Antisemitic incidents rose in Canada last year — and after Oct. 7: B’nai Brith
The number of antisemitic incidents in Canada more than doubled in 2023 compared with the year prior, according to an annual audit performed by Jewish human rights group B’nai Brith Canada.
In the audit, the group logged 5,791 incidents that meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. This represents a 109 per cent increase over 2022, when there were 2,769 incidents.
Online hate ‘definitely a problem’
Justice Minister says online harms bill is not ‘about insults launched from a smartphone’
Ontario Liberal MP Marco Mendicino appeared alongside B’nai Brith and said the Online Harms Act isn’t the only tool that should be looked at to address virtual antisemitism.
Story continues below advertisement
“I think that it is equally important, if not more important, to ensure that we are educating young Canadians about the Holocaust and what antisemitism looks like today in the 21st century,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman, who is Jewish, argued the bill is not the appropriate mechanism.
“We are not going to solve this by criminalizing speech, particularly having a government decide what you can say and see on the internet,” Lantsman said.
“Where the focus needs to be after this report must be in making sure that the physical security of institutions, of synagogues, of schools, of businesses, of people in the streets, who find themselves in the middle of vile, hateful demonstrations are kept safe. We do not have a law problem in this country. We have an enforcement problem.”
