A police vehicle sits outside the Yeshiva Gedola, a Jewish school that was hit by gunshots for the second time in three days, in Montreal, on Nov. 13, 2023.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Deborah Lyons is Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. Irwin Cotler is the international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. Noah Lew is a Special Advisor to Special Envoy Lyons and a director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
By now, many Canadians are aware of the epidemic of antisemitism spreading across our country, and indeed, around the world. The violent antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam last week – echoing the Kristallnacht pogrom that preceded the Holocaust – is merely the latest terrifying iteration of the explosion of global antisemitism.
Even before the Oct. 7 atrocities unleashed this global tsunami of anti-Jewish hate, here in Canada antisemitism was at the highest levels in recent history.
In the words of the late prime minister Brian Mulroney, “In the wake of the Holocaust … firewalls were thrown up, and the bonfires of antisemitism were for a time reduced to flickering embers. But those firewalls, weakened by the passage of time and willful neglect, have been breached. Cloaked in the armour of free speech, fuelled by hate and stoked by the oxygen of the internet and social media, those fires now burn out of control.”
Since last October, Canadian Jews have been subjected to antisemitic incidents across the country – the attempted eviction of a Jewish student organization in Vancouver; vandalism of the Calgary Jewish Community Centre; antisemitic graffiti and posters in Winnipeg; bomb threats at Jewish schools and antisemitic bullying at public schools in Toronto; the glorification of the murder of Jews in the streets of Ottawa; the shooting of Jewish schools and firebombing of a Jewish community centre in Montreal; and the vandalism of a synagogue in Fredericton – to name only a few examples. And while people may be tired of hearing about antisemitism, we promise you, the Jewish community is far more tired of experiencing it.
Canadians of conscience – which we believe most Canadians are – see this surging hate and are eager to be part of the solution, but don’t always have the tools to do so. Antisemitism is not always easy to identify or understand – it is complex and constantly evolving. In order for Canadians to be able to address and counter antisemitism, they must first be able to recognize and understand it.
Fortunately, in 2019, Canada formally adopted a national definition of antisemitism – the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. The IHRA definition explains what antisemitism is and what it is not, and is therefore a crucial tool for the recognition of antisemitic expression, behaviour, intention and impact.
On Oct. 31, the federal government published the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. The handbook explains what the IHRA definition is and how to use it, and provides specific guidance on how to implement and apply the definition. It includes real cases of antisemitism in Canada, and has a number of shorter-form resources attached as appendices. The guidance on implementing the definition is broken down by sector, with specific recommendations for law enforcement, the judiciary and legal systems, educational institutions, governments, workplaces, and civil society.
The goal of the handbook is to help empower and encourage Canadians to identify and respond to antisemitism through their work and in their daily lives, wherever it appears.
The Canadian Jewish community comprises approximately 1 per cent of the broader Canadian population. Jews cannot, nor should they have to, fight antisemitism alone – the other 99 per cent of Canadians must join the struggle against this resurgent, virulent hatred.
Canadians should unite to combat antisemitism not only because it is an abhorrent, dangerous, and deadly prejudice, but because it is toxic to the very fabric of our democracy and society. Antisemitism is known as the “canary in the coal-mine” for all forms of hatred and intolerance – a weathervane for growing societal intolerance and prejudice – because what starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews.
Simply put, antisemitism is a threat not only to Jewish individuals and the Jewish community, but to Canadian society and democracy as a whole. Our hope is that the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Definition will be a valuable tool for Canadians seeking to combat this threat and address the rising tide of antisemitism.