Antisemitism in Canada

Influential figures of the age, such as Goldwin Smith, promoted antisemitic ideas in the 19th century, describing Jews in derogatory terms. Political leaders such as Henri Bourassa, publicly argued in the early 20th century against Jewish immigration. Quebec saw a strong anti-Jewish movement, particularly from the Catholic Church, which associated Jews with modernism and secular liberalism from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. Various Catholic publications and activists played a significant role in spreading anti-Jewish sentiment. One of the most severe incidents occurred in 1910 in Quebec City, where a violent attack against Jewish storekeepers was incited by an antisemitic speaker.

During the interwar period, figures like Abbé Lionel Groulx further fueled antisemitic views, influencing Quebec’s intellectual elite and leading to movements that boycotted Jewish businesses and employment, most notably the Days of Shame. Across Canada, antisemitism thrived in English-speaking regions as well, with various organizations promoting these negative attitudes. Significant events included the Christie Pits riot in Toronto in 1933 a violent confrontation arising from swastika displays. In the 1920s and 1930s, Jewish people still faced numerous restrictions across many areas of life, including employment and housing. Many were excluded from hospitals, universities, and professional sectors. During the Nazi Holocaust, Canada's federal government adopted restrictive policies against Jewish immigration. Despite desperate requests from Jewish refugees, many were turned away, most infamously exemplified by the MS St. Louis incident. Discriminatory practices and legislation were common, reflecting societal attitudes in Canada and internationally.

Since the end of World War II, antisemitism in Canada has been in decline as a result of the passage of human rights legislation as well as a result of the increasing acceptance of multiculturalism in Canada. Beginning in the 1960s legal barriers were removed, and Jews began to hold high-powered and high-profile positions in Canadian society. Despite Canada's progressive attitudes towards diversity in the 21st century, antisemitism remains a recurring issue in Canadian society, evident in targeted hate crimes and extremist groups. Notably, anti-Jewish incidents have surged since the October 7 attacks, which marked the beginning of the Gaza war. Particularly there has been a sharp rise in public demonstrations vilifying Canadian Jews by accusing them of complicity in war crimes and accusations of genocide since 2023.

1800s

On April 11, 1807, Jewish politician Ezekiel Hart was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada over three other candidates, obtaining 59 out of the 116 votes cast. Hart refused to take the Christian based oath of allegiance and the legislature dismissed him. Hart petitioned the legislature, saying that, while he believed that he was justified in the law in taking a seat by means of the oath used by Jews in the courts, he was willing to swear the oaths used for those elected to the assembly. After some deliberation, on February 20, 1808, the assembly resolved by a vote of 35 to 5 that "Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote, in this House." The events of 1807–1809 are known to many as the Hart Affair (French: L'Affaire Hart).

On March 16, 1831, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly extending the same political rights to Jews as to Christians. The bill rapidly passed both the Assembly and the council and received the royal assent June 5, 1832.

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Early 1900s

In 1910, Jacques-Édouard Plamondon encouraged the public to attack Jewish storekeepers and businesses in Quebec City. The shopkeepers took legal action against Plamondon, but were awarded minimal costs four years later.

In 1920, McGill University implemented a Jewish quota restricting the number of Jewish students admitted. This quota would remain active until the late 1960s.

1930s–1940s

Between 1930 and 1939, Canada rejected almost all Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, taking in only 4,000 of the 800,000 Jews looking for refuge, as documented in the book None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933–1948, co-authored by the Canadian historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper and published in 1983. The MS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg in May 1939, carrying 937 Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi persecution. The destination was Cuba, but officials in Havana cancelled Jewish passengers' visas. Immigration was strictly limited in Canada and the United States due to the Great Depression, so the passengers were denied entrance to Canada and the United States.

Outbreaks of violence against Jews and Jewish property culminated in August 1933 with the Christie Pits riots; six hours of violent conflict between Jewish and Christian youth in Toronto, Ontario. Swastikas and Nazi slogans began to crop up on Toronto's eastern beaches, and Jewish swimmers were attacked.

In Ontario, many restaurants, shops, golf clubs, and resorts would only serve non-Jewish clientele and signs like "No Jews Allowed" or "Gentiles Only" were found on many beaches as well. Many Jewish people faced discrimination in employment or in buying a house or a property.

