According to the latest release of police-reported hate crimes in 2022, Jews in Canada remain the most targeted religious group for hate crimes.
According to the latest release by the Statistics Canada of police-reported hate crime data for 2022, despite the overall decrease in religiously motivated hate crimes, antisemitic attacks increased, as Jews remained the primarily targeted religious group for hate crimes, reports The Jerusalem Post.
While the Jewish community comprise only 1% of the Canadian population, they account for a staggering 67% of all religiously motivated hate crimes. The report revealed that Black and Jewish people were the most frequently targeted by hate crimes, representing 23% and 14% of all reported incidents, respectively. Both communities experienced disproportionate increases compared to other groups based on race, ethnicity, or religion.
With the rise of antisemitic hate crimes, the Jewish community faced 502 reported hate crime incidents out of 750 religiously motivated hate crimes and a total of 3,576 reported incidents, meaning that more than one hate incident targeted Canada’s Jewish community every day. In addition, there has been an alarming 52% increase in antisemitic hate crimes since 2020.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, President and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), emphasises the urgency of proactive measures to combat the rising hate. CIJA has taken significant steps in this regard, becoming a founding member of J7, The Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism, and co-creating the Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It conference, scheduled to take place in Ottawa this fall, with the aim of uniting, empowering, and educating the Jewish community, community allies, elected officials, and ethnic and faith partners on how to take collective and individual action against antisemitism.
Fogel stressed that combating antisemitism is not solely the responsibility of Canadian Jews but of all Canadians.
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