Calling for a Royal Commission on Antisemitism

Jewish people across the country are facing harassment, intimidation, vandalism, threats, and violence in schools, campuses, workplaces, synagogues, and neighbourhoods. 

To date, the Government of Canada has failed to adequately address the scale, urgency, and escalating severity of this alarming national crisis.

We urgently call on the Government of Canada to immediately establish a Federal Royal Commission on Antisemitism to investigate the scope, sources, and systemic nature of antisemitism in Canada and to deliver concrete, actionable recommendations to protect Jewish Canadians and uphold Canadian values.

Jewish communities worldwide have already been targeted during their holiest moments. In Manchester, a synagogue was attacked on Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish year. In Bondi Beach, two gunmen opened fire during Chanukah, a holiday defined by light and celebration, while in Toronto, a synagogue was attacked with gunfire shortly after Purim ended, yet another moment of joy and communal gathering disrupted by violence. In recent days, Jewish owned businesses, including restaurants, in Toronto and Montreal have been targeted with gunfire and vandalized.

These were not random acts; they reflect a deliberate strategy by extremists to strike when and where Jewish communities gather, pray, and are most visible.

Following the Bondi Beach attack a threat assessment from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) raised an alarming warning: the same conditions that enabled the Bondi attack are present in Canada. The assessment warned that a violent extremist attack targeting Canada’s Jewish community is a “realistic possibility.” This is not a theoretical risk. Lives are at stake, Canada faces the same vulnerabilities that have already led to tragedy abroad.

Canada cannot wait for an attack on its own soil before acting. Protecting Jewish communities requires swift, decisive, and proactive measures before lives are lost—not after.