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Gerry Weinstein |
Frank Dimant |
Allan Adel |
Ruth Klein |
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Gerry Weinstein |
Frank Dimant |
Allan Adel |
Ruth Klein |
2. Classification by Type of Incidents
i. Jewish Community and Private Property
ii. Workplace
iii. Educational Settings
iv. Web-Based Hate
v. Holocaust Denial
vi. Neo-Nazi/White Supremacist Activity
vii. Perpetratorsiii. Manitoba
iv. Saskatchewan
v. Alberta
vi. British Columbia
In 2006, 935 incidents were reported to the League for Human Rights, constituting an overall increase of 12.8% from the previous year. This figure sets a new all-time high for Canada. A five-year view shows that the number of incidents has more than doubled since the 459 incidents reported in the 2002 Audit. With the exception of a small hiatus in 2005, when a slight 3.3% decrease was reported, there has been a relentless upward movement over the past 10 years. A 10-year view shows that incidents have jumped more than four-fold since 1997 when there were 212 cases. Twenty-five years ago when the League released its first Audit, the number of reported incidents was only 63.
Incidents took place across the country in both rural and urban areas, including incidents via face-to-face encounters, premeditated activities under the cover of night, and threats by mail, telephone and the Internet.
The range of sectors where these incidents took place expanded in 2006 to include new venues such as fitness clubs, doctor's offices and other relatively benign places where one might not expect antisemitism to rear its ugly head. The fact that its long tentacles are reaching into so many sectors should be a cause for concern for all Canadians.
According to the most recent available statistical information, the Jewish community in Canada makes up barely 1% of the total Canadian population.
Despite such a small demographic profile, police hate crimes reports continue to show that Jews are amongst the most targeted groups in Canada and, at times, the most targeted group.
While few police forces in Canada are currently ready to release their hate crime reports for 2006, the following examples are particularly revealing. Peel Region, part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is an area with a small number of Jews (2,635 according to the 2001 census) and a relatively large Muslim population (53,470 according to the same source). Police records for the region indicate that Jews were targeted in 29% of all cases reported in 2006, followed by Blacks in 27% of cases. Despite popular perceptions that Muslims are usually the most victimized community, in fact this group was victimized in just 8% of the cases in Peel Region. Such findings are similar to those in the 2005 Hate Crime Bias Report from the Toronto Police Services, the latest published to date, in which it was documented that 33 out of 39 cases involving religion were against members of the Jewish population. This report also noted that Blacks and Jews are the most likely targets in multi-bias incidents. The disproportionate targeting of the Jewish community beyond other ethnic and religious groups mirrors studies conducted elsewhere. In the United States, for example, the FBI Hate Crime Statistics Report for 2005 released last year indicates that 848 of the 1,227 recorded cases with a single religious bias, or 69%, were against members of the Jewish population. In comparison the number of hate crimes targeting the Muslim community reached 128 cases.
intitulé Hate Crime Statistics Report, publié l’an dernier, indiquent que 848 des 1 227 cas signalés comme ayant pour motivation un seul préjugé religieux, ou 69 %, avaient comme cible des membres de la population juive. En comparaison, le nombre de crimes haineux visant la communauté musulmane s’est chiffré à 128.