In 1934, Adrien Arcand started a Parti national social chrétien in Montreal patterned after the Nazi party. His party's actions resulted in antisemitic rallies, boycotts, propaganda and literature, and the inception of several other Nazi-like organizations throughout Canada.

Also in 1934, all interns at Hôpital Notre-Dame in Montréal walked off the job to protest the hiring of a Jewish senior intern, Dr Samuel Rabinovitch, who had graduated from the Université de Montréal. The four day strike, nicknamed the "Days of Shame", was resolved after several days when the new intern resigned his position after he realised that the other interns refused to "provide care to anyone, including emergency patients". The hospital administration did arrange another internship post for Dr. Rabinovitch in St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained until 1940, after which he returned to Montréal and a medical practice.

In 1938, a National Fascism Convention was held in Toronto's Massey Hall.

Antisemitic residential segregation was also prevalent during the 1930s and 1940s, and was accomplished through restrictive covenants. These were agreements among owners of properties to not sell or rent to members of certain races, including Jews, or were clauses registered against deeds by land developers that restricted ownership based on racial origin. At the time, restrictive covenants could be enforced by the courts. This changed in 1951, when the Supreme Court invalidated such restrictive covenants in its ruling in Noble v Alley.

A 1943 Gallup poll put Jews in third place, behind the Japanese and Germans, as the least desirable immigrants to Canada.

During the 1944 Quebec general election, Maurice Duplessis who won the election, was appealing to antisemitic prejudices in Quebec by making a false claim in a violently antisemitic speech, that the Dominion government together with the Godbout government had made a secret deal with the "International Zionist Brotherhood" to settle 100,000 Jewish refugees left homeless by the Holocaust in Quebec after the war, in exchange for Jewish campaign contributions to both the federal and provincial Liberal parties. By contrast, Duplessis claimed that he was not taking any money from the Jews, and if he were elected Premier, he would stop this plan to bring Jewish refugees to Quebec. To further push the message, the Union Nationale handed out campaign pamphlets warning about the alleged plan to bring 100,000 Jewish refugees to Quebec, which featured a cartoon of the standard stereotype of an evil-looking, hook-nosed Jew handing bags of money to Godbout, while in the background a vast horde of dirty, disreputable-looking, hook-nosed Jewish refugees were ready to descend on la belle province. Though Duplessis's story about the plan to settle 100,000 Jewish refugees in Quebec was entirely false, his story was widely believed in Quebec, and ensured he won the election. Duplessis's biographer Conrad Black argued that Duplessis was in no way personally anti-Semitic, but because the majority of Quebecois were at the time, Duplessis had merely used antisemitism to win the 1944 election.

A 1948 article on antisemitism in Canada written for Maclean's magazine by Pierre Berton illustrates this racism: Berton hired two young women to apply for the same jobs, one under the name Greenberg, and the other under the name Grimes. While Grimes received interviews for nearly every application, positions available for Grimes were "already filled" when Greenberg applied, or Greenberg's applications were ignored. When Berton contacted several of these companies, he was told, "Jews did not have the right temperament", that "they don't know their place" or that "we don't employ Jews".

Berton, during his research on Canadian antisemitism, sent two different letters to 29 summer resorts, one signed Marshall, the other signed Rosenberg. "Marshall" was able to book twice as many reservations as "Rosenberg". Some resorts did not reply to "Rosenberg", and some told "Rosenberg" they were fully booked.

1950–2000

Ontarian university programs discriminated against Jewish students well into the 1960s.

In 1989, Alberta public school teacher James Keegstra was convicted under the Criminal Code for "wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group". Keegstra had taught in his classes that the Holocaust was a hoax and that Jewish people were plotting to take over the world, and would fail students who did not reproduce his beliefs in class or in examinations. Keegstra appealed his conviction, claiming that the law infringed on his freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the Supreme Court of Canada eventually ruling in R v Keegstra that the infringement was justified and upheld the law.

2000–present

Antisemitism is still a concern in Canada in the 21st Century. The non-profit B'nai Brith Canada monitors incidents and issues an annual audit of these events.

