Crimes Against Jewish Community Rose 71 Percent in 2023: StatCan

Canadian and Israeli flags fly in Ottawa on Oct. 11, 2023. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Canada’s Jewish community was the primary target of police-reported hate crimes in 2023, despite comprising less than one percent of the country’s population.

Anti-Semitic incidents rose 71 percent between 2022 and 2023 for a total of 900 reported crimes last year, according to Statistics Canada figures. Jewish-related hate crimes have risen steadily over the past four years with 331 incidents in 2020, 492 in 2021, and 527 in 2022.

The rise in anti-Semitic crimes was part of an upward national trend, according to a recent report published by Statistics Canada.

Police recorded a 32 percent surge in hate crimes from 3,612 incidents in 2022 to 4,777 in 2023, the report said, noting that the numbers represent only reported crimes and do not take into account victims who choose not to call police.

The spike in hate crimes last year followed an 8 percent increase in 2022, and a 72 percent escalation between 2019 and 2021. Overall, the number of police-reported hate crimes has more than doubled since 2019, climbing 145 percent in just five years.

While StatCan identified Jews as the leading target of hate crimes with 900 incidents in 2023, incidents reported by Muslim Canadians were also up substantially at 94 percent, representing 211 reports.

Canada’s Jewish population is approximately 335,000 people, while Muslim Canadians number nearly 1.8 million, accounting for one in 20 people in the country.

Reports linked to religion rose 67 percent overall, nearly matching the 69 percent of cases linked to sexual orientation. LGBT-related cases jumped from 509 in 2022 to 860 last year.

Cases related to race rose 6 percent overall with Arab Canadian reports rising 52 percent last year for a total of 262 cases. Hate crimes against blacks fell from 842 in 2022 to 784 last year while cases against indigenous people rose 6 percent for a total of 70 cases.

Jewish Hate Crimes

Hate crimes against Jews have risen substantially since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, causing war to break out in Gaza.

The rise also comes despite the federal government’s pledge of support for the Jewish community.

“All Canadians stand with you in your grief,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a speech made just a week after the terrorist attack. “We will protect your rights and freedoms and security here in Canada so you can continue to live publicly and proudly Jewish lives.”

A little less than a month later, the prime minister again spoke out, saying the rise in hate connected to the Israel-Hamas conflict had Canadians “scared in our own streets.”

“We’re seeing right now a rise in anti-semitism that is terrifying,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters during a Nov. 8 press conference. “Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues, horrific threats of violence, targeting Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish daycares with hate: this needs to stop.”

The rise in anti-Semitic incidents spurred a government committee to ask cabinet last December to establish a federal task force to protect religious freedoms so Canadians can worship and attend religious institutions without fear.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish, said local police “often do not know how to deal properly” with incidents like anti-Semitic street protests.

“I understand how communities throughout this country are terrorized, are afraid,” he said during the December meeting. “I have people in my riding who are afraid to send their kids to school.”

Anti-Semitic incidents continued have continued into 2024, prompting a number of politicians to speak out, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

He condemned shootings targeting Jewish schools, referencing the shots that were fired after hours at a Jewish girls school in Toronto May 25.

“What lunatic goes around shooting up schools? That is just unacceptable,” the premier said at a May 30 press conference. “These guys need to be caught, they need to be punished. They need to be thrown in jail. We have zero tolerance for this anywhere in Ontario.”

Montreal has also been hit with multiple shootings at Jewish schools since last October.

The Belz school at the Young Israel of Montreal synagogue was targetted May 29. Bullets were also fired at the doors of the Yeshiva Gedola school and the nearby United Talmud Torahs of Montreal on Nov. 9 and Yeshiva Gedola was hit again on Nov. 12. The schools have all been empty at the time of the shootings.