September 10, 2025
OTTAWA – The Government must formally recognize a national crisis of antisemitism, B’nai Brith Canada urged Federal leaders in a letter on Wednesday.
“With Parliament resuming soon, the Government has an opportunity to acknowledge the crisis of antisemitism and take steps to confront it,” said Richard Robertson, Director of Research and Advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada. “We are calling on Ottawa to organize a task force to study this problem and recommend ways lawmakers can take action to combat Canada’s worsening antisemitism crisis.”
According to B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in Canada for the year 2024, antisemitic incidents rose 124 per cent from 2022 to 2024. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Jewish institutions in Canada have faced unprecedented threats, such as shootings, arson and bomb threats.
Within the past few weeks, physical assaults targeting Jewish Canadians have sent further shockwaves through the national conscience. In one case, a man attacked a visibly Jewish father with his children in Montreal, tossing his Kippah into a nearby pool of water. On Aug. 27, an individual with a documented history of antisemitic behaviour stabbed an elderly Jewish woman shopping in a grocery store in Ottawa.
In Wednesday’s letter, B’nai Brith Canada described the Federal Government’s existing approach to fighting antisemitism as “piecemeal” and insufficient.
“Canada needs a comprehensive, national strategy to combat antisemitism,” Roberston said. “The Government must confront antisemitism with the same vigour that it would any other crisis afflicting our society. This is not only about protecting Jewish Canadians, but also our national character and democratic values.”