{"id":147158,"date":"2026-07-28T20:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/147158\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:40:14","slug":"hate-absolutely-has-its-place-in-canada-it-has-been-normalized-ignored-and-excused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/147158\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate absolutely has its place in Canada. It has been normalized, ignored and excused"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Katherine Stephenson, chief superintendent of intelligence services for the Toronto Police Service, speaks at a press conference about hate-motivated assaults on June 3.Fred Lum\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Hate absolutely has a place in Canada. It is accepted by virtue of our collective indifference \u2013 by the way our leaders refuse to define it in precise terms. Hate has a place in Canada when the Prime Minister\u2019s signature address on antisemitism<\/a> clings desperately to anodyne generalities, lest the hate that fuels that antisemitism turn on him politically \u2013 or worse. <\/p>\n

Hate has a place in Canada when two locations of the same Jewish bakery<\/a> in Toronto, Kiva\u2019s Bagel Bakery, are attacked with gunfire<\/a> and vandalism in one weekend, and no one can remember how many similar incidents that amounts to since the war in Gaza first began. We lost count somewhere between the third shooting<\/a> at a Jewish girls\u2019 school and the 10th time<\/a> a single Toronto synagogue was vandalized.<\/p>\n

Hate has a place in Canada, and you can usually find it on the weekends at the corner of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue in Toronto. It\u2019s an area with a heavily Jewish population, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators have set up camp nearly every Sunday for more than two-and-a-half-years. Though the Israeli embassy is roughly 12 kilometres south of this intersection, Bathurst and Sheppard is where these protesters have chosen to flaunt antisemitic caricatures<\/a> of Jewish people and cosplay as Yahya Sinwar<\/a>, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack. <\/p>\n

The choice to protest at this location speaks to the centuries-old hatred that is motivating these demonstrations. No one is protesting the persecution of Uyghur Muslims by marching through Chinese areas of Markham, Ont. That would make no sense; Chinese Canadians aren\u2019t responsible for the actions of the Xi regime. But the standard is different for Jews in Canada. So hate has been given a space at Bathurst and Sheppard, while police stand by, and political leaders look away. <\/p>\n

Antisemitic incidents in Canada hit another record high in 2025, Jewish group reports<\/a><\/p>\n

Hate has a place in Canada when prominent academics, business professionals<\/a> and activists have absolutely no reservations about airing their prejudices and bizarre conspiracy theories about Jews in public. When a prominent writer and former CBC Radio host confidently declares that a woman performing a Nazi salute at a pro-Palestinian protest in Montreal was an \u201cobvious plant,\u201d<\/a> and scoffs about the recent attacks at a bagel shop in Toronto, calling them<\/a> \u201cabsurd\u201d instances of \u201cpurported antisemitism.\u201d When Calgary\u2019s then-mayor Jyoti Gondek declined to attend the city\u2019s annual menorah lighting because she said it was too political. When the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival decides to ban a Vancouver-based graphic artist because of her mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces. <\/p>\n

Hate has its place in Canada when mezuzahs are ripped off<\/a> the door frames of Jewish homes in Toronto. When pro-Palestinian protesters in Montreal<\/a> tell Jews to \u201cgo back to Europe.\u201d When visibly Jewish people are shot with a gel blaster gun<\/a> outside of a synagogue. When someone attempts to set fire to a Vancouver synagogue.<\/p>\n

Marsha Lederman: Antisemitism is quantifiably bad in Canada. Are Canadians just going to accept that?<\/a><\/p>\n

We know that hate has its place in Canada not simply because these acts have occurred, but because nothing meaningful is being done about them. The Prime Minister won\u2019t name the problem. Law enforcement, Crown prosecutors and politicians all blame each other for failing to take action. Ottawa\u2019s response is to assemble an advisory council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, and to throw money at Jewish institutions<\/a> to beef up their security. That is as clear an admission as anything that hate indeed has its place in Canada: We know the hate is here, but instead of tackling it, we\u2019ll give you money to insulate yourselves from it. <\/p>\n

This is Canada\u2019s new normal. A bakery\u2019s windows are smashed, and we sigh and move on. Buildings are shot at, and we click our tongues. Many Jews are now actively exploring emigration to places<\/a> where hate is less readily excused or ignored, unlike in Canada, where politicians insist \u201cthis is not who we are\u201d while pretending not to recognize what this country has become. <\/p>\n

A day after the attacks on Kiva\u2019s Bakery, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller, who will also chair the Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, wrote on X<\/a> that \u201cAntisemitism has no place in our communities, and it is an attack on the values of inclusion and respect that define our country.\u201d But that view is precisely the problem. Antisemitism absolutely has a well-established place in our communities now; a weekend trip to Bathurst and Sheppard will confirm that. The more pertinent question before the government now is if it intends to actually do something about it, or simply offer money for bulletproof glass and continue deluding itself with the notion that hate has not been normalized in Canada.<\/p>\n