‘Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,’ Carney says as he unveils effort to address antisemitism

JTA – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Monday a new government body to combat racism, saying its first priority would be tackling antisemitism. 

Carney addressed Canada’s surge in antisemitic hate crimes during a speech at Holy Blossom Synagogue, Toronto’s oldest Jewish congregation. He said the government had to “start with clearly admitting that Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians”. 

Carney referenced the wave of attacks on Canadian Jews since 7 October, including bullets fired at synagogues and Jewish schools and attacks on Jewish businesses, community centres, and Holocaust memorials. 

More than two-thirds of the country’s religion-motivated hate crimes last year were directed at Jews, who make up only 1% of the population, he said. 

Carney said the government was responding by launching the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, with the mission of advising Canada’s government on combatting all forms of hate. 

“I am directing that the first responsibility of that council is to address antisemitism,” he said. 

The council will be chaired by the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Marc Miller. Carney also announced that Marc Gold, a lawyer and Jewish community leader who retired last year from the Senate of Canada, will join the council. 

Carney said the council will be tasked with reassessing the nature, scale, and drivers of antisemitism, developing a whole-of-government approach to align federal policies and public safety programmes, improving the collection of data on hate incidents, and measuring the impact of government efforts. 

Several Jewish organisations are likely to be disappointed that Carney’s announcement did not include more sweeping enforcement measures against antisemitism. 

Rich Robertson, the Director of Research and Advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, said the speech was a “missed opportunity”. The organisation was advocating for a task force that could respond immediately to antisemitic incidents and a commission of inquiry to identify their root causes, he said. 

“We were hoping for true tactical changes that could positively be actioned to change the lived experience of Jewish Canadians, and unfortunately, that is not what we received today,” Robertson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 

Pressures on Carney were mounting ahead of the speech. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), an advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, pushed for him to strengthen law enforcement. 

“Government and law enforcement must address the drivers of this crisis, including radicalisation, promotion of terrorism, and terrorist entities operating here in Canada,” CIJA said in a statement shortly before Carney’s address. 

The group added, “The Prime Minister has an opportunity to set the tone from the highest office to make clear that nothing can justify the hatred, intimidation, and violence Jewish Canadians are experiencing and that every tool at the government’s disposal will be used to confront it.” 

Carney’s messages about Israel, Gaza, and antisemitism have divided Jewish voters. In September, he led Canada to officially recognising a Palestinian state. He said in October that he would fulfil the commitment of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited Canada. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza in 2024. Last week, Carney spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog about the experiences of Canadians detained after trying to sail to bring aid to Gaza. 

But Carney, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, has also introduced public safety legislation supported by national Jewish organisations, including CIJA and B’nai Brith Canada. Most significant among them is Bill C-9, which would strengthen Canada’s criminal code by creating new offences for intimidation and obstruction at houses of worship, schools, and community centres used by religious groups. 

That bill has also faced backlash from free-speech advocates, including both Jewish conservatives and progressives. Pro-Palestinian Jewish groups say that it would wrongly criminalise protesting against events like real estate sales for Israeli settlements in the West Bank if they take place in synagogues. 

Carney appeared to acknowledge those criticisms in his announcement of the new ministerial council. 

“I want to be clear about what these measures are and what they are not,” he said. “They are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere. But they are the basic standards we owe one another in our shared public institutions.”