Incidents in Canada in 2005 – Breakdown by Categories |
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Province/Region |
% of Total Incidents |
Total Incidents |
Harassment |
Vandalism |
Violence |
Atlantic |
2.1% |
20 |
18 |
2 |
0 |
All of Quebec |
24.2% |
226 |
147 |
69 |
10 |
All of Ontario |
60.9% |
569 |
355 |
195 |
19 |
Winnipeg |
2.7% |
25 |
13 |
12 |
0 |
Saskatchewan |
0.7% |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
Alberta |
4.8% |
45 |
24 |
21 |
0 |
British Columbia |
4.6% |
43 |
24 |
18 |
1 |
North Region |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total for Canada |
100% |
588 |
317 |
30 |
|
The 935 incidents reported across Canada may be classified as follows: 588 cases (62.9%) of harassment were recorded compared to 531 in 2005; 317 cases (33.9%) involved vandalism compared to 273 cases in 2005; and 30 cases (3.2%) involved violence compared to 25 cases in 2005. The 20% increase in the number of cases in the category of violence is particularly alarming. Ottawa and Vancouver both recorded incidents in this category where no cases were recorded in 2005. The number of cases in the Toronto region remained at 16, whereas the incidents of violence in the Montreal region jumped from six cases in 2005 to 10 in 2006. The figures suggest that harassment was the method of choice in 2006, representing the largest number of cases across Canada. This category increased by 10.7% over 2005. In these cases, the language used continued to be graphic, ugly and disturbing. Within this category, the number of outright threats directed against individuals or Jewish sites increased from the 72 cases in 2005 to 82 cases in 2006, an increase of 13.8%. These included bomb threats and threats of physical assault against individuals. |
 |
There were 42 reported incidents of attacks on synagogues in 2006 compared to 35 during the previous year. Targeted houses of worship included synagogues in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Toronto. Particularly disturbing to the Jewish community was the repeat vandalism against a small synagogue in the town of Belleville, Ontario, and the graffiti that defaced the same Edmonton synagogue that had previously been vandalized in 2005 and firebombed in 2000. As well, there were 27 incidents targeting Jewish communal buildings, such as charitable organizations and community centres, representing a 42% increase from the 19 recorded in 2005.
These findings demonstrate conclusively that security remains a central preoccupation for all Jewish communities, whether in concentrated centres of Jewish population, or in smaller communities. Given the need for special security measures to protect Jewish houses of worship, schools and other community institutions, as well as the significant financial burden this represents, the League continues to remind all levels of government that living and worshipping in security is a basic human right that merits government funding and support.
There was just one case involving a cemetery desecration in 2006, this time in Ottawa, down from two recorded cases in 2005. Following the 10 desecration cases in 2004, including a rash of incidents over the course of one night in Toronto, the public revulsion which followed might explain to some extent the decrease in this type of public hate-motivated activity.
In 2006, the number of private homes targeted by vandalism increased to 118 in 2006 from 113 in 2005. This represents a steady climb from the 95 cases in 2003. When Jews are targeted in their own homes, it increases the community's sense of vulnerability. The fact that the perpetrator has gone to the trouble of identifying which homes are Jewish implies a level of premeditation and invasiveness that evokes some of the most lasting victim trauma.
There were 49 cases directly related to the victim's workplace, a small increase over the 46 noted in 2005, thus sustaining the trend towards increased discrimination at work noted in last year's Audit. The vast majority of cases involved incidents of ongoing harassment on the job by fellow employees and supervisors. Systemic issues continued to arise most often where employers refused to accommodate requests by employees for time off for religious days, incidents that were often the catalyst for subsequent harassment.
Incidents arose in private businesses, as well as in government settings where seven of these 49 cases took place. The sustained levels of discrimination in the workplace noted in this year's Audit reflects public employee surveys carried out by the federal government over 2005 and released in June, 2006. The surveys were conducted throughout the public service. Overall, 11% of public service employees reported that they had experienced discrimination at least once, while 6% reported that they had experienced such treatment more than twice. Religion accounted for 5% of the discrimination complaints, while ethnic origin featured in 23% of such cases. Most disconcerting was the fact that 18% indicated to varying degrees that they were not satisfied with the way the workplace unit responded to their complaints.
There were 54 incidents in school settings, an increase of 12.5% over the previous year. Of these, 48 occurred in the public system and six in private schools. With regards to the public school system, the argument is often voiced that this is the prime venue where students of different religions and ethnicities will automatically learn to respect and tolerate each other's differences. The statistics, however, tell a different story.
The six private school incidents involved Jewish day schools, notably the firebombing of an Orthodox school in Montreal. This renewed fears of a community still dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 firebombing of the United Talmud Torah, yet another Orthodox school.
