Dr. Lawrence Hart President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair	Dr. Karen Mock National Director

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2000 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF DATA

For more than a century B’nai Brith Canada has been monitoring the climate of intolerance in Canada. Since 1982, B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights has been documenting all reported antisemitic incidents in the Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. The League was lauded in the Statistics Canada report Hate Crime in Canada: An Overview of Issues and Data Sources, which cited the League for its work in data gathering and analysis:

“Since 1982, the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith has produced an annual report on the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada. Due to the constancy in definitions and criteria used in determining how incidents are classified and recorded, these statistics may be the best data available on the incidence of hate crimes of a particular category. As a result, these data provide a unique historical record of a particular form of hate activity in Canada over the past 18 years.” - Statistics Canada, 2001

There were 280 antisemitic incidents reported to B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights in 2000. This represents a 5% increase from the 267 incidents in Canada in 1999.

Incidents are divided into two broad categories: Harassment and Vandalism. Harassment includes all incidents against people: assaults, threats (including bomb threats), the distribution of hate propaganda, harassment and systemic discrimination; while vandalism includes incidents against property such as graffiti and cemetery desecrations (please see Appendix A for Definitions and Methods of Data Collection).

Harassment comprised the largest proportion of incidents for 2000 with a total of 192 incidents. This is a decrease of 6% from the 205 cases of harassment in 1999. However, as the regional analysis and examples of specific incidents will show, many of the incidents were far more violent than in years past. It must be noted that our data do not include all of the incidents of antisemitic propaganda spread over the Internet. Were the League to document the thousands of hits by hatemongers on antisemitic hate sites, our statistics would dramatically increase. Only specifically targeted threats or individually addressed harassing e-mail messages have been included as discrete antisemitic incidents.

In 2000, there were 88 reported acts of vandalism across the country, a 42% increase over the 62 reported incidents in 1999. This is the second consecutive year showing an increase in reported acts of vandalism.

Table 1 and Figure 1 summarize the total number of antisemitic incidents reported to the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada since the League began documenting them in 1982. Figure 2 presents the three year averages of total incidents and the three year averages of incidents of vandalism and harassment. Figure 3 breaks down the total number of incidents by the month in which they occurred.

Table 2 and Figure 4 present the number of incidents by region and the regional proportion of overall incidents compared with the percentage of the approximate Jewish population in each geographic region. For an overview of the demographics of the Jewish population in Canada, see Appendix B.

Toronto

In 2000 there were 110 reported incidents of antisemitism in the City of Toronto, including a number of death threats, bomb threats, assaults, and serious acts of vandalism. Although this represents a 7.6% decrease from 1999, when 119 incidents were reported, several of the incidents were far more severe than in the past. Toronto is the largest city in Canada with the largest Jewish population, so it is not surprising that it had 39% of all the reported incidents in Canada in 2000.

Regional Ontario

In regional Ontario (not including the City of Toronto or the National Capital Region) there was a 13% decrease in antisemitic incidents, with 41 reported this year compared to 47 last year. Incidents included a cemetery desecration, serious acts of vandalism, and the distribution of hate propaganda.

National Capital Region

The 24 reported incidents in the Ottawa area represent a 25% decrease from the 32 reported incidents in 1999. This region experienced an arson attack, bomb threats, graffiti and vandalism.

Montreal

Antisemitism in the Montreal area increased markedly in the year 2000. That city suffered most from the increase in antisemitic violence which was a reaction to the rising tension in the Middle East. Montreal Jews were victims of vandalism, threats, and a number of assaults resulting in serious physical harm. There were 71 reported antisemitic acts in 2000, an 87% increase over the 37 incidents recorded in 1999 and a 255% increase over the 20 incidents reported in 1998.

Regional Quebec

There were 4 reported incidents of antisemitic graffiti and vandalism in regional Quebec in 2000, which is the same number as reported in 1999.

Manitoba

In Manitoba in 2000, there were 4 reported incidents of graffiti and harassment, 1 more than in 1999.

Saskatchewan and Alberta

There were 14 reported incidents of antisemitism in this region in 2000, including the well publicized firebombings of 2 synagogues during the upsurge in violence resulting from the Middle East crisis. This number represents a significant increase in antisemitic incidents over the 5 reported incidents in 1999.

British Columbia

B.C. had 9 reported incidents in 2000, the second consecutive decrease from the 12 reported in 1999 and the 17 reported in 1998. These incidents were comprised of mainly harassment and graffiti.

The Maritimes

There was only 1 antisemitic incident reported in the Maritime region in 2000, representing a slight decline from the 3 reported incidents in 1999. However, reports of hate group recruitment and activity remained constant in the region.

January

• In Langley, British Columbia, an ice rink and secondary school were painted with the words “Jocks ¡ Jews” and “Kill all Jocks”, believed to be in reference to the previous Colombine killings in the United States.
• A bus shelter in Ville St. Laurent, Québec was vandalized with graffiti: “Die Jew”, “Kill” and a swastika.

February

• White supremacist pamphlets were distributed in St. Johns, New Brunswick, with the words “White Canada wake up. No Jews; No Niggers; No gays. (sic) Take it from us. We will win the Holy War.”
• A Toronto high school was targeted with graffiti. Several swastikas with racial slurs were scrawled on the walls.
• A Quebec judge responded to a synagogue congregation’s application for a building permit with the slur “You people took 40 years to get out of the desert and I won't tolerate those kinds of delays here.”

