OTTAWA — Nearly a fifth of the Liberal caucus has issued a letter calling for more to be done to address a rise in antisemitism after a Jewish woman in her 70s was stabbed at an Ottawa grocery store.
Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather posted a letter on social media he signed along with 31 other Liberal lawmakers that decries what the letter calls the “deplorable” rise in antisemitism, warning it is “becoming normalized” in Canada.
Ottawa police charged a 71-year-old man with aggravated assault over the stabbing last week and say they are treating the incident as a “hate-motivated crime.”
The letter by the MPs says that “three years ago, such an incident would have been shocking” but today, it is “much less so.”
The letter says the spread of hate is a “call to action for all Canadians, all levels of government, law enforcement, schools, public institutions and places of work.”
The call for action comes just ahead of an internal caucus gathering by the governing party next week and Parliament’s return on September 15.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2025.
The Canadian Press
