Countering Hate
Hatred is on the rise in Canada, and antisemitism is no exception to this trend. According to Statistics Canada data, from 2022 to 2023, police-reported hate crimes targeting Jewish Canadians increased by 71%. The Jewish community is the most frequently targeted group when it comes to hate crimes in Canada, representing 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes and 19% of all hate crime, although comprising only about 1% of Canada’s total population. University campuses are not immune to these alarming trends, and we have observed a significant rise in discrimination against the Jewish campus community over the past two years. The targeted attacks committed against Jews in recent months and the ongoing concerns over bias against Muslim, Black, Indigenous, and other diverse communities represent a serious challenge requiring a meaningful response from all Canadian institutions.
The Surge of Hate Crimes Targeting Jews
Police-reported hate crime data for 2023 published in July 2024 by Statistics Canada validate the concern about which the Jewish community has been warning: antisemitism has risen to levels unseen in modern times. The most frequently reported hate crimes in 2023 were directed toward Jewish, 2SLGBTQIA+, and Black populations, accounting respectively for 19, 18, and 16 percent of the total number of hate crimes, with the Jewish community taking the top spot for the first time. Members of the Jewish community were targeted in 900 instances of police-reported hate crimes last year – representing a 71 percent increase from the year prior. Despite representing just one percent of the Canadian population, Jews were the victim in 70 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes.
Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2023
Recommendation:
Demystify Antisemitism
Understanding the difference between acceptable, critical discourse and antisemitism can be challenging. CIJA is calling on universities to improve their understanding of all manifestations of antisemitism through training and resources from mainstream Jewish community resources. This training includes gaining insights from the world’s most accepted definition of antisemitism, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which the Government of Canada and most provinces have adopted as part of their anti-racism strategies. The non-legally binding IHRA definition has been increasingly cited as a key resource in identifying antisemitism by such authorities as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and it should be used by equity and diversity offices, student representative bodies, and administrations as a framework tool to assess incidents and complaints and determine if an antisemitic incident has indeed taken place.
Recommendation:
Safety & Well-being in Challenging Times
University campuses are well-known for becoming the epicentres for protests and other disruptive behaviours impacting all students, often violating rules, policies, and university codes of conduct. Universities must create and maintain a physically safe and secure campus for their students, faculty, and staff. We urge universities to ensure campus law enforcement is properly trained to recognize and address conduct that violates campus rules and policies or constitutes harassment. We want both administrations and campus law enforcement to ensure that time, place, and manner policies are in effect to govern all campus protest activity; that there is regular and consistent communication with Jewish communal institutions on campus about security needs; and, when necessary, that there is regular communication with local law enforcement and that emergency plans are reviewed and understood. Furthermore, the power imbalance between faculty and students can make students vulnerable to coercion and political indoctrination. Universities must protect students from the interference caused by such “abuses of podium,” which hinder learning.
Recommendation:
Denounce Hateful Marginalization
Universities must reaffirm their opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to sever ties to the land of Israel by boycotting Israeli universities, study abroad programs, and research collaborations. Institution leadership should state their commitment to the free exchange of ideas and access to academic opportunities while clearly identifying BDS as antithetical to campus values. There are well-established links between BDS advocacy and rising antisemitism on university campuses across the world, including in Canada. The Canadian government has stated that the goals of BDS contravene Canadian values and would be considered antisemitic under the adopted definition of hatred of Jews. Therefore, allowing BDS initiatives to propagate within Canadian academic institutions will likely incite hatred, engender division, and lead to an increase in antisemitic actions against Jewish or pro-Israeli campus community members.