The federal government has announced the creation of a new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion. This replaces the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, empty since the resignation of Deborah Lyons in July 2025 and the office of the Special Envoy and Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia.
The Council’s mission is to identify and combat racism and hate in all their forms, including antisemitism and Islamophobia. While this may sound appealing, in reality, hate crimes and discriminatory treatment against Jews, who are 1% of the Canadian population, account for about 70% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes. Jewish Canadians need a dedicated voice to speak for them, as this council is almost certain to marginalize the particularity of anti-Jewish hatred and how to fight it effectively.
At a time where there is a staggering upsurge in antisemitism globally and in Canada, The Honourable Irwin Cotler and Mark Sandler of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) are among those fighting to have the Office of the Special Envoy maintained. Press the links for a valuable in-depth analysis of their reasoning.
Jews in Canada, already facing antisemitism in all levels of the educational system, attacks on their institutions, including violent attacks on Jewish schools and synagogues, will be less safe as a result of this decision. In addition, the multifaceted role of the Special Envoy is ignored, including its role in creating a national strategy to combat antisemitism, its role in working with various government ministries, its role in civic society and in liaising with Jewish community institutions, and working with the Special Envoys of other countries in working to combat global antisemitism.
Antisemitism in the Canadian university space since Oct 7, 2023, is well-documented. Antisemitism in the K – 12 space is a growing problem. Anti-Palestinian Racism (APR) has been introduced at several school boards, including the TDSB. Problematically, ‘proponents of APR have introduced it alongside a widely circulated definition that labels anyone who supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state or who fails to accept Palestinian narratives of Israel’s creation or current occupation of Palestine (including Israel’s recognized pre-1967 borders) as a racist.’ The identities of Zionist Jews are thus immediately invalidated, and over 90 percent of Jewish students and staff in the public school systems affected would be considered racists. ALCCA is very active in educating the Canadian community on APR.
Most recently, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has selected the fringe group Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) to lead an antisemitism workshop for its executive and staff. IJV is anti-Zionist and thus represents the views of 1% of Canadian Jews. Its extremist ideology advocating for the destruction of the state of Israel is reviled by the vast majority of the Canadian Jewish community and will only serve to legitimize the antisemitism already plaguing the elementary school system in Ontario.