As well, a more subtle although still insidious form of discrimination continues to unfold in the classroom, where professors and classmates dismiss the experience of antisemitism and consider it immaterial to discussions on racism; one student was simply told not to write an essay on the subject since it would be "irrelevant". Many students report that they feel silenced through fear of ridicule or intimidation; some even resort to hiding their religion. They are hesitant about reporting these incidents due to concerns that their academic standing might be compromised. Students also report a reluctance to seek 'religious accommodation' for fear of being singled out. Corroborating their sentiments, the issue of re-scheduling examinations on account of Jewish religious holidays has once again become a problem on campus.
The League's Anti-Hate Hotline received 253 reports of web-based hate activity with a Canadian connection in terms of content, perpetrators and/or victims. This is a significant increase of 54% from the 164 cases recorded in 2005. The dramatic nature of the increase seems almost exponential compared to the 47 cases reported in 2004 and the 32 cases registered in 2003. Cognizant that this number is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of the proliferation of hate propaganda online, the League, together with B'nai Brith's Institute for International Affairs' convened a major symposium to explore this topic in 2006. A website was launched following the conference to bring together information and facilitate cross-sector and cross-border collaboration in this area: www.hateontheinternet.ca.
Among the 253 incidents, 124 cases involved targeted hate through direct e-mail messaging, a gross invasion of privacy in which the perpetrator managed to obtain the victim's personal e-mail address. Internet sites, whether neo-Nazi or Islamist, continued to feature antisemitic material throughout 2006, though there was limited success in shutting down some of these sites at least temporarily.
As reflected in the 2006 Audit, teenagers are increasingly being attracted to online hate. A new trend is emerging involving the use of blogs and Internet social networking communities, such as MySpace and Facebook to disseminate hate material. The web is used to publicize hate rock festivals, such as the one that was reported in the Toronto region for example, while web forums espousing white supremacist views announced group meetings in Calgary and Montreal.
The number of cases of Holocaust denial rose from 39 in 2005 to 61 in 2006, an increase of 56%. In comparison with 2004, when just 15 such incidents were reported, this increase is cause for grave concern. The persistence of Holocaust denial both on and off the web, has been sustained by ongoing neo-Nazi activity both in Canada and abroad, as well as international events such as the now infamous Holocaust denial 'conference' officiated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a head of state who has publicly and repeatedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map". Neo-Nazi groups and the anti-Israel propagandists of the Middle East have found common cause and cooperate in such endeavours united solely by their implacable hatred of the Jewish people, as seen in Ahmadinejad's 'conference.'
Swastikas and Nazi-related symbols featured prominently in 188 of the vandalism incidents recorded in 2006, a 17.5% increase from the 160 cases in 2005. This increased frequency from coast to coast, as reported in this year's Audit, is just one indication that neo-Nazi and white supremacist activity intensified throughout 2006. It is suggestive of a pattern of gang-related 'taggings' where rival groups mark their respective territories and is in line with the reported increase of gang activity in general.
During 2006, Ernst Zundel remained in jail in Germany awaiting the verdict on his hate crime/Holocaust denial charges. A conviction and the maximum five-year sentence followed in early 2007. During this time-frame, his supporters made their presence known in Canada, largely through relentless pro-Zundel propaganda campaigns.
In addition, there have been reports of the presence of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) sympathizers in Canada, an infamous racist group that has seen some resurgence in the United States over the course of 2006. Reports have indicated that the KKK was present at Caledonia, Ontario where a dispute over Aboriginal lands is ongoing. KKK symbols showed up prominently in graffiti cases in Canada during 2006.
The ethnic origin of the perpetrators of reported incidents was analyzed where relevant information was available. This was the case in face-to-face encounters, for example, where there was self-identification by the perpetrator. Given the anonymity sought by those carrying out hate-motivated activities, identifying the perpetrator is often impossible.
An entry was noted in this category only where the facts were clear. In 2006, as in previous years, the single most documented group carrying out the reported antisemitic incidents was those who identified themselves as of Arab origin. The 68 such cases in 2006 represents a 21.4% increase over the
56 incidents in 2005. Other ethnic groups who self-identified in the year's total incidents were Hungarian (10), Russian (5), German (3), Aboriginal (3), Pakistani (2), Chinese (2) and Ukrainian (1).