On May 18, 2010, a Jewish public servant won "a major human rights victory" against the federal government after complaining that her workplace at the Ottawa headquarters of Passport Canada was poisoned by antisemitism. The federal adjudicator ruled that some of the public servant's fellow employees discriminated against her because of adherence to Jewish Law (Halakha) – notably leaving early each Friday to observe the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) and taking Jewish holidays – and that her bosses did little or nothing to help her. The situation escalated from antisemitic bullying at her workplace to traumatizing threats when she was accused in an anonymous antisemitic message to her superiors to be a Mossad agent. Another message that followed two weeks later read: "The Jew sucks your blood. Don't fall into her trap. You will make her go swiftly or we will make her go slowly and painfully." The public servant launched first an internal grievance against her department in January 2007 alleging breaches of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) and the no discrimination clause of the collective agreement with her employer. The grievance was rejected the following October by the federal government. She subsequently took her case to adjudication to the Federal Public Service Labour Relations Board (FPSLREB) seeking among others damages for pain and suffering, and an admission by the government that her rights were violated. She was supported by the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) which stated on January 18, 2011, on its website that the decision of the FPSLREB "was a significant win on behalf of the federal government employee." This case received some attention in national and international media (such as the National Post, LeDroit, McLeans, USA Today, Mekor Rishon, Hamodia).

In November 2011 an antisemitic attack took place at the south Winnipeg high school when a teen approached a 15-year-old girl as they crossed paths near his locker and began talking to her. He pulled out a lighter and started flicking it near her head, saying, "let's burn the Jew".

On April 12, 2012, several Jewish-owned summer homes in Val-Morin, Quebec were broken into and defaced with swastikas and antisemitic messages.

According to the "2013 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents" written by the B'nai B'rith Canada, there was a decrease of 5.3% in the number of antisemitic incidents during 2013. Despite that, cases of vandalism rose by 21.8% while violence increased by one incident and harassment cases dropped by 13.9%. These incidents include antisemitic graffiti, paintings of swastikas in Jewish neighborhood, firebomb attacks, antisemitic statements, etc. Antisemitic graffiti and swastika inscriptions has been also found during 2014.

In March 2014, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois was accused of antisemitism by The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) surrounding the statements made by party member Louise Mailloux. Mailloux had written statements equating the Jewish practice of circumcision to rape and claimed that halal and kosher food prices were kept high to fund religious activities abroad. She wrote that the money went to: “For the Jews, to finance Israel’s colonization in Palestinian territories. And for Muslims, to fund the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamists who want to impose Islam worldwide.” Marois defended Mailloux, denying antisemitism within the party and stated that she had "very good relations with the leaders of this community and the leaders of all the different communities in Quebec.” CIJA claimed Marois's apology and statements were inadequate and "meaningless excuses" with CIJA Quebec vice-president, Luciano Del Negro, stating: "She alleges a misunderstanding and refuses to basically recognize her views are not only offensive, but anti-Semitic in nature.”

In March 2015, the Toronto police published the 2014 Annual Hate/Bias Crime Statistical Report. According to the report, the victim group most targeted in 2014 was the Jewish community, with occurrence of 30% of all the hate crimes in Toronto. The total number of reported incidents that occurred on an antisemitic basis was 52, which makes the Jewish community the most targeted population with regard to assaults.

In June 2015, B'nai B'rith Canada published the "2014 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents". Contrasted with 2013 results, there was an increase of almost 30% in antisemitic incidents. The audit showed a peak of acts during July with the onset of operation Protective Edge in Gaza. According to the report, most of the incidents (1013) were defined as "harassment", when the fewest (19) were under the category of "violence". As in previous years audits, Ontario leads the number of incidents reported at 961, or 59% of the total. (See section on the "New antisemitism" in Canada below.)

According to a phone survey of 510 Canadians conducted by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) in 2013–2014, an estimated 14% (+/− 4.4%) of the adult population in Canada harbor substantial antisemitic opinions.

