Canada launches forum for combating antisemitism following synagogue, school attacks
Many feel Ottawa has not done enough to stem the rising tide of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel activities

Following a series of high-profile attacks on Jewish institutions in Canada last week, the Canadian government said Friday it would create a National Forum on Combating Antisemitism, which will meet in Ottawa in February in response to “a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents, threats, and hate crimes.”
The announcement follows the firebombing of a synagogue in Montreal last Wednesday and a shooting at a Jewish elementary school in Toronto on Friday. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the incidents and others preceding them, many members of Canada’s 350,000-strong Jewish community feel that the government has not done enough to stem the rising tide of hatred.
Antisemitism has surged in Canada since Hamas launched the war with Israel on October 7, 2023, when it massacred some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251. Attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in Canada have grown by 670 percent in the year since the attack, according to data from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. Jews were on the receiving end of 70% of religious hate crimes in the country, despite comprising only 1.4% of Canada’s population, the report noted.
The new forum will bring together federal, provincial, and municipal leadership, along with law enforcement and prosecutors, to discuss the growing public safety threat of antisemitism, the Canadian government said.
“Canada recognizes the urgent need for national leadership to ensure Jewish Canadians feel safe in their synagogues, schools, and communities,” the government said in a statement. “The Forum will identify opportunities for immediate and longer-term action, and strengthen ongoing initiatives.”
Responding to the announcement, the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) called the forum an “opportunity to drive urgently needed change,” but said that its value would only be determined by concrete results that come from it.

“The safety of our community is under attack—and so too are the values and way of life that define us as Canadians,” said Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice president, External Affairs and General Counsel.
“In a matter of months, Canada has become a country in which masked thugs take over our streets to burn Canadian flags, salute Hitler, celebrate terrorists, and call for violence,” Marceau said. “The result? Hate crimes against Jewish Canadians have skyrocketed. Jewish schools and synagogues have been targeted for gunfire. And multiple Canadians have been arrested for plotting mass murders against Jews.”
Marceau called on the Canadian government to provide more resources and training to police and to enforce laws so that perpetrators of hate crimes are fully prosecuted. Additionally, “the glorification of terrorism must finally be made a criminal offense in this country,” he said.
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, noted that the forum was a long time in coming.
“We need to see more attention/action at the local level,” she wrote on X. “Antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue. We look forward to leaders from all parties attending.”