January
Toronto, ON During "Israel Apartheid Week" on campus, an invited speaker alleges that Jews are killers who use their wealth to control the world.
Charlottetown, PEI - A Jewish student is taunted at school and referred to as a "dirty Jew".
Toronto, ON - Two boys parade through the Jewish community waving a vintage Nazi flag from their car.
Vancouver, BC - The campaign manager of a losing candidate blames the 'Jewish-owned media' for his defeat.
Toronto, ON - A social worker gives a Heil Hitler salute and complains to a
colleague: "All Jews must die".Montreal, QC - Several Arabic-speaking men use rocks and bricks in an attempt to force entry into a kosher restaurant via the window. They then throw a lit firecracker inside.
Toronto, ON - A community college teacher tells her students that the media is under the control of the Jews and that "the media make things up like the Holocaust".
February
St John, NB - The words "die Jewish scums" [sic] are found on a soccer message board.
Halifax, NS - Israeli Ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, is heckled with antisemetic remarks while visiting Dalhousie University.Toronto, ON - A school principal singles out and harasses the two Jewish teachers who work at his school.
Montreal, QC - A crowd of Arabic-speaking teenagers swarms two women, calls them "dirty Jews", and assaults their male friends outside a restaurant.
Ottawa, ON - Antisemitic insinuations are made repeatedly during a meeting sponsored by the federal government and attended by Canadian NGOs.
Richmond Hill, ON - A child is bullied at school and taunted about his Jewishness.
Montreal QC - A synagogue is vandalized on three separate occasions.
March
Montreal, QC - The owner of a kosher restaurant is threatened by a caller who warns: "You f**king Jew, we got you once, we'll get you again and this time we'll kill you."
Toronto, ON - A swastika and the message "gas the Jews" is etched inside a downtown facility.
Montreal, QC - Swastikas and the SS insignia are spray-painted on the wall of a synagogue.
Toronto, ON - The Holocaust memorial site at Earl Bales Park is vandalized and defaced with graffiti twice over a three-day period.
Regina, SK - Jewish residents are sent pamphlets telling them they will rot in hell if they do not convert to Christianity.Toronto, ON - The entrance of an apartment is vandalized and painted with swastikas and slogans including "Die Jewz", [sic] "bitch", and "cunt".
April
Montreal, QC - Five teenagers throw rocks at a visibly Jewish man and shout "go back to your country" and "Allahu akbar".
Ottawa, ON - A house with a visible mezuzah is vandalized twice.
Toronto, ON - A supporter of white supremacist Tomasz Winnicki addresses a message to B'nai Brith: "Why don't you dumb-f**k kikes leave this guy alone? Besides you hook-nosers aren't even real Jews. You're just a bunch of Khazars".
Calgary, AB - Swastikas are etched onto two portable classrooms at an Orthodox Jewish day school.
May
Montreal, QC - Two Arabic-speaking men throw rocks at a visibly Orthodox Jewish woman as she sits in her parked car with her infant daughter.
Ottawa, ON - A prison guard taunts an inmate, calling him a "dirty Jew".
Toronto, ON - A mental health patient is harassed by a nurse and labeled a "bad Jew".
Toronto, ON - A Jewish woman living in a social housing project is harassed by her neighbors who carve swastikas onto her front door and make anti-Jewish slurs
Winnipeg, MB - Thirty-one windows are smashed at a synagogue.
Victoria, BC - A white supremacist group distributes antisemitic and anti-immigrant flyers.
June
Montreal, QC - A visibly Jewish teenager is riding on the bus when three teenagers throw peanuts at him and yell, "Jew, Jew, dirty Jew".
Toronto, ON - A Jew driving downtown is physically assaulted by the driver of another car, who hurls a bottle at him, spitting and shouting that a "pig-nose Jew should not be driving," and threatening that he will "kill you like my grandparents killed yours".
