Violent antisemitic incidents in Canada have already surpassed the 2025 total less than five months into the year, B’nai Brith Canada said on Friday, warning that 2026 could become the most violent year for Canadian Jews in recent memory.
B’nai Brith Canada said it recorded 11 violent incidents nationwide since Jan. 1. The Jewish advocacy group released the data ahead of its annual audit of antisemitic incidents, usually published later in the spring, saying attacks were escalating “too quickly to wait.”
“Antisemitic violence is no longer confined to Jewish institutions,” B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement posted on X. “Jewish people themselves have become the targets: on the street, leaving synagogue, simply going about their daily lives.”
The statement followed a pellet gun shooting targeting worshipers outside the Chasidei Bobov synagogue in North York, Toronto on Thursday night, which the organization described as part of a “wider and deeply alarming pattern” of anti-Jewish violence.
B’nai Brith Canada called on federal, provincial and municipal authorities to establish a National Antisemitism Emergency Task Force and adopt what it described as a “whole-of-government response” to coordinate efforts against antisemitism.
“This must include a clear mandate, dedicated resources, and the authority to coordinate across federal, provincial, and municipal levels,” the organization stated.
B’nai Brith Canada’s 2025 annual audit of Jew-hatred, released last month, recorded 6,800 cases of anti-Jewish hatred across the country—the highest since the organization began tracking in 1982, and representing an average of 18.6 daily incidents. The figure marked a 9.3% increase over 2024’s then-record 6,219 incidents and a 145.6% spike from 2022 levels.
