Anti-Semitic Incidents In Canada Rise To Record Number For 3rd Straight Year
Image by Wikimedia
MONTREAL (JTA) — Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose to a record high for the third consecutive year, according to an annual audit by B’nai Brith Canada released Monday.
The audit showed 2,041 anti-Semitic incidents recorded last year in Canada – 16.5 percent more than the 1,752 incidents in 2017.
“To put that in stark perspective, this represents the third straight record-breaking year for anti-Semitism in Canada, reflecting a ‘new normal’ regarding the landscape of anti-Semitism here,” said Ran Ukashi, director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
The group said the surge was fueled by social media and was a worldwide trend.
According to the audit, despite the troubling increase in incidents, they remain a “marginal phenomenon” in Canada. Nearly 90 percent of the incidents took the form of “harassment,” and 80 percent came from online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Specific incidents included lit fireworks being thrown at Hasidic Jews in Quebec and two students in Saskatchewan province being harassed and beaten.
B’nai Brith Canada President Michael Mostyn said equally worrying is that anti-Jewish hatred is “surfacing in areas typically less prone to such prejudices.” Most incidents were recorded in Ontario and Quebec, but there was a marked increase elsewhere, apparently due to the online rise.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