Winnipeg, MB - Antisemitic leaflets are handed out to the audience at a concert hall.
Toronto, ON - A hate rock festival promotes anti-Jewish and anti-Black propaganda.
July
Montreal, QC - A Jewish family discovers a decapitated pig floating in their backyard swimming pool.
Toronto, ON - "Death to Jews" is scrawled on a street sign in the North York area.
Montreal, QC - Three men throw rocks at a group of congregants waiting outside their synagogue, shouting "this is revenge for Lebanon".
Ottawa, ON - While walking to the Jewish community centre, a visibly Jewish man is verbally harassed with antisemitic slurs by occupants in a passing car.Montreal, QC - At an anti-Israel rally, where open support for the terrorist group Hezbollah is expressed, a Jewish bystander is physically assaulted and a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) is publicly desecrated.
Winnipeg, MB - Nazi-themed graffiti is spray-painted over a 50-foot stretch on a public park walkway.
Montreal, QC - B'nai Brith Canada receives a message reading: "The Jews are murderers just as bad as Hitler. We should have exterminated them when we had the chance".
Vancouver, BC - Antisemitic graffiti and swastikas are found on 12 different sites across the city.
Toronto, ON - A "Call to Arms" from a white supremacist group is circulated via e-mail calling for violence against the Jewish community.
August
Toronto, ON - While walking in Earl Bales Park, a visibly Jewish man is approached by two men claiming to be Palestinians looking for work. They ask him if he knows any "rich Jews in the area" because they want to work for "religious idiots". The two men strike the man and knock off his kippah before walking away.
Toronto, ON - A rabbi is attacked and accused of "wanting to start wars".
London, ON - A security guard in the mall shouts at kids fighting with one another to "stop acting like Jews".
Toronto, ON - A house with a mezuzah is smeared with feces.
September
Montreal, QC - An Orthodox Jewish school is firebombed in the early hours of the morning.
Toronto, ON - A synagogue in North Toronto receives threats by mail.
Montreal, QC - A glass bottle is thrown at a rabbi's home, shattering his window.
Winnipeg, MB - Antisemitic graffiti is scrawled on the walls of a synagogue and windows are smashed.
Montreal, QC - Several teenagers outline a Star of David on the ground using tape, spit on it and invite other passersby to join in and do the same.
October
Montreal, QC - B'nai Brith's Quebec Region office receives a message stating: "You are cowards and child killers."
Ottawa, ON - A swastika and the message "F**k Jews" is spray-painted on public property.
Toronto, ON - Organizers at a major downtown venue receive death threats against a Jewish performer days before her appearance in a concert.
Montreal, QC - Several men verbally harass a young and visibly Jewish boy, taunting him and ridiculing his head-covering, shouting "why are you wearing that piece of shit on your head?" Toronto, ON - Jewish community signs and property are defaced with swastikas, pictures and the message "F**k Jews".
Brampton, ON - The message "Die Jews" is outlined in the sand of a public park.
Toronto, ON - A Holocaust survivor who uses a transportation service designed for handicapped users overhears the driver making Holocaust denial remarks.
November
Montreal, QC - A Jewish organization receives the following message "If you are not happy with Quebec or Canada policies [sic], you have only to return to Israel and continue to kill your neighbours".
Toronto, ON - The elevator of a downtown building is repeatedly defaced with the words "Jew Killers" and swastikas.
Winnipeg, MB - "F**king Jew" is spray-painted on a vehicle.
December
Toronto, ON - A hotel receives a message from a caller threatening "to kill all the Jews." The caller inquires "how many Jews do you have?"
Montreal, QC - Delegates at the Liberal Leadership convention are urged not to vote for Bob Rae because his wife is Jewish.
Toronto, ON - A menorah displayed in a Jewish neighborhood is vandalized.
Victoria, BC - Anonymous hate mail targets a member of the Jewish community who authored a letter to the editor of a local newspaper protesting the Holocaust denial of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Toronto, ON - A young man is repeatedly taunted with the slur, "Jew Boy," as he walks along the sidewalk.
