If Trump offers Canadian Jews refugee status, will they take it?

JTA – Sari Watson was too afraid to attend Yom Kippur services. Concerned by rising levels of antisemitism in Canada, she was safely at home 25 minutes away when a gunman charged at her childhood synagogue. 

“My internal alarm has been going off, and you begin to think about escape routes or backup plans,” said Watson, 39, who lives in Quinte West, Ontario, about 24km west of Belleville, where the attack during Kol Nidre on 20 September culminated in a shootout that left the gunman dead and one policeman hospitalised. “The only reason I wasn’t at synagogue was because I have been terrified of this exact situation, or worse, happening.” 

Florida Senator Rick Scott, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, and US President Donald Trump himself, all Republicans, have alluded to the idea of extending refugee status to Canadian Jews who fear the spike in antisemitism in their country. 

“It’s so amazing to know that the Republicans understand the level of antisemitism we’re dealing with here,” she said. “President Trump gets the climate and the danger.” 

Still, Watson has mixed emotions about the thought of leaving her home country. “I want to stay here and fight for our safety in Canada,” she said. “The option to come to the US is really important, but we shouldn’t have to need it.” 

The Trump administration has imposed stringent restrictions on immigration, including on asylum seekers, but is inviting white South African – and, potentially, Canadian Jews – to apply for refugee status. Critics accuse Trump of playing politics with refugee status, but some Canadian Jews see it as a lifeline. 

Talk of Jews feeling compelled to leave Canada gained momentum last week when a well-known Jewish journalist posted publicly on social media about getting a foreign passport. Neil Herland, a newsreader for the national broadcaster, the CBC, wrote on X about his encounter with pro-Palestinian protesters outside Toronto’s Meridian Arts Centre, where Yom Kippur services were being held. Herland said that, concerned about rising antisemitism in Canada, he recently acquired his Austrian passport as a safety precaution. Independent Press Gallery, a press freedom advocacy group, condemned the CBC for reportedly suspending Herland after pro-Palestinian advocates lodged a complaint about his post. 

Some Jews are past the precaution stage. Sheldon Shagal, 64, and his wife are currently researching how to move to the United States. 

“If I were able to claim refugee status to come to the US, I’d do it without hesitation,” said Shagal, who lives in Calgary. “I used to love our country, but it’s just not a place that I want to continue to live in.” 

Shagal, a property manager, said he has seen increased antisemitism in Canada in the wake of the deadly Hamas raid in Israel on 7 October and the war it launched. He said he and his wife have been struggling to overcome the complexity of acquiring an American visa. 

“The Jew-hatred is no longer rising in Canada, it’s fully immersed here,” Shagal said. “It’s not the country I grew up in. I don’t feel affinity to Canada anymore.” 

Shagal’s concerns are reflected in the findings of B’nai Brith Canada, which recently reported a 9.3% increase in antisemitic incidents from 2024 to2025. According to this report, online harassment has surged dramatically, while Ontario saw the greatest total number of antisemitic incidents out of all the Canadian provinces and territories. 

Antisemitic attacks have proliferated. In March of this year, Toronto synagogue Temple Emanu-El was shot at following Purim celebrations. The next week, two more Toronto synagogues were hit with gunfire over Shabbat, causing damage to the buildings, though no injuries were reported. In late April, assailants allegedly fired replica guns at “visually identifiable” members of the city’s Jewish community, with one of the men sustaining minor injuries. 

Shagal said reports of antisemitism have rattled him as well as the pro-Palestinian encampment his daughter encountered on her campus. “There hasn’t necessarily been anything I’ve personally experienced. It’s just what I’ve seen throughout the country,” he said. 

Lauren Cohen, an immigration lawyer based in Boca Raton, Florida, said that since 7 October, about half of her Canadian clients cite antisemitism as a primary reason for wanting to leave Canada for the United States. 

“In the past three months, I’ve noticed a significant increase in the number of people between 55 and70 who are contacting me,” said Cohen, who is originally from Toronto. “They have grown children or no children, and they have a little bit more money,” she said. “They want freedom.” 

Antisemitism is not the only consideration for her clients, Cohen said. “The economy’s struggling. It’s not just antisemitism,” she said. “That might be the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it’s so many other factors as well.” 

Cohen founded the Jewish Community Collective, an organisation which helps Jewish Canadians and “displaced Jews” find connection in America. Another option for Jewish Canadians looking to make a new home in the States is Lech L’Tulsa, a programme co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Tulsa that helps settle Jewish newcomers, “designed to help Jewish Canadian citizens relocate to Tulsa”. 

Some Canadian Jews do not see greener grass south of the 49th parallel, however. They point to Canada’s more expansive social safety net as one of the many reasons life in the “Great White North” is better. “Unquestionably, the answer to whether I’d consider moving to the States is emphatically ‘no,’” said Lawrence Stanleigh, a dentist in Calgary. 

“I believe our country is a better place to live,” said Stanleigh, 67. “The US doesn’t have a public healthcare system. Why would I want to leave our safety net for the US?” 

Stanleigh said the idea that the United States is a safe haven for Canadian Jews is misleading. “As bad as things are in Canada, I think they’re worse in the United States,” he said. “It’s not a better place for education or for healthcare. The whole idea of moving there for our safety is a fantasy that the Republicans believe in.” 

Substituting the United States for Canada is shortsighted, Stanleigh said. “There are failures on behalf of Canadian leaders to stand firm in their support of the Jewish community,” he said. “But as bad as things are, I think they’re worse in the States. Our American cousins are blithely unaware of the problems they have at home.” 

Anthony Housefather, a Jewish Canadian Member of Parliament representing a riding, or electoral district, in Montreal, is sceptical of the notion that the United States would offer Jews better protection. 

“I think this idea is inspired by some right-wing Jews who have decided that their mission is to attack the Canadian government, and to make it look like somehow Donald Trump and the Republicans are the saviour of the Jewish people,” Housefather said in an interview. 

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are at a low point in their relationship, with tensions over trade intensifying – and Trump seeks opportunities to take potshots at Carney. 

Housefather also does not believe that leaving for the United States is gaining traction among Canadian Jews. “There are some people who have decided that Florida or Israel is a greener pasture,” he said. “But that does not represent a significant or a predominant view, and the idea that everybody’s leaving Canada is actually not true.” 

The increase in antisemitism is universal, and should be treated holistically, he said. “What I do agree with is [that] everywhere there’s a very serious problem with antisemitism,” he said. “Everywhere Jewish communities don’t feel safe, and all levels of government need to keep doing more.” 

Housefather encourages his Jewish countrymen to remain proud Canadians. “Antisemitism has grown to an unacceptable level in this country,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that you should have less pride in being Canadian because there’s a loud, angry, small group of Canadians trying to make us scared.”