Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said on Monday that the country was failing Jewish Canadians and called the situation a “crisis of antisemitism.”
Antisemitism in Canada has surged to levels not seen since World War II, Mr. Carney said in a speech at a Toronto temple. He announced a new ministerial advisory council to combat hate, which will examine how the government should address antisemitism.
“Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,” Mr. Carney said. “It’s severe and it demands a targeted response and that is what our government is fully committed to.”
Here’s some of the context that informed his speech:
Studies point to a rise in antisemitic incidents in Canada.
Mr. Carney’s speech at Holy Blossom Temple follows months of calls by Jewish organizations for the government to acknowledge and tackle what they have described as a crisis of antisemitism. A Senate inquiry report released this year found that antisemitism had risen sharply in Canada in recent years.
More than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes in Canada last year were directed at Jewish Canadians, who make up 1 percent of the population, Mr. Carney said on Monday.
Simon Wolle, the chief executive of B’nai Brith of Canada Foundation, a human rights advocacy group, said in a statement last month that such “brazen attacks on Jewish Canadians are a sign of a crisis of antisemitism that has spiraled out of control.” The violence has escalated from targeting synagogues to targeting Jewish people directly, he said.
Calls for action grew louder after gunfire damaged three synagogues in Toronto and the nearby city of Vaughan in March. Two people have been charged in connection with two of the shootings, the Toronto Police Service said last week.
“Multiple shootings targeting synagogues represent a dangerous escalation,” the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group representing Jewish federations across Canada, said last month.
What have Jewish groups and political leaders said about this?
Jewish organizations, opposition politicians and Israeli officials are among those weighing in on antisemitism in Canada or calling for stronger action from Mr. Carney’s government.
During a phone call between Mr. Carney and President Isaac Herzog of Israel last week, Mr. Herzog “expressed his deep alarm at the mounting levels of antisemitic violence in Canada, including repeated attacks on synagogues, schools, and Jewish-owned businesses,” his office said in a statement. (Mr. Carney’s office said that the two leaders had discussed “the devastating resurgence of antisemitism around the world.”)
Ahead of Mr. Carney’s speech on Monday, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s conservative opposition, said that the prime minister should offer “a big apology” to Jewish Canadians for what Mr. Poilievre described as “the violence, the terror and the fear that his party and his government have allowed to happen over the last decade.” Mr. Carney was elected leader of the Liberal Party and replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister in March of 2025.
Mr. Poilievre also called for stricter border controls and tougher penalties for crimes targeting Jewish Canadians.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs said ahead of the speech that the government had already taken important steps to strengthen community security and combat hate, but argued more needed to be done. It urged officials to address what it described as “the drivers of this crisis, including radicalization, promotion of terrorism, and terrorist entities operating here in Canada.”
What has Canada done to address antisemitism?
The advisory council Mr. Carney announced on Monday marks the latest push by Canadian officials to address rising hate crime since October 2023, when a Hamas-led attack on Israel prompted the Israeli military to launch the war in Gaza.
In December 2024, after gunshots struck a Jewish elementary school in Toronto overnight — the third time in seven months that the school had been targeted — officials announced that they would convene Canadian law enforcement agencies to discuss antisemitic crimes.
In September that year, Canada said it would spend about 274 million Canadian dollars, about $191 million, over six years to combat hate. The money included funds to help police departments and community groups gather data on bias incidents.
Earlier this year, the government introduced legislation to combat hate, which it said would directly address the rise in antisemitism, hate-motivated violence and the targeting of communities. The bill would create new offenses for intimidation and obstruction at places of worship, schools, community centers and other institutions.
Critics have argued that the legislation’s broad language could threaten civil liberties.