Incidents were reported once again across the country. As in previous years, the most significant statistics were collected in Quebec and Ontario, where the vast majority of Canadian Jews reside.
The majority of reported incidents of antisemitism in Canada occurred in Ontario: 569 incidents or 60.9% of the year's total for all of the country. This is a small increase of 4.6% from 2005 when there were 544 incidents in the province.
The 2006 figure represents more than a three-fold increase from the 186 cases in 2002. The number of cases of harassment rose by 4.4% to 355 across Ontario, while vandalism increased by 4.3% to 195 and incidents of violence went up by 11.8% to 19 cases.
The incidents in Ontario are broken down further into Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ottawa and Regional Ontario (areas outside the GTA and Ottawa).
The GTA area has consistently proven the highest reporting area in previous Audits. The 445 incidents recorded in the GTA represent 47.6% of the total number of incidents across Canada for 2006, up 6.5% from the 2005 figure of 418. This is the highest number ever recorded for any city in the history of the Audit. The incidents are classified as follows: 299 cases of harassment, 130 of vandalism and 16 of violence. The incidents included physical assaults, desecration of homes, synagogues and communal buildings.
The majority of the GTA cases took place in the City of Toronto where there were 344 incidents. There were 53 cases in York Region to the north (35 in Thornhill, eight in Richmond Hill, three in Markham and seven in Newmarket), as well as 48 cases in Peel Region to the west (17 in Brampton and 31 in Mississauga). The overall Peel Region figure has increased by 71.4% from just 28 cases in the previous reporting year. In terms of a five year comparison, the 445 incidents in the GTA represent more than double the number of incidents in 2002, when 217 were reported.
While the number of cases of violence increased across Canada by 20%, and in Ontario overall by 11.8%, incidents of violence in the GTA remained at the same level as 2005. However, the 2006 figures reflect a sustained elevated level of aggression and public displays of hatred directed against the Jewish community.
There were 72 cases of antisemitism reported in Ottawa; this is the highest number ever recorded. The incidents included 33 cases of harassment, 37 of vandalism and two of violence. Overall, this represents a 50% increase over the figures for 2005 when there were 48 cases. The incidents involved antisemitic graffiti at public sites as well as private homes, harassment in government workplaces and in the prison system, and the one case of cemetery desecration recorded in 2006. Taking a longer-term perspective, incidents have increased by 67% in Ottawa in the last five years from the 43 cases reported in 2002.
In Regional Ontario (excluding the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa), 52 cases were reported in 2006. Most of the cases occurred in urban areas of the region, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Belleville, Hamilton, Peterborough and Kingston. The 2006 total was made up of 23 acts of harassment, 28 cases of vandalism and one act of violence. Incidents included vandalism against synagogues, such as spray-painting swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti on public sites and private homes, a physical assault, and hate propaganda on campus. Neo-Nazi and white supremacist gang-related activity was also reported. The 52 incidents represented a decrease of 33.3% compared to the 78 cases in 2005. This is an aberration from the national overall increase.
The 226 incidents reported in Quebec as a whole represented 24.2% of the total incidents recorded across Canada. Quebec incidents increased dramatically by 69.9% in 2006 compared to the 133 cases in 2005. There were 147 cases of harassment, 69 cases of vandalism and 10 incidents of violence.
Quebec figures are further broken down into Montreal and Regional Quebec, the latter encompassing the areas outside Montreal and its immediate environs.
In 2006, 215 incidents were reported to the League in Montreal compared to
127 incidents in 2005. This represents an increase of 69.3%. This dramatic rise was reflected in each incident category: there were 142 cases of harassment compared to 78 cases in 2005, 63 cases of vandalism compared to
43 cases in 2005, and 10 incidents of violence compared with six cases in 2005. Incidents included the firebombing of a Jewish day school, physical assaults carried out against members of the Jewish community, desecration of synagogues and Jewish community property, and overt antisemitic statements and public vilification of the Jewish people at anti-Israel rallies where open displays of sympathy for the terrorist group Hezbollah were present. In terms of a five-year picture, incidents in Montreal have increased from 87 in 2002 to 215 in 2006, representing an increase of 147%.