In March 2016 the Toronto Police published its annual report of hate-crimes during 2015. According to it, the Jewish population is the group most targeted to hate-crimes, especially when it comes to mischief to property occurrences. Moreover, in occurrences involve religion, most of the victims are part of the Jewish community (in 31 out of 58 cases). The report found that the Jewish community makes up only 3.8% of the religious population in the City of Toronto but was victimized in approximately 23% of the total hate/bias crimes in 2015.

In November 2019, the leaders of Israel's seven universities expressed their outrage over the University of Toronto's Graduate Student Union in Canada conflating a kosher food program with support for Israel.

In July 2019, a Jewish man wearing a kippah was assaulted by a taxi driver in Montreal.

In 2009, R v Zundel blocked the conviction of Ernst Zündel, who had been accused of fake news by promoting Holocaust denial. However, in 2022 Canada banned Holocaust denial and condoning of the Holocaust to combat rising levels of antisemitism.

"New antisemitism"

In 2009, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism was established by major federal political parties to investigate and combat antisemitism – particularly what is referred to as the new antisemitism. It is argued that this form of hate targets Israel, consisting of and fed by allegations of Israeli "war crimes" and similar claims. Anti-Israel actions that led to the formation of a Parliamentary Coalition included boycott campaigns on university campuses and in some churches, spilling over into attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions and individuals. Activities such as "Israel Apartheid Week" at Concordia (Montreal), York University and the University of Toronto, and boycott campaigns targeting Israel (BDS) included what some considered as "forms of antisemitism".

At York University in 2009, pro-Palestinian activists attacked Jewish students, shouting "Zionism equals racism!" and "Racists off campus!" One witness stated that the attackers started banging the door and windows, intimidating Jewish students and screaming antisemitic slurs such as "Die Jew", "Get the hell off campus", "Go back to Israel", and "Fucking Jew". The students barricaded themselves inside the Hillel offices, where protesters reportedly banged on the windows and attempted to force their way in. Police were called to escort Jewish students through the protesters.

In 2009 antisemitic graffiti was scrawled on a Jewish memorial in Ottawa, and attributed to a pro-Palestinian group.

Leading Canadian Jewish groups such as CIJA and B'nai Brith Canada took the lead in responding, while other organisations such as the Canadian branch of the New Israel Fund chose not to play a role. In August 2012, CIJA opposed the United Church of Canada (UCC) boycott and divestment campaign, and CIJA's CEO Shimon Fogel distinguished between criticism of Israeli policies and initiatives that single out Israel for economic coercion.^[14]

In 2021 a group of 517 Canadian journalists signed an open letter to Canadian newsrooms on covering Israel-Palestine The letter was criticized as having lobbied for an anti-Israel bias and for fuelling antisemitism in Canada while implying the antisemitic canard that Jewish people control the media on behalf of Israel.

2023-2024

The October 7, 2023 attacks led by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 would spark the Gaza war and Gaza genocide, as well as a significant increase in antisemitism.

According to data from B'nai Brith Canada, there was a significant increase in reported antisemitic incidents in Canada following October 7. In 2023, a total of 5,791 antisemitic incidents were reported, while in 2024 the number rose to 6,219, the highest annual total recorded since monitoring began in 1982.

On the morning of November 9, 2023, two Jewish schools in Montreal were found to have been targeted by gunfire over night. Bullet holes were identified at United Talmud Torah and Yeshivah Gedolah.

In November 2023, an Israeli Jewish student encountered harassment at school when three peers engaged in physical aggression, verbally expressing intentions to "do to him what Hamas did to Israel".

In April 2024, another incident occurred in the Canadian province of New Brunswick where an Israeli Jewish teenage girl was assaulted by a fellow student, resulting in her being thrown to the ground and subjected to physical violence. In May 2024, Jewish pupils in Toronto reported receiving death threats from their schoolmates.

