Canadian gov report finds 90% of Jewish students in country saw or were victims of Jew-hatred

A federal Canadian government study on campus antisemitism, released in August, found that 90% of Jewish students surveyed experienced or witnessed Jew-hatred at their institutions over the past year. The report documented specific incidents including professors assigning Holocaust-denial readings and a student telling a peer that it was "a shame Hitler did not finish the job."

The Metropolis Institute, a think tank at the Association for Canadian Studies, conducted the survey of 900 Jewish students across more than two dozen Canadian colleges and universities. Among those surveyed, 71% reported seeing antisemitic graffiti, while more than 20% observed physical violence against Jews. The survey also documented targeted incidents such as mezuzahs ripped from dorm room doors at multiple institutions.

About 33% of respondents reported antisemitic course content or classroom discussions, while a similar proportion said professors introduced Jews, Judaism, Israel and Zionism in unrelated ways to course material. Professors were named in 18% of incidents. More than 30% said they considered dropping a course or leaving their program due to antisemitic faculty or students.

Just one-third of students who experienced antisemitic events reported them, and of those who did, about two-thirds expressed dissatisfaction with the institutional response. More than half of those who remained silent believed reporting would make no difference.

Among survey participants, 84% said Jew-hatred is a serious campus problem, 70% believed their school took it insufficiently seriously, and 68% felt their campus was unsafe for Jewish students or not inclusive to them. Some 72% limited what they said in class about being Jewish, and 57% avoided displaying Jewish symbols due to safety concerns. Also, 45% said Holocaust denial and distortion occurred "often" Or "sometimes," And 81% observed or experienced discriminatory treatment of Zionists.

Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the institute and one of the study authors, described the findings as evidence of "a systemic phenomenon." The Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, a faculty group formed in 2022, released a 10-point list of recommendations including enforcement of existing anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies, revised diversity policies with clear definitions of Jew-hatred, mandatory antisemitism training, and annual assessments of campus hate. A follow-up report based on surveys of 750 non-Jewish students is expected within two months.