There were 11 incidents in Regional Quebec in 2006. There were no cases in the category of violence, five cases of harassment and six cases of vandalism. Incidents in this area have almost doubled compared to the six cases recorded in 2005. While a decrease from the all-time high of 17 incidents in 2004, the 2006 figure still represents more than a five-fold increase from the two cases reported in 2002.
There were 25 cases in 2006 compared to 27 in 2005 or an overall decrease in the region by 7.4%. The number of incidents of harassment dropped from 23 in
2005 to 13 in 2006, representing a drop of 43.5%. However, vandalism increased four-fold from three to 12 cases. There were no incidents of violence in 2006, while there was one case recorded in 2005. While the 25 incidents in 2006 represent a continuing decline from the 2004 high of 55 cases, the Jewish community takes little comfort when bearing in mind that the vandalism incidents included three synagogues that resulted in substantial damage.
There were seven cases reported this year, all of which were classified as harassment. This represents the same number of incidents documented in 2005.
The reported incidents in this province remain low despite the continuing high profile of the hate crime case, currently under appeal, of aboriginal leader David Ahenakew. The incidents included workplace harassment and propaganda, including a flyer denigrating Jews and defending Ahenakew.
There were 45 incidents in 2006, which represents a 21.1% decrease when compared to the 57 cases in 2005. Of these, 22 took place in Edmonton, and the remaining 23 in Calgary. The incidents include 24 cases of harassment, 21 cases of vandalism and no cases involving violence. The incidents of vandalism included attacks on synagogues, public places and private homes. Harassment cases included neo-Nazi activity on and off the Internet. In spite of the decrease in the region, over a five-year span, figures for Alberta have still shown well over a seven-fold increase from the six cases recorded in the 2002 Audit.
Overall, the 43 incidents reported in 2006 represent a slight 2.4% increase from the previous all-time high of 42 cases documented in 2005. The 2006 figure continues a steep five-year upward trend from the six incidents reported in 2002. Over a five-year period, this constitutes more than an seven-fold increase.
Incidents took place in the cities of Vancouver (34) and Victoria (four), as well as five cases elsewhere in the province. While there were 24 cases of harassment in 2006, which represented a 27% drop from the 2005 figures in that particular category, the cases of vandalism doubled from nine in 2005 to 18 in 2006. There was also one case of violence where no cases were reported in this category in 2005. The cases included incidents on campus, antisemitic graffiti on businesses and private homes, and an assault against a Jewish high school student following ongoing harassment.
vii. Atlantic Region
The number of reported incidents in this region rose from 18 in 2005 to 20 cases in 2006, constituting an increase of 11.1%. This region is made up of five eastern provinces and the provincial breakdown of incidents was as follows: Nova Scotia (12), New Brunswick (four), Newfoundland (one), and Prince Edward (three).
While cases of vandalism dropped from seven in 2005 to only two in 2006, harassment cases increased from 11 incidents in 2005 to 18 in 2006, an increase of 63.6%. Taking a five-year view, there was a significant upward trend for this region - the number of incidents rose almost seven-fold from the three cases in 2002. Incidents included white supremacist flyers being sneaked into a traveling Anne Frank memorial exhibit, ongoing harassment of a Jewish middle school student, and a viciously antisemitic computer game, replete with violence, being played on the premises of a public high school.
This region is made up of the vast areas of Northern Canada: the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. There were no cases in this region for 2006, whereas one incident had been recorded in 2005 and one in 2004.
There have still been calls, however, from the region's residents who are concerned about web-based hate. This only underscores the pervasive and damaging ability that the Internet has to disseminate hateful attitudes and stereotypes to regions where few, if any, members of the Jewish community reside.
