In the wake of a tumultuous year for Jews at home and abroad, a new, non-Jewish civic advocacy organization has formed to help combat antisemitism in Canada.
“Our goal is to help those people who want to speak up as allies of the Jewish community to do so, whether it is to communicate with their own networks, their [elected] representatives or others,” said Michael Westcott, chief executive officer of the newly formed organization, Allies for a Strong Canada.
The nonprofit, which launched Sept. 17, is encouraging Canadians to post recorded videos expressing support for Canada’s Jewish community on their social media accounts before and on Oct. 7.
Unlike advocacy organizations such as B’nai Brith Canada or the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs — which were both created by and for Jews — Allies for a Strong Canada was created to provide non-Jewish Canadians with an avenue to express solidarity with Jews.
“Allies for a Strong Canada has been created to engage and mobilize allies of the Jewish community who similarly want to speak up in support of our friends during these difficult times,” said Westcott, who brings nearly 20 years of experience in government, public affairs and consulting to his new role.
Allies for a Strong Canada is not the first organization of its kind in Canada.
In 2005, a coalition of non-Jewish business leaders formed the organization Fighting Antisemitism Together to support the Canadian Jewish community. In 2021, it merged with the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, a nonprofit that produces scholarship and educational programs on antisemitism.
Unprecedented numbers
Westcott, who is himself not Jewish, believes non-Jewish Canadians have an important role to play in combating antisemitism. Westcott says he was personally inspired to launch Allies for a Strong Canada by seeing the experiences of his Jewish friends since Hamas’s attack on Israel last October.
“For me, it started with friends of mine in the Jewish community feeling so unsafe in Canada that they chose to move their family to Israel,” he said.
“It is heartbreaking to think that Canadians are made to feel so unsafe in their community that they have to leave and go to another country to protect themselves and their families.”
In its 2023 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, B’nai Brith Canada reported that Canadian Jews have experienced a sharp increase in antisemitism since last fall.
The audit shows there were nearly 6,000 reported antisemitic incidents in 2023 — up 109 per cent from the prior year, and the worst recorded year in the audit’s more than 40-year history. The audit, which categorizes antisemitic incidents as harassment, vandalism or violence, indicates online harassment accounted for nearly 5,000 of all reports.
Canadian Jews are also disproportionately targeted among Canadian religious groups, according to Statistics Canada data. In 2023, there were nearly 1,300 police-reported hate incidents targeted at people or institutions because of their religion. The vast majority of these incidents — 900, or nearly 70 per cent — were directed at Jewish Canadians.
Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy, cautions against reducing the experience of Jewish Canadians to mere numbers.
“The impact of this tumultuous year, specifically the period following the October 7th, 2023 terror attacks in Israel, cannot be accurately conveyed by mere statistics,” Robertson writes in the audit’s introductory message. “It is not undue to suggest that not since the Holocaust has Canada’s Jewish community faced such a legitimate threat to its survival.”
Toronto-based lawyer Ryan O’Connor says he felt compelled by events of the past year to join Allies for a Strong Canada and speak out on behalf of Canadian Jews.
“We’ve seen Jewish institutions vandalised, Jewish businesses boycotted, and protestors openly supporting Hamas and Hezbollah,” O’Connor said in a written statement to Canadian Affairs. “These are not only attacks on Jews, but attacks on Canadian values of liberalism, freedom, openness, and tolerance.”
“I joined Allies for a Strong Canada because all Canadians ought to denounce antisemitism,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be left to Jews.”
Videos of solidarity
Although Allies for a Strong Canada has been in existence for less than a month, it has attracted the support of a number of prominent Canadians.
Ret. Gen. Rick Hillier, Liberal MP Marco Mendicino and Canadian Constitution Foundation Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn are among those who have responded to the organization’s call to share videos online.
Westcott says he is still evaluating how Allies for a Strong Canada may engage in further activism down the road. For now, he is encouraging all Canadians to create and post their own videos expressing their support for Canadian Jews.
“For each of us it is a small part in helping to end the hatred against Jews in Canada,” he said in a video post. “But if each of us does our part, it will become an ocean of bold action which can bring an end to antisemitism.”
Of the “nearly 6,000 reported antisemitic incidents” I would be curious to know how many were perpetrated by those of muslim origin?
Of the “nearly 6,000 reported antisemitic incidents” I would be curious to know many were merely criticism of Israel’s brutal, racist policies. Being opposed to ethnic cleansing and genocide is not equivalent to supporting Hamas or Hezbollah. It is equivalent to supporting humanity.