In 2024, the Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada was targeted in three shooting incidents. On May 25, six shots were fired at Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School, in North York, Toronto. No injuries were reported. A solidarity rally was held outside the school on May 27. On October 12, 2024, multiple shots were fired at the school. A 17-year-old boy and 20-year-old man were arrested and charged with multiple firearms offences in connection to the shooting. On December 20, 2024, six shots were fired at the school with no injuries reported. No one was injured and the shootings took place during evenings, with no children present. The series of attacks began in May 2024, with subsequent shootings occurring in October (during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur) and December of the same year. In each incident, the school building was damaged by gunfire, though students were able to continue attending classes. The shootings took place during a period of increased antisemitic incidents across Canada following the October 7 attacks and the subsequent Gaza war. Specifically, the third shooting occurred within days of the firebombing of Congregation Beth Tikva in Montreal. After the May 30 attack, councillor Mike Colle called on the province of Ontario to enhance penalties for acts of hate or violence committed near schools. Toronto Police arrested two individuals in conjunction with the October attack. In December, after the third shooting, the Government of Canada announced that a conference would be held in which political leaders would discuss strategies to combat antisemitism. Premier Doug Ford faced criticism after he made remarks suggesting that immigrants were to blame for the school shooting in May, saying "don’t come to Canada if you’re going to start terrorizing neighbourhoods like this, simple as that." Ontario Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie described the comments as "wrong-headed" and "very intolerant behaviour". In response, Toronto Police Services said it was too early to determine if the shootings were hate-motivated. In response to the first shooting, members of the Jewish community held a rally at the school to denounce the shooting. Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli condemned the attacks, saying "Canada is no longer safe for Jews" and criticizing Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's response. Liberal Member of Parliament and advisor to Trudeau Anthony Housefather disagreed, describing Chikli's remarks as "a false and exaggerated statement", saying that despite the increase in antisemitism, Canada "remains one of the best places in the world for Jews to live."

On May 31, 2024, an arson attack targeted the Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver, with fire set to its doorway. Police launched criminal investigation.

On June 16, 2024, the Beth Tefila synagogue in Ontario was attacked. Local police reported that a window was smashed.

In July 2024, Mount Royal Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish, was labeled a neo-Nazi in flyers with a swastika photoshopped into where the Star of David should be on an Israeli flag. The flyers, which were posted in Montreal, also stated that he should "get out of town." Canada's Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism Deborah Lyons wrote on social media that "the sign was not only targeting Housefather but all Jewish Canadians, most of whom identified as Zionists." Lyons has stated that antisemitism in Canada is at a high, could potentially get worse, and needs to be addressed on many levels.

Also in July 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed MP Anthony Housefather as his adviser on Canadian Jewish community and antisemitism.

On August 2, Toronto police were investigating two incidents in which signs were set on fire, one in front of a Jewish day school and one in front of a synagogue.

In August 2024, over 100 Jewish institutions received the same mass bomb threat.

In September 2024, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) formally requested of the Canadian government to adopt four new policies to help ensure the safety of Canadian Jews. In October 2024, CIJA reported that 82% of Canadian Jews feel less safe after October 7.

On Yom Kippur, October 12, the Bais Chaya Mushka girls school in Toronto was hit by gunfire for the second time in a few months; police believe that the incidents are connected.

On October 14, the government of Israel issued a report on Canada being the most antisemitic country in the Western Hemisphere.

On 16 December 2024, the Canadian Jewish News reported on a survey conducted by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario. The survey found that a third of Jewish doctors in Canada were considering leaving the country due to antisemitism.

In its annual report for 2024, B'nai Brith Canada said that "antisemitism reaches record levels", having identified 6,219 hate incidents targeted against Jews during the year, the highest number of such incidents since the organization started their audit in 1982, an increase of 7.9% from the previous year and more than doubling since 2022.

2025

As the Gaza War continued into another year, incidents of antisemitism and efforts to combat it continued in Canada.

In February, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.

On 5 March, Public Safety Canada convened the National Forum on Combatting Antisemitism. The Forum brought together representatives of Canadian governments and law enforcement agencies. The participants endorsed the Statement of Intent on Combatting antisemitism.

On July 15, the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism published a report entitled Antisemitism in Ontario’s K-12 Schools. The report documented 781 incidents reported in Ontario schools between 7 October 2023 and January 2025.

On August 8, a Jewish woman was stabbed as she shopped in the Loblaws at College Square, the only source of fresh kosher meat in Ottawa. A 71 year old man from Cornwall, Ontario was charged with the crime. The man had posted antisemitic comments on line since the beginning of the Gaza war.

