Belleville attack should be ‘wake-up call’ on rising antisemitism, Jewish group says

OTTAWA – The head of a major Jewish advocacy group said Thursday the recent violent attack at a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., should serve as a “wake-up call” on the “much broader problem” of rising antisemitism and racist conspiracies in Canada.

Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, made the comment just days after the Yom Kippur gun attack that left a police officer critically injured and the shooter dead.

Shack told a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday that Sunday’s attack could have happened anywhere in the country, and that the people inside the synagogue survived because of Const. Jeff Smith’s heroism.

“We’ve seen hate targeting schools, seniors homes, workplaces and universities across this country,” Shack said.

“There’s an urgent need to deal with the radicalization to violence and extremism that we’re facing in this country.”

Belleville police said Thursday the synagogue shooting, which happened on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, was clearly a hate-motivated crime.

B’nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Wolle, who was in Belleville on Thursday, called for legal changes to allow synagogues to hire armed private security guards, and funding for police presence at every Jewish institution across the country.

B’nai Brith said in a statement it is tracking a marked increase in violence against Jewish people this year, with dozens of violent antisemitic incidents recorded so far.

Jewish university students from across the country who gathered on Parliament Hill Thursday said they have frequently experienced instances of antisemitism both on and off campus that have made them feel unwelcome and unsafe.

“Being Jewish itself has become political,” said Kate Blumberg, a third-year undergraduate student at McMaster University.

“We are students that, when noticed, are cast on campus as the sole responders to a geopolitical crisis much older and larger than ourselves.”

Livia Mamane, a student in Quebec, described being verbally accosted on public transit in Montreal for wearing a necklace that displayed a star of David. She said she exited at a random stop because she felt threatened.

She recounted similar situations on campus experienced by her friends, including one who she said was greeted with a Nazi salute.

“This is something I wish more people understood about Jewish students — we’re not debating ideologies. We’re attending schools and frequenting public spaces where our identity has become a political statement in other people’s eyes,” Mamane said.

“My life is inundated with discomfort and fear surrounding my identity.”

Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree released an update Thursday on the federal government’s efforts to combat antisemitism.

“The government of Canada recognizes that antisemitism can be a matter of national security. Beyond the very real and immediate threat to Jewish individuals and communities, antisemitism is a core component of many violent extremist ideologies,” the federal government’s progress report said.

“The normalization of hate directed at Jewish-Canadians, and violence directed at Jewish community institutions, undermines Canadian security and resilience, creating an environment where no vulnerable minority is safe.”

Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said the government hasn’t done enough to confront the problem and behaviour that is clearly criminal is not being properly sanctioned.

Antisemitism is rising across the political spectrum, she said.

“It lives and breathes on the left and it lives and breathes on the extreme right,” Lantsman said.

“It is up to governments and it is up to those institutions to root this out. It is up to enforcement, it is up to education, and it is up to all of us to actually call it out when it happens.”

Lantsman recounted being at her synagogue and getting the news that the shooting happened in Belleville.

“The next day, our synagogue, as it often does, starts with a security briefing of what to do when things go south, on where the doors are, how much security is the responsibility of the synagogue. I think that puts a tremendous amount of shock into, and fear into, a community that has consistently been shocked and (fearful) over the last three years.”

Statistics Canada reported earlier this year that in 2024, 70 per cent of religious hate crimes reported to police targeted Jewish people. It also noted that hate crimes are most likely to occur in public places, such as transit systems or locations near schools.

Parliament passed the Combatting Hate Act in June this year, which creates new Criminal Code offences for hate-motivated intimidation of identifiable groups, including through the intentional display of certain Nazi symbols.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he wants to see specialized prosecutors responsible for all hate cases and the federal justice and public safety ministers seem receptive to the idea.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2026.