Early data for 2026 demonstrates that there have already been more violent antisemitic incidents in Canada this year than during all of 2025, B’nai Brith warns.
May 8, 2026
TORONTO – The year 2026 is already on track to be the most violent year for the Jewish community in recent memory, B’nai Brith Canada announced on Friday.
In total, there have been 11 violent incidents of antisemitism recorded in Canada since Jan. 1, 2026, according to the League for Human Rights, which compiles B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. This surpasses the 10 antisemitic incidents classified as violent during the whole of 2025, out of a nation-wide total of 6,800 incidents.
“These brazen attacks on Jewish Canadians are a sign of a crisis of antisemitism that has spiralled out of control,” said Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s Chief Executive Officer. “Violence such as this, which has escalated from targeting synagogues to targeting Jewish people directly, does not occur in a vacuum. It is what happens when governments fail to act despite mounting evidence that antisemitism is becoming more normalized and dangerous.”
Last night, three Jewish individuals were shot at from a vehicle with a replica firearm as they exited the Chasidei Bobov shul on Bathurst Street. During the past week, there have been multiple violent assaults targeting Jewish people in Toronto.
“Violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions must not be left unanswered – our leaders must take a stand, without equivocation. Attacks on Jewish people do not only threaten our community, but also Canada’s multicultural foundations and democratic society.”
B’nai Brith Canada has taken the unprecedented step of releasing advance figures from its 2026 Audit because of the rapid pace of the escalation in violent acts targeting the Jewish community, said Richard Robertson, Director of Research and Advocacy.
“A clear pattern has emerged. Recent trends in the prevalence of antisemitic beliefs online, and indeed, throughout Canadian society, are fuelling a significant rise in the number of violent attacks on Jews within a short time frame.”
Robertson said this underscores the importance of developing a whole-of-government approach to combatting antisemitism in this country.
“Jewish Canadians are being terrorized. More must be done to address the roots of this sickness in our culture, and that begins with an acknowledgement that there is in fact a national crisis of antisemitism.
“While we are grateful for the efforts of law enforcement, who have apprehended two suspects alleged to have involved in the recent violence targeting Toronto’s Jewish community, B’nai Brith Canada is reiterating its call for the Federal Government to establish an emergency task force to respond to antisemitism and implement policies to combat it.”