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Toronto (August 1, 2023) – Canada’s Jewish community is experiencing a continuing increase in hate crimes, despite a decrease in police-reported hate-motivated incidents targeting religious communities.

According to newly released Statistics Canada 2022 data, the Jewish community was the target of 502 police-reported hate crimes last year, a 2 per cent increase from 2021, which saw an exorbitant increase of 49 per cent from 2020.

Canadian Jews were the most targeted religious group, and second most targeted group overall after the Black community, which saw a 28 per cent increase to 829 hate crimes in 2022. The LGBTQ+ community was the target of 491 hate-motivated incidents, seeing a 12 per cent increase from 2021.

Overall, there was a 7 per cent increase in hate crimes in Canada in 2022, with a total of 3,576 incidents reported to police.

“Once again, Canadian Jews face the painful fact that antisemitism is alive and well in this country,” said FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. “The annual increase in hate crimes targeting the Jewish community is extremely disturbing, especially given that Jews account for approximately just 1 per cent of Canada’s population. These newly released statistics should serve as a harsh reminder to our leaders in government, law enforcement, education and all institutions that the time to enforce additional measures to confront antisemitism is now. Our community cannot combat Jew-hatred alone.”

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