In the wake of recent Jewish school shootings, the federal government plans to hold a national forum to combat anti-Semitism in the country.
The forum will be held in Ottawa in February 2025 to “discuss the growing threat of anti-Semitism to public safety.” the Canadian Department of Justice announced on Friday.
“Canada has seen a worrying increase in anti-Semitic incidents, threats and hate crimes,” the department said.
“The Government of Canada recognizes the urgent need for national leadership to ensure that Canadian Jews feel safe in their synagogues, schools and communities.”
The minister of justice, the attorney general and the minister and associate minister of public security will co-chair the forum next year.
Federal, provincial and municipal leaders will also be present, along with police and fiscal authorities.
The announcement comes after the third shooting this year at the same Jewish girls’ school in Toronto, reported by police on Friday.
Shots were fired Friday morning at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School in the city’s north end.
Police said the school was empty at the time of the shooting and no injuries were reported.
The all-girls institution was attacked for the second time in October, on Yom Kippur, with shots fired from a vehicle on Chesswood Drive, hitting the window, according to police.
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A few days later, police announced the arrest of a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy in connection with the shooting.
That incident came on the heels of another shooting in May, in which two suspects opened fire on the school around 5 a.m. on a Saturday.
Also in May, a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire and a synagogue on the city’s West Island was the target of a suspected arson attack earlier this week.
In August, more than 100 synagogues, Jewish organizations and doctors in several cities across the country received the same threatening email.
The email included threats of death and physical harm and stated that the goal was to cause “terror.”
Intelligence documents recently obtained by Global News warned of “growing anti-Semitic activity,” saying an extremist attack targeting Canada’s Jewish community is a “realistic possibility.”
Released nearly a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered an Israeli military response in Gaza and Lebanon, the reports show national security analysts fear anti-Jewish sentiment could lead to terrorism.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada more than doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to an annual audit by the Jewish human rights group B’nai Brith Canada that was released in May.
In the audit, the group recorded 5,791 incidents that meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. That represented a 109 percent increase from 2022, when there were 2,769 incidents.
All incidents reported through the audit saw significant increases after October 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
–with files from The Canadian Press and Global News
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