March

• Symbols equating the swastika with the Star of David appeared in a number of Montreal area subway stations and buses and buildings. The same pattern appeared in May on the door of a St. Laurent Blvd. restaurant, and across the country in the fall during the escalation of the intifada.
• Swastikas and racist messages with foul language were found scrawled on a number of downtown businesses in Lindsay, Ontario.

April

• White power symbols and antisemitic slogans were found twice on the outside walls of a high school in Calgary, Alberta. The slurs “Too Many Niggas, Lebs, Chinks, Wiggas, and JEWS !!!” along with “Heil Hitler” and several swastikas were found at the site.
• The owners of a building supply store in Toronto received a letter with obscene graphics and the words “Looking for the Jewboys at Jewland Lumber? Give them the best for Passover.”

May

• The word “Jew” was written on a car door outside a Jewish house in Toronto.
• The Human Resources Manager at the National offices of B’nai Brith Canada received a phone message stating “This is Mr. Hitler calling about the position you advertised and I'm just…you can call me back and Heil Hitler”.
• A student walked in to a Toronto high school classroom and claimed that he would go into a Bar Mitzvah wearing swastikas and saying “Heil Hitler”.

June

• A customer buying a book in a used book store found a vile antisemitic pamphlet inside a book. The pamphlet advertised classes in an Ottawa library to teach about the evils of Jews, including "How to detect a Jew by smell", "how to send money to Hamas and Hizbollah through embassies in Ottawa", "how to kill a Jew with your bare hands". It continued with diatribes on Holocaust denial and “the Zionist-American Nazi plan to murder the entire Muslim population in the Middle East”.
• A swastika was scrawled on the door of a Montreal synagogue which was under construction. This incident occurred after a heated zoning controversy about the building.

July

• During the 2 summer months, over 30 swastikas were found painted around the city of Belleville, Ontario.
• A rabbi was harassed and insulted on a Montreal bus by 10-15 youths. When two women came to the rabbi's aid, one was slapped and spit upon.
• A man was looking through the book "The History of the Jews" in a major Thornhill, Ontario bookstore and found a Holocaust denial pamphlet tucked into the pages. This technique has been used increasingly by White supremacist groups to disseminate their propaganda.

August

• A visibly Jewish man wearing a skullcap was accosted as he left his synagogue in Ottawa, Ontario by 5 youths who yelled “I hate f**king Jews” at him.
• Students at a high school in Fabreville, Quebec, were shocked to discover the walls of their school covered with hate graffiti including symbols and racist slogans such as "White Power", "Kill Jews" and "all niggers must die". The symbols used indicated that the perpetrators were sophisticated in the lingo of white supremacists.
• The antique and treasured stained glass windows of a locked and gated downtown Toronto Jewish cemetery were smashed deliberately.

September

• In a hospitality class at a college in Windsor, Ontario, an instructor trotted out an old stereotype by talking about how one can “Jew down a price.”
• A bomb threat was called in to the parliament buildings in Ottawa during the Zachor gathering - a national event planned by major Jewish organizations in partnership with the Canadian government to honour Holocaust survivors.

October

• On Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, two synagogues in the North end of Toronto had eggs thrown at the doors and windows. One of the synagogues had the word "Palestine" scrawled on the wall.
• On October 10^th, two individuals attacked an identifiably Jewish man at a metro station in Montreal. He was knocked unconscious and received a concussion. Bystanders intervened when the attackers tried to throw him onto the subway rails.
• Pro-Palestinian rallies in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa deteriorated into antisemitism when the participants chanted “kill the Jews” and carried placards equating the Star of David with the Nazi swastika.
• During the weekend of Sukkot, seven summer homes were vandalized in Ste. Agathe, Quebec. All homes were owned by Jews, as identified by mezuzahs on the main doorposts. The mezuzahs were taken off by the vandals and one of the homes was seriously attacked: Jewish paintings were destroyed, eggs were thrown all over the house, the kitchen appliances, furniture and walls were destroyed, and graffiti said “die in hell” and “f**k you”. The offenders have been identified and are to appear in criminal youth court shortly.
• Two synagogues in Edmonton were firebombed and their windows were broken. At one of the synagogues, the police found that a nearby tree had been scorched in an attempt to start the blaze. Three weeks earlier one of the synagogues had a molotov cocktail thrown through the window. Although it landed in the hallway, it didn't explode.

November

• In Hamilton, Ontario a Jewish cemetery was desecrated with graffiti saying "Burn Jews".
• In two separate incidents, a number of houses in the Snowdon neighbourhood of Montreal, identified as Jewish by the mezuzahs on the doorposts, were targeted for graffiti equating the Star of David and the swastika.
• In Toronto, the largest reform synagogue in Canada received a bomb threat. After a careful search, no bomb was located.
• In a Toronto university, graffiti was found in a washroom claiming “I am an Arab student. There should be another Hitler and he should do the job right this time. Death to all Jews.”

December

• Two houses in the Craig Henry area in Ottawa were vandalized. They were the only 2 houses with Hanukkah menorahs in their windows.
• At the University of Calgary, propaganda from the National Alliance, a notorious white supremacist group, was found tucked into the university's newspaper.
• In Winnipeg, Manitoba, a Jewish man woke up one morning to discover a large swastika painted on his garage door.

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