Canada’s Jews experiencing ‘most violent year in recent memory’, B’nai Brith Canada warns

Less than five months into 2026, Canada’s Jewish community has experienced more violent antisemitic attacks than all of last year, putting it on track to be the most violent year for the Jewish community in recent memory, B’nai Brith Canada warns.

According to the organization’s League for Human Rights, 11 violent antisemitic incidents have been recorded nationwide since January 1, surpassing the 10 violent incidents documented during all of 2025.

On Thursday night, three Jewish people were reportedly shot at with a replica firearm from a vehicle as they exited the Chasidei Bobov synagogue on Bathurst Street in Toronto. That followed numerous other synagogue attacks recorded in recent months.

“These brazen attacks on Jewish Canadians are a sign of a crisis of antisemitism that has spiraled out of control,” says Simon Wolle, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “Violence such as this, which has escalated from targeting synagogues to targeting Jewish people directly, … happens when governments fail to act despite mounting evidence that antisemitism is becoming more normalized and dangerous.”

B’nai Brith took the unusual step of releasing preliminary 2026 figures because of the rapid increase in violent incidents, says Richard Robertson, the organization’s director of research and advocacy. He calls on the federal government to establish an emergency task force to combat antisemitism, warning that “Jewish Canadians are being terrorized.”

Last year, Canada recorded a record 6,800 antisemitic incidents, B’nai Brith Canada says.