July 23, 2026
OTTAWA – Recent Government assessments reiterate what B’nai Brith has warned for months: Canada’s Jewish community is experiencing sustained, unprecedented threats to its security.
The two items in question – a recent Statistics Canada report on the rate of crime, and a national security evaluation reported to have been prepared by Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Center (ITAC) – demonstrate that Jewish Canadians remain a primary target for hatemongers and extremist groups.
ITAC’s assessment is especially alarming, according to Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy.
“Reports indicate the ITAC assessment predicts that violence targeting the Jewish community will continue to escalate,” he said. “It draws links between organized criminal elements and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a connection we suspect may have been behind several incidents involving Jewish institutions in this country.”
The Government agency is also reported to have written that, during the long-term, the normalization of antisemitism and violence could “influence some susceptible individuals” towards violent extremism.
Just this past week, B’nai Brith reported that the number of violent antisemitic incidents has accelerated in 2026, jumping from 11 in May to 27 in early July. The ITAC assessment notes, in particular, that the environment for Jewish Canadians has become more precarious since the advent of the U.S.-Iran war during February.
The StatsCan report, meanwhile, which appeared in the agency’s Quotidian Wednesday, states 788 police-reported hate crimes targeting Jewish people occurred in this country during 2025. Incidents targeting Jews accounted for about 71 per cent of hate-motivated offences predicated on the victim’s religious beliefs, according to the dataset.
“StatsCan’s findings reinforce that the Federal Government’s current approach to confronting the national crisis of antisemitism is insufficient,” Robertson said. “Additional action mut be taken immediately.
“The disproportionate rate at which the Jewish community is being targeted validates the conclusions we reached in our Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents for the year 2025.”
In its Annual Audit for 2025, B’nai Brith documented 6,800 antisemitic incidents in Canada. Our figures include hate crimes data collected from police departments throughout the country. Our methods are distinct from the Statistics Canada report because we consider the overall prevalence of antisemitic incidents in Canadian society, not only hate-motivated criminal offenses targeting the Jewish community.
The StatsCan data shows a slight decrease during 2025 in hate crimes compared to 2024, but the total remains high compared to past years.
That Jews are targeted at a disproportionate rate is unsurprising, Robertsons said. Several surveys, in addition to the research presented in B’nai Brith’s Audit, confirm that antisemitism is becoming normalized in Canadian society.
“StatsCan’s numbers, combined with the recent ITAC report, add further weight to the concerns B’nai Brith has been raising,” said Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s Chief Executive Officer. “It is imperative that Canada adopt a whole-of-government approach to combating antisemitism.”
B’nai Brith is, for instance, urging Ottawa to establish a national task force to combat antisemitism.
“Law enforcement should be prepared to investigate attacks on the Jewish community as potential terrorist activity,” Wolle said. “The Federal Government must also criminalize the act of glorifying terrorism and membership in terrorist organizations.”
Wolle said jurisdictions across Canada should replicate Ontario’s proposed dedicated hate crime prosecutorial unit.
“The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, moreover, which includes anti-Zionist manifestations of antisemitism, should be implemented and included in public education and training for law enforcement.”