors and Jewish groups at universities across Canada received mailings containing a vicious antisemitic pamphlet.
Students from a Jewish school were harassed on the hockey rink by youths yelling antisemitic epithets at them.
Students at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario reported incidents of Heritage Front recruitment and swastikas painted in a residence hallway.
Table of Contents
| Introduction
| Definitions and Data Collection
| Summary of Data
| Hate in Canada: An Overview
Current Climate and Trends
| The Struggle Against Antisemitism and Hate
| The Jewish Community in Canada
Hate on the Internet
| Publications on Antisemitism and Hate
| Incident Reporting Form
| Table 1
Table 2
| Figure 1
| Figure 1(a)
| Figure 1(b)
| Figure 1(c)
| Figure 2
| Figure 2(a)
| Figure 2(b)
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