Canadian Jewish groups decry axing of antisemitism envoy in favour of ‘rights, equality and inclusion’ council

JTA – Canadian Jewish groups are denouncing a government decision to replace the country’s antisemitism and Islamophobia envoys with a new “rights, equality and inclusion” council. 

The new advisory council, announced by the Canadian government on Wednesday, 4 February, is billed in a press release as aiming to “foster social cohesion; rally Canadians around shared identity; combat racism and hate in all their forms; and help guide the efforts of the government of Canada”. 

The press release said appointees would be “prominent Canadians from academia as well as experts and community leaders” named at some point in the future. 

“The new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion will help build a more inclusive and united Canada; one grounded in our shared values, with a strong focus on community involvement, and rooted in the belief that far more unites us than divides us,” said Marc Miller, the Canadian minister of identity and culture. 

The announcement comes more than six months after the country’s last antisemitism envoy, Deborah Lyons, resigned abruptly, saying she was exhausted by “the fact that it was hard to get people to speak up” about antisemitism in Canada. The antisemitism role included responsibility for Canada’s official Holocaust remembrance. 

Last month, Simon Wolle, the chief executive of B’nai Brith Canada, called for the position to be filled immediately amid rising antisemitism, telling reporters, “The absence of the position undermines Canada’s international reputation and signals a lack of commitment to fighting antisemitism.” 

Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy, said the new advisory council “must prioritise combatting antisemitism”, and that “urgent action is required to confront the problem head-on and without delay”. 

In 2024, B’nai Brith Canada reported that there had been 6 219 reported cases of antisemitic incidents in Canada, an all-time record for the country. Canada is home to about 393 000 Jews, with the majority residing in Toronto, according to the 2022 American Jewish Year Book. 

Noah Shack, the chief executive of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organisation expected “immediate concrete action on solutions that the Jewish community has long advocated for, including support for security and addressing the sources of hate”. 

“It’s crucial that the government’s new approach and the composition of the advisory council are designed to achieve meaningful outcomes in combatting the unprecedented wave of antisemitism and extremism in Canada,” said Shack. 

The restructuring comes nearly a year into the tenure of Prime Minister Mark Carney, a liberal elected amid a backlash against United States President Donald Trump. It comes amid broad concerns about whether Jewish interests can be accommodated adequately within a general inclusion framework. 

Other Canadian Jewish groups offered stronger denunciations of the new approach. The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada wrote in a post on Facebook that it had received the news that the antisemitism envoy role would be slashed with “tremendous disappointment and concern”. 

The Abraham Global Peace Initiative similarly decried the decision, writing in a post on X that the “outright deletion of the office raises fundamental questions about how Canada intends to meet its international obligations to preserve Holocaust memory and combat antisemitism. 

“With the office now abolished, it is unclear who will be responsible for implementing this mandate, ensuring accountability, or coordinating national policy at a time of unprecedented antisemitism,” the post continued. “The absence of a dedicated body also brings into question how the memory of the Holocaust will be preserved in Canada.” 

The US antisemitism envoy under Trump, Yehuda Kaploun, has used his role to promote Trump’s immigration crackdown.