2026

In early January, the Winnipeg Police Service opened a hate crime investigation after Congregation Shaarey Zedek was targeted with antisemitic graffiti. Surveillance footage captured a suspect defacing the entrance of the Wellington Crescent building at approximately 4:30 a.m. on January 2, just hours before the start of the Sabbath. The vandalism included swastikas spray-painted on glass door panes and the word "hate" applied to the marble exterior facade. Religious and civic leaders, including Senior Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose and Mayor Scott Gillingham, condemned the act as an attempt to intimidate the community and a violation of Canadian values. Despite the incident, the congregation maintained its scheduled services with increased security, demonstrating a resolve to persevere against rising local antisemitism.

In March, Temple Emanu-El synagogue's (in North York) front windows were damaged by bullet holes following gunfire that took place at night, soon after a Purim celebration held there. No injuries were reported, and the incident was investigated by the hate-crime unit of the Toronto Police.

On three separate instances between May and June, a masked teenager wearing all black left baggies of birdseed containing antisemitic flyers on car windshields and driveways in Orillia, Ontario. On the first reported instance, he was confronted by a man. A sergeant said to OrilliaMatters, "It does not meet the criminal definition of hate speech." On the second distribution, the mayor made a Facebook post on the matter saying, "There is no place for hate." On June 21 a 15-year-old was arrested while distributing the flyers and was charged for all three instances. Someone claiming to be the perpetrator has written an article on a platform run by the Goyim Defense League, documenting the story of his arrest.

In June, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal was vandalized again, and was also targeted in an attempted arson attack. It sustained minor damage, and a suspect was later arrested and charged.

In June, a shooting in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, a place in which many Jews live, resulted in the death of three people: a police officer, a civilian, and the attacker. The incident led to a large police response and a temporary shelter-in-place order in the area, with nearby Jewish schools, synagogues, and community facilities placed under lockdown.

Also in June, the Canadian government’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre said in an intelligence report that authorities had disrupted four “violent extremist attack plots against Jewish targets" inspired by the Islamic State since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023, according to Global News.

In July, two Toronto branches of the Jewish-owned Kiva’s Bagel Bar chain were vandalized in what B’nai Brith Canada said appeared to be part of a “relentless and escalating campaign of antisemitic intimidation that has seen Jewish schools, synagogues, community institutions, businesses and families targeted across Canada.” Gunfire hit one shop, while a window was smashed in another.

In early August, Montreal police were investigating as arson a fire that significantly damaged Nöam, a kosher restaurant. Anthony Housefather, a member of Parliament, was among those who called for the case to be investigated as a hate crime.

In August, the Government of Canada published the Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences (CASE) report, a national survey of Jewish postsecondary students. It found that 95.7% of respondents had experienced or witnessed at least one instance of antisemitism in the previous 12 months, while 68% said their campus was not a safe and inclusive place for Jewish students. The report also found that 81% had often or occasionally encountered hateful or discriminatory treatment of Zionists. In discussing classroom experiences, the report described examples of what it termed “antizionist indoctrination” and included a terminology note defining antizionism as a movement that calls for the erasure of Israel and denies Jewish people the right to self-determination in part of their ancestral homeland.

As worshippers were arriving for Erev Yom Kippur services on September 20, there was an attack on the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario. According to investigators, "the gunman began shooting at an officer who was providing protection to the Jewish place of worship. A second officer joined the shootout. Up to 30 rounds were fired." The gunman was armed with a shotgun. Constable Jeff Smith of the Belleville Police Service sustained serious injuries, while the perpetrator sustained life-threatening injuries, and died in hospital on September 21. The 29-year-old perpetrator had served in the Canadian Armed Forces from 2017-2022, and was discharged due to refusing the COVID-19 vaccine; he expressed conspiracy theories about COVID-19, including "blaming Jews for COVID-19". On September 24, Belleville Police Chief said that the perpetrator had shouted an antisemitic threat, "you're going to die for the Jews", before opening fire, and described the shooting as a targeted attack against the Jewish community. Police said the perpetrator had multiple weapons, a significant amount of ammunition, and gasoline available to him. Less than two weeks after the shooting, antisemitic flyers were found around the synagogue and in surrounding neighborhoods.