A Canadian Jewish advocacy group reported a record-breaking rise in antisemitism since last year, detailing anti-Jewish incidents of harassment, violence and vandalism spiking by more than double its rate in just two years.
B’nai Brith Canada released its annual report on anti-Semitism in Canada, and incidents reported a “diabolical and astronomical” 124.6 per cent rise in such incidents since 2022, following the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023.
The study used the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and police reports to identify the increase. B’nai Brith warned that the number is likely an underreported “snapshot” of the rise in antisemitism in Canada. B’nai Brith Canada said it reached out to 91 police departments, of which only 52 responded and collaborated.
The IHRA defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The definition has been adopted by the Government of Canada and provincial governments including Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. The definition is also upheld by over 1,000 global entities including the UN and the EU.
To help guide groups on what falls under its definition, IHRA lists several ways antisemitism can manifest. Examples include holding all Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel, denying Jews the right to self-determination, propagating myths that Jews are collectively involved in a global conspiracy and denying the scale or existence of the Holocaust.
According to the report, 2024 saw a 7.4% increase in antisemitic incidents of harassment, violence, and vandalism, marking a 123.6% rise in antisemitic incidents since 2022, from 5,791 incidents in 2024 to 6,219 incidents in 2024. In contrast, the number of incidents reported in 1995 was under 500 annually.
The report said the number of incidents rose by over 17 incidents per day from just eight incidents daily in 2022.
“The audit alone cannot convey the full extent of anti-Semitism in Canada. It cannot convey the toll these last few years have taken on the Canadian Jewish community, the heartbreak, the fear, the pain,” Judy Foldes, the COO of B’nai Brith Canada, said in a video released on X. “That does make one thing undeniably clear, this is not the Canada we know and love. “
During a press conference in Ottawa, representatives of B’nai Brith noted that the rise in antisemitism was not bound to any geographical area in Canada and that Jewish Canadians everywhere in the country were experiencing more incidents than in prior years.
Though Ontario had the most incidents in 2024, with 1,782 incidents it was a 25.8 per cent decline from the previous year. Quebec, however, showed the largest increase out of any province.
The report noted a 215.7 per cent increase in antisemitism incidents in 2023, with 1,651 incidents in 2024. Alberta experienced a 160.2 per cent increase, Atlantic Canada a 53 per cent increase, and British Columbia a 44.3 per cent increase from 2023.
The report noted 15 incidents of violence in 2024 and 386 incidents of vandalism. Across the country, in-person harassment and vandalism fueled by antisemitism rose in nine out of the 12 months in 2024.
According to B’nai Brith Canada, there was a 58.8 per cent increase in in-person harassment incidents from 2,340 incidents reported in 2022 to 5,818 incidents in 2024.
The largest increase was seen online with a 161 per cent increase in online harassment since 2022, with 2,056 incidents that year rising to 5,367 in 2024.
Some of the examples shown included both direct and indirect threats against individuals and Jews writ large.
“We Canadians are in urgent need of some national self-reflection when four of the last five years have seen a minority community victimized by record-setting levels of hate,” Foldes said. “Can Canadian society be seen as upholding its morals and values? Can a nation that has allowed anti-Semitic incidents to nearly triple over the last two years continue to view itself as a thriving democracy?”
She said it’s time for Canada to “wake up” and “face the facts” of the growing problem of anti-Jew hate in Canada.
In an interview with True North, Austin Parcels, the manager of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith, said the next federal government needs to address the spike in antisemitism “head-on.”
“We are asking them to take seriously the issues that the Jewish community has, to take seriously the numbers and to work to address them,” Parcels said. “Whatever government comes to power, it needs to be one that is willing to address the problems uncomfortable. They are head-on.”
B’nai Brith Canada is asking for clearer definitions and laws explicitly banning the glorification of terrorism such as dressing as a Hamas member in a Jewish neighbourhood.
