Canada is no longer the safe haven it promised to Jews - opinion

We were never supposed to be affected by war.

Every year, Canada attracts thousands of families with the unspoken promise: “Your kids will be safe here.” Canada is commonly viewed as a tolerant, detached country, a place where the conflicts and politics of the broader world are discussed over coffee or in classrooms, but not acted upon – a place where the struggles beyond its borders are of little consequence in daily life.

Canada is a country where people come together, where we are Canadian first and everything else second. As the housing and diversity and inclusion minister Kamal Khera said in a 2023 statement, “Canada is the proud home to many diverse cultures, ethnicities, and communities, where people from around the world have come together to build a vibrant and peaceful society,” and that Canada attempts to “fight against racism and discrimination.”

But this ideal has never quite crossed into reality. 

As much as we lean towards this view of Canada, and as much as newcomers immigrate here under this impression, Canada is flawed. Hatred brews beneath the surface, preserving an appearance of tolerance while feeding the country’s need for an enemy: an “other.”

Twenty-five years ago, my parents immigrated to Canada from Israel. Throughout our childhood, my sister and I would ask them why they moved when they spoke of their homeland with such love and longing. When we grew older and became familiar with Israel ourselves, we asked them again why they moved, why they left such a beautiful, lively country for clinical Canada. Each time we asked, our parents gave us the same answer: Life is easier here and we wanted you girls to be safe.

MY PARENTS and their siblings were all conscripted at 18 years old. They were proud to serve their country and do their part in protecting it, but they were under no delusions about the effect of such service. Beyond rampant PTSD and life-altering injuries, every day spent in service is a day that parents live in heightened fear, knowing that at any moment they could get a life-shattering phone call. Growing up in Israel, my parents saw this happen to people. They knew the stories and the names.

It wasn’t something my parents were willing to experience. So, they gave up the home they’d grown up in, the home my mother has never really left in her heart, and came to Canada to start anew. Canada was a safe place to have children. Canada was a safe place to be Jewish.

Until it wasn’t.

Over these past few years, antisemitism has been on the rise in Canada. An audit conducted by B’nai Brith Canada, the country’s oldest human rights organization, shows that antisemitism increased 109.1% between 2022 and 2023. The new number of antisemitic incidents equates to 16 per day. 

Jewish people are some of the most likely to be victims of hate crimes. 

Jewish schools are shot up, people are attacked on the street or in their homes, property is defaced or destroyed, and yet Canada is a safe, tolerant place.

Oct. 7 exacerbated hatred of Jews in Canada

Since October 7, this hatred – mostly perpetrated by Canadian youth – has come fully to the surface. There are only half-hearted attempts to hide it.

Anti-Israel protests are cropping up across the country, increasing in intensity and fervor. Most of these protests are cesspools of hatred, targeted at the Jewish people. There are valid critiques to be made about the State of Israel, but these protests do not concern themselves with those. These protests fail to do anything more than intimidate Canadian Jews and target innocent people. And that is their silent aim: Intimidate Canadian Jews. They dress it up, saying it is the “Zionists” they hate and Zionists they wish to attack, verbally and/or physically. But most Zionists are Jews and vice-versa, hinting at the true problem here. By targeting Zionists, these hate-spewing “protesters” are targeting the majority of Jews, a fact they are well aware of. As a result, generalizations are often made about the political opinions of a Jew and all are targeted.

IF YOU happen to be a Jew who has, absurdly enough, declared yourself an “anti-Zionist,” you are responsible for informing people about this opinion in order to be “excused” of your Judaism. If instead, you believe in Jewish self-governance and the right of the State of Israel to exist, you are the enemy and will be treated as such.

Jews are not given the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances. We are assumed guilty until proven innocent – and all of us are targeted. Due to this, openly Jewish students walking through their university campus fear becoming the target of a rowdy protest taking place, their Judaism enough to incriminate them. No matter what these protesters say, it is not Zionists being targeted, it is Jewish people. 

Jews are no longer granted the right to political privacy but instead must either “prove themselves” or suffer. This has led to a fear of being openly Jewish that was unknown to recent generations. You never know when a regular conversation will devolve into a nasty exchange when you casually mention your Judaism.

This is not the life my parents envisioned for my sister and I. This is not the Canada we were promised, nor the Canada that continues to be promised to others. The hatred is here, and we cannot pretend otherwise. Today, it is Jews or, as they say, “Zionists,” but tomorrow it may be someone else. 

The writer, born in Vancouver, British Columbia to Israeli parents, is a graduate of Gray Academy of Jewish Education in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is a current StandWithUs Canada Kenneth Leventhal High School intern.