Canada is failing Jewish citizens terrorized by the dangerous “scourge” of antisemitism, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday.
“The pain, threats and fears can appear relentless,” Carney told more than 150 people at Holy Blossom Temple in the heart of Toronto’s Jewish community.
Schools hit by gunfire, business owners and hospital patients harassed, synagogues firebombed and students driven from public spaces — it all must stop, he said, adding that confronting hate starts with “clearly admitting that Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians.”
Shortly before Carney spoke, Toronto police announced charges against five more people, aged between 19 and 48, for allegedly promoting hatred toward the Jewish community during a March protest at an intersection north of the temple.
Carney, under pressure from opposition Conservatives and some Jewish leaders to do more, received a standing ovation after acknowledging the community’s pain and revealing new details about his fledgling council to combat “racism and hatred in all their forms,” including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Work of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, chaired by Marc Miller, minister of identity and inclusion, will include reassessing the “nature, scale, and drivers of antisemitism,” including on campuses, in workplaces and online spaces.
The council will examine federal policies, workplaces, public safety programs and community initiatives, Carney said, to ensure they are aligned with protecting Jewish Canadians and confronting hate.
The council will improve research and collection of data on hate incidents and measure federal initiatives’ impact, including investments in education and community safety.
Carney announced that Marc Gold, a retired senator, law professor and former chair of the Canada-Israel Committee, will join the council.
Other members are: Martine Roy, a LGBTQ activist and former soldier, public speaker and retired speedskater Catriona Le May Doan, former Liberal MP Omar Alghabra; Gary LaPlante, a Métis advocate for Indigenous participation in Canadian society; Aftab Erfan, executive director of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue; and Avish Nanda, an Alberta lawyer and social justice advocate.
The Liberal government announced the council in February while dropping stand-alone federal envoys to combat Islamophobia and antisemitism. A Senate committee studying antisemitism in April called for Carney to restore the antisemitism envoy.
Yael Splansky, Holy Blossom’s senior rabbi, welcomed Carney in videotaped comments from Massachusetts, where her father is receiving medical treatment.
In polite but pointed comments, she urged Carney to halt the normalization of antisemitism that she said has some Torontonians considering “fleeing Canada altogether, as Jews and as lovers of Israel …
“When Canadian leaders publicly condemn Israel, Canadian Jews pay the price.”
Carney recently summoned Israel’s ambassador to Canada to complain that Israel’s treatment of detained Gaza flotilla activists was “abominable.”
After Carney’s speech, David Rosen, Holy Blossom’s cantor, told the Star that people appreciated hearing Carney “name the things that have been deeply disturbing the Jewish people.”
Rosen said he wants to hear more about the council to know if it will be enough to make Jews safer.
There has been a spike in antisemitic incidents following the deadly October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which prompted Israel’s campaign against the Gaza Strip. Israel has drawn widespread condemnation over the death toll there, as well as over aid restrictions and the destruction of infrastructure.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Carney should offer the Jewish community “a big apology.”
“Mark Carney should lay out an apology to the Jewish community for the violence, the terror and the fear that his party and his government have allowed to happen over the last decade,” he said.
The Liberals have introduced Bill C-9, known as the hate crime bill, to address a stark increase in hate crimes, particularly those involving antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The bill passed the House of Commons in March and is currently before the Senate’s human rights committee. Carney has previously said that while the bill will address all types of hate, it was born as a direct response to the spike in antisemitism.
Noah Shack, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said events in the Middle East have fuelled hatred and violence against Jewish Canadians, and Ottawa must do more to strengthen community security and combat hate.
“Government and law enforcement must address the drivers of this crisis, including radicalization, promotion of terrorism, and terrorist entities operating here in Canada,” Shack said in a news release Sunday.
“The prime minister has an opportunity to set the tone from the highest office to make clear that nothing can justify the hatred, intimidation, and violence Jewish Canadians are experiencing and that every tool at the government’s disposal will be used to confront it.”
With files from The Canadian Press
