Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that Canada is failing its Jewish community as antisemitism has risen to levels not seen since World War II, announcing a new federal advisory council aimed at combating anti-Jewish hatred and other forms of extremism.
Speaking at Holy Blossom Temple, a synagogue in Toronto, Carney said antisemitism in Canada has become a national crisis requiring a targeted response.
“The crisis of antisemitism in Canada today is specific, it’s severe and it demands a targeted response,” Carney said. “Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians.”
Government data show that of the 1,342 religion-motivated hate crimes reported in 2024, nearly 70% targeted Jewish Canadians, despite Jews accounting for about 1% of the country’s population.
Carney announced the creation of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, which will examine antisemitism and other forms of hate. The council will be chaired by Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller.
The prime minister said he has directed the council to reassess the nature, scale and drivers of antisemitism in Canada, improve data collection on hate incidents and evaluate the effectiveness of investments in education, prevention and community safety.
Carney pointed to a series of attacks against Jewish institutions and individuals, saying antisemitic incidents have included gunfire directed at Jewish schools, firebombings of synagogues and attacks on community centers, Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish students on university campuses. “The horror and shame are global. Our actions must be local,” Carney said.
Canada, like many Western countries, has seen a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Carney said antisemitism has also surged in Europe, Australia and the United States, but argued that Canada’s situation requires a distinct response.
The government has introduced six public-safety and anti-hate measures, Carney said. Among them is legislation that would strengthen protections for places of worship, schools and community centers and make hate-motivated crime a specific criminal offense. The bill passed the House of Commons in March and is now before the Senate.
Carney also highlighted a C$75 million ($54 million) government commitment announced in April to improve security at religious institutions, including synagogues and Jewish day schools, through enhanced infrastructure and additional security personnel. “It pains me that we had to commit $75 million to this, any dollar to this,” he said.
The government allocated more than C$36 million last year to projects aimed at countering violent extremism.
Carney stressed that efforts to combat antisemitism would not restrict free expression. “I want to be clear about what these potential measures are, and what they are not,” he said. “They are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere.”
“They are the basic standards we owe one another, in our shared public institutions, to ensure that no Canadian community is driven from those institutions by hatred.”
Harley Finkelstein, president of e-commerce company Shopify and a prominent Jewish Canadian, welcomed the remarks, writing on social media that “Canada finally said the quiet part out loud.”
Noah Shack, chief executive of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said before Carney’s speech that the government must do more to strengthen community security and combat hate.