B’nai Brith Canada announced on Monday that its latest data found that antisemitic incidents against Canadian Jews continue to occur at an “unacceptably high” rate, describing the trend as “shameful.”
The advocacy organization’s newly released Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, which it unveiled at the Ottawa press conference, found that there was a slight decrease in anti-Jewish hate in Canada, amounting to a 1.1 percent decline.
They noted that the total for 2022 was still the second highest since they began tracking antisemitic incidents in Canada 41 years ago.
“In 2012, the Jewish community sounded the alarm when our Audit documented 1,345 antisemitic incidents, the highest since we first began auditing in 1982,” B’nai Brith said in a statement. “A decade later, in 2022, the number was an alarming 105.9 percent higher than that reported in 2012.”
They added that only in 2021 did the Audit record more antisemitic incidents in Canada, for a total of 2,799 incidents compared with 2,769 incidents in 2022.
“We are alarmed and disturbed by the figures in this Audit,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said. “Although there was an almost insignificant decrease from last year, antisemitic incidents continue to occur at an unacceptable and dangerous pace. Frankly, the amount of hate directed at Jewish Canadians is shameful.”
According to B’nai Brith, its Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, compiled annually by B’nai Brith Canada’s advocacy arm, the League for Human Rights, tracks and monitors trends in antisemitic hatred and is the “authoritative document on the state of anti-Jewish bigotry in Canada.” The report is regularly cited by media, law enforcement agencies, government bodies and human rights agencies worldwide.
“B’nai Brith Canada vehemently opposes all forms of hate, racism and bigotry, but painfully recognizes that the elevated level of hate against Jews in this country remains constant.”
Marvin Rotrand, National Director of the League, said he was “deeply concerned” about online antisemitism.
“The nature of antisemitism has changed,” Rotrand said. “Social media is the largest medium for antisemitic narratives, giving purveyors of hate a global audience and limitless reach. Canada’s laws have failed to keep pace with the explosion of antisemitism online. We need changes in the law to blunt this threat.”
The 2022 Audit found that out of a total of 2,769 antisemitic incidents, nearly eight antisemitic incidents occured daily; more than 74 percent of the incidents occurred online; 404 were acts of antisemitic vandalism, up from 264 incidents in 2021; and there was a spike of 64.8 percent in antisemitic incidents in Ontario compared with 2021, the only province to experience an increase in antisemitism in 2022.