In today's global universe of interconnectedness, it has become increasingly evident that trigger events abroad impact here at home. The year 2006 is similar to previous years when major international crises, particularly in the Middle East, caused a ripple effect in Canada, resulting in upsurges in particular months. The months of July and August were clearly distinguished by a marked spike in antisemitic incidents relative to the other months of the year. In these two months there were 263 incidents, making up 28% of the total incidents of the year. Of these, 146 took place in July and 117 in August. This compares to 50 incidents in July of 2005 and 68 in August of that year, for a two-month total of 118. This dramatic jump in the summer months of 2006 can be traced directly to events in the Middle East as Hezbollah's war against Israel unfolded.
Here at home, there was dangerous spillover of overseas tensions in everyday life. During the summer of 2006, Jewish individuals and community organizations were targeted by persistent phone and email abuse, which often included intimidation and direct physical threats. A bomb threat against a synagogue, an attack against a rabbi, and the delivery to a Jewish family, under the cloak of darkness, of the head of a decapitated pig, were amongst the kind of incidents being reported to the League. In the overwhelming majority of incidents documented during this period, the perpetrators themselves left no doubt as to the Middle East connection and often characterized the acts as "revenge" on the Jewish people. Of the total number of incidents in Canada, 131 had a clear and explicit reference to the Middle East conflict, with 95 of these incidents taking place in July and August.
The heightened tensions were felt by Jewish community members across Canada, but particularly in Quebec, the province where the highest proportion of the total annual incidents took place in July and August. For example, in Ontario, incidents for these two months made up 25% of the annual incidents for the province, whereas in Quebec the figure was 34%.
The high number of incidents prompted B'nai Brith Canada to take the necessary step of issuing a community-wide security alert. The threat to the community was also taken seriously by law enforcement agencies and relevant authorities working in close consultation with the Jewish human rights group. The RCMP, which had launched its own 24-hour Hotline, appealed to the community to report suspicious activity that might be linked to terrorism in Canada itself.
In early September, amidst a period of high security alert, an Orthodox Jewish boys school in Montreal was hit with a Molotov cocktail. This was the second time in a two-year span that a Jewish elementary school was firebombed in that city. It also clearly represented a dangerous evolution in the intensity of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community.
It is worth noting that Canada was far from alone in experiencing such a high volume of incidents that could be traced directly to events in the Middle East. In what was the most egregious of incidents, on July 28, 2006, during the height of Hezbollah's war against Israel, Naveed Afzal Haq, an American man of Pakistani descent, used a young girl as a hostage to force himself into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. He opened fire on staff members with two automatic handguns, killing one and wounding five. In a recorded transcript with 911 operators with whom he spoke during the incident, Haq claimed, "These are Jews and I'm tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."
Further correlations between levels of antisemitism in individual countries and events in the Middle East were documented worldwide. A report released last November by the European Jewish Congress, demonstrated that antisemitic attacks peaked across Europe during the summer of 2006 in comparison to the summer of 2005. The Community Security Trust (CST) of Great Britain, a group that monitors security for British Jewry, reported 594 antisemitic incidents for 2006, of which 134 (22.6%) occurred during the 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. This represents almost a quarter of the annual incidents in little more than one month.
In yet another example that illustrates clearly the 'Middle East trigger phenomenon' that leads to a spike in incidents, the Executive Council of Australian Jewish Jewry reported a six-fold rise in antisemitic incidents in that country during the period between July 12, 2006 when the war broke out and August 14, 2006 when the cease-fire took hold, compared to the same period for the previous year.
Incidents Canada-wide also spiked in the month of February, with a reported 134 incidents, representing 14.3% of the total for the entire year. We note that in this month violent outbreaks erupted across the globe as a result of outrage by many Muslims to the cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. While the violent riots elsewhere were not replicated in this country, the tensions did coincide with a marked increase in hate-motivated activity against Jewish communities, including here in Canada. This was quite likely spurred on by the decision of Iran, a human rights-abusing regime, to enter the fray, and challenge the world to participate in a Holocaust denial cartoon contest. Extremist right- wing groups also appear to have been encouraged by this, as evidenced by the increased number of incidents directly related to neo-Nazism and Holocaust denial during this month.