Establish safe access legislation to protect the Jewish community

Since the October 7 terrorist attacks on the State of Israel, Jewish communities throughout Canada have been witnessing disturbing protests targeting places of worship and community institutions that serve children, seniors, and vulnerable members of society.  

As an example, several demonstrations filled with hateful chants, signs, and antisemitic rhetoric recently targeted two synagogues in Thornhill, impacting adjacent social service facilities supporting developmentally disabled individuals and a nearby religious daycare centre.  

These threats and demonstrations have left the community fearful of attending places of worship, schools, and community centres. To be clear, this is not solely a Jewish issue. All vulnerable groups have a right to feel – and be – safe in their community spaces.  

In the past, provincial and municipal governments have extended physical protections to institutions serving ethnocultural, racialized, gender and sexually diverse, and religious communities to ensure that the right to protest is not weaponized into a tool of intimidation and to spread hate.  

The Government of Canada has the opportunity to make similar changes to the Criminal Code to ensure similar spaces are protected from harassment and intimidation, and provincial and municipal governments have the opportunity to protect vulnerable communities and reduce the risk of violence and harassment in their communities. 

Recommendation:

• That the Government of Canada should introduce safe access (bubble) legislation to protect ethnocultural, racialized, gender and sexually diverse, and religious communities’ institutions (including places of worship, community centers, social service providers, and schools) from dangerous protests by establishing safe access zones.  
• This can be achieved by amending the Criminal Code to include protections for institutions that are of importance to ethnocultural, racialized, gender and sexually diverse, and religious communities, or by introducing standalone legislation.   
• That provinces and municipalities implement safe access legislation to protect communities through the legislative means available to them. This can be done through similar means to safe access legislation passed during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect medical staff and patients.