Premier David Eby has promised to work with Jewish leaders to root out anti-Semitism in B.C.
“I have said it before, but I want to underline it,” he said Friday (March 8). “B.C. has a serious problem with rising anti-Semitism…in schools, in civil society, in private employers and I believe that people have had anti-Semitic experiences within the Government of B.C. public service.”
He made these comments in Vancouver, following a meeting with Jewish leaders, and two days after former cabinet minister Selina Robinson left his party’s caucus because she did not feel it was not doing enough.
“It’s my commitment to the community that we will work together to root this out,” he said.
Eby also promised that government would investigate and address any cases of anti-Semitism in the public service, adding senior officials told him they had not heard complaints.
“Now, I want to be clear,” he said. “I don’t believe for a second that that means that these things have not happened or that they couldn’t happen,” he said.
When people go to work, they should not feel targeted or discriminated based on who they are, he added.
Eby paired his promise with an appeal to public employees to keep personal politics out of the work-place. He called the introduction of mandatory Holocaust education in public schools and changes to the hate crime policies of the BC Prosecution Service “early steps,” but “just the beginning” in identifying and rooting out anti-Semitism.
B.C. becomes the second province after Ontario to make Holocaust education mandatory for high schools starting in the fall 2025 and “wilful promotion of anti-Semitism” is now considered a hate crime in B.C.
Just under 35,000 British Columbians identified as Jewish in the 2021 census with three-quarters of that population living in Metro Vancouver. Overall, Canada is home to about 336,000 individuals who identify as Jewish.
That community has experienced a growing number of religious-motivated hate crimes before and after Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel.
Figures from 2021 show that 55 per cent of the 886 religious hate crimes reported to police were directed towards Jews with the actual number of incidents likely much higher. No other religious group experienced more religious-motivated crimes.
Cases of anti-Semitism were on the rise before Oct. 7 in Canada, and increased after it.
According to the Vancouver Police Department, reports of anti-Semitism increased 62 per cent in 2023, compared to 2022 when police recorded 29 incidents. Of the 47 anti-Semitic hate incidents reported to VPD in 2023, 33 occurred after Oct.7.
Overall, the number of hate crimes reported across all communities rose by 31 per cent to 265 in 2023.
Kasari Govender, B.C.’s human rights commissioner, has also spoken of a surge in discrimination and violence aimed at Jews, as well as Muslims following Oct. 7.
While anti-Semitism existed before Oct. 7, Eby said it “has gotten significantly worse” since.
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Organizations tracking anti-Semitism around the world have also reported significant spikes.
Scholars studying the recent surge have pointed to social media as a mass spreader.
The definition of anti-Semitism itself is contested. The best-known, and the one used in B.C. comes from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
It defines anti-Semitism “as a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Groups representing a broad swath of interests have argued that IHRA’s definition shields the state of Israel from international criticism.