The Bell Yeshiva Katana school in Montreal, May, 2024, after shots were fired at the building. Hate crimes against Jewish Canadians rose 178 per cent between 2020 and 2024.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
What happened in the kosher section of an Ottawa grocery store on a late August afternoon was both a shocking escalation, and horribly predictable.
A Jewish woman in her 70s, doing nothing more provocative than shopping with a friend, was stabbed by a stranger, her injuries serious enough that she had to be treated in hospital. Ottawa police say they are investigating the attack as a hate-motivated crime and the accused has reportedly posted antisemitic messages on social media.
This heinous attack is not an isolated event. There have been shots fired at Jewish schools. Synagogues have been firebombed.
So, the stabbing of a Jewish Canadian in a grocery store in the middle of the day is not a surprise. But it is a warning, as clear as it could be, that Canadian politicians need to take strong and immediate action against antisemitic hate crimes.
Opinion: There is a growing list of unsafe places for the Jewish community in Canada
By any measure, Jewish Canadians are the chief victims of hate crimes. Nearly 70 per cent of hate crimes for religious reasons in 2024 were committed against the Jewish community, according to Statistics Canada.
Hate crimes against Jewish Canadians were the fastest growing between 2020 and 2024, rising 178 per cent – more than double the overall increase.
And there were 920 police-reported incidents against Jewish Canadians in 2024, more than any other group. (Preliminary data for the first three months of 2025 show that hate crimes against Jewish Canadians are second only to Black Canadians.)
All of that hate, directed at the relatively tiny community of Jewish Canadians, which numbers around 400,000 people. Of course, the community’s small size makes it all the easier to demonize and to terrorize.
Much of the increase in hate crimes against Jewish Canadians has come in the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and the resulting relentless military offensive by Israel that has killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Liberal MPs call for action against antisemitism after stabbing of Jewish woman in Ottawa
It bears repeating: Whatever your view on Israel’s actions in Gaza, Jewish Canadians are not responsible for the actions of the Netanyahu government, any more than Muslim Canadians are responsible for the actions of Hamas and Hezbollah, or Russian Canadians are culpable for Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression.
That simple fact seems to elude the protesters who target the places that Jewish Canadians gather, including near the Ottawa grocery store where last week’s attack took place. Those protesters have a constitutional right to express their anger. But they also have moral responsibilities, namely to ask themselves whether the manner of their protest is fostering an atmosphere of hate.
A letter released over the weekend from 32 Liberal MPs decrying the Ottawa attack, and calling for quick legislative action, captures a sad truth: antisemitism is being normalized.
Prime Minister Mark Carney did offer some words of comfort, through a social media post, in the wake of the attack. “To Canada’s Jewish community: you are not alone. We stand with you against hate and threats to your safety, and we will act to confront antisemitism wherever it appears.”
That is a start, but barely a start, for Mr. Carney’s government. The Prime Minister needs to stand with the Jewish community, literally. The Ottawa grocery store that was the site of the attack would be a good place to start (and it is only a few blocks north of Mr. Carney’s riding).
A speech from the Prime Minister in defence of Canada’s Jewish community would be a much needed first step in un-normalizing antisemitism. Even better, the leaders of the other parties in the Commons should join him. The rest of the Liberal caucus needs to speak up, and amplify the message from their 31 colleagues.
Words of support are needed. Action is needed even more. Federal bubble zone legislation protecting religious and other institutions must be a top priority in this fall’s parliamentary session. A December report from the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights had other needed steps, including ensuring the safety of Jewish university students, increasing funding for police hate-crime units and establishing dedicated Crown positions for prosecuting hate crimes.
The time for simply bemoaning that hate is “not who Canadians are” is long past. The Jewish community needs protection, not tweets and platitudes.