Jewish community bears brunt of Toronto's rising hate crimes
Graffiti, vandalism, and the challenge of justice
Masked offenders exploit post-COVID reluctance to enforce anti-disguise laws.
Weak prosecutions leave hate crimes with the lowest charge rates in Canada.
Political inaction means repeat offenders face little deterrence.
Neighbourhoods on edge
FSWC is lobbying for tougher hate crime laws and mask bans during offenses.
Toronto Police are expanding outreach but stress evidence hurdles.
Advocates urge citizens to report incidents—even "small" acts of vandalism.
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
When Jaime Kirzner-Roberts opens the latest Toronto police hate crime report, the numbers confirm what she already knows—what her friends, colleagues, and neighbors all know.177 incidents targeting Jews in 2024. A 40 per cent share of all hate crimes. A small community, just 4 per cent of the city, carrying an outsized burden of fear.'We are the leading target of hate-motivated crimes by a very, very large margin,' says Kirzner-Roberts, senior director at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC). 'And in per capita terms? It's even more shocking.'The report, released this week, shows hate crimes in Toronto rose 19 per cent in 2024, the third consecutive increase, with nearly half driven by religion. Jews were the most frequent victims, followed by the LGBTQ+ and Black communities. For many, the statistics aren't just data; they're personal.'If it hasn't happened to us, we know somebody it has happened to,' Kirzner-Roberts says.Most anti-Jewish hate crimes fall under 'mischief', a bland legal term masking the ugliness of swastikas scratched into synagogue doors, cemeteries defaced, and schools tagged with slurs. Of 148 such incidents reported last year, only 10 led to charges.'Many offences happen without witnesses, without forensic evidence,' the police report admits. But Kirzner-Roberts argues the problem runs deeper:'It's not the police who need to change, it's the lawmakers,' she insists.The worst-hit areas? 52 Division (north Toronto, home to many Jewish families) and 32 Division (downtown, including the islands). Public transit saw an 88 per cent spike in hate crimes, graffiti doubling, assaults up by a third.Yet there are glimmers of hope. Toronto police have worked closely with Jewish groups, developing antisemitism training for officers. The FSWC is pushing for similar education for transit staff, hoping to curb attacks on subways and buses.But Kirzner-Roberts' plea is broader: Wake up.'I hope these numbers finally push leaders, municipal, provincial, federal, to make this a priority.'Because behind every statistic is a person. A family. A community wondering if they'll be next.What's next?"Silence," says Kirzner-Roberts, "isn't an option anymore."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
13 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Forgotten witness
I always thought Independence Day belonged to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. My father was a young man when India gained Independence. I heard my great-aunt had tasted the police lathi and then become a politician. Our neighbour had been to jail as a freedom-fighter. But I never asked any of them, 'What did you do on August 15?' In retrospect, that seems like such an obvious question. But it ended up being a missed opportunity. That remains a lifelong regret. Some years ago, I asked my mother what she had done on August 15, 1947. But she didn't have clear memories of doing anything special that day. She didn't remember any feasts being cooked at home, or the family huddled around the radio set listening to Nehru's famous speech at midnight. Instead, she remembered drawing the curtains and huddling around the radio to listen to Subhas Chandra Bose's Aami Subhas Bolchi broadcasts from Singapore in years earlier. It puzzled me. Independence was such a seminal moment in the history of the country. I would have thought it would be engraved in her memory. But Kolkata was in a state of violent unrest in those days with Hindu-Muslim killings. It's likely that as a young girl, my mother was not allowed to go anywhere. Independence probably felt very different to her than it did to her brother. I can imagine my uncle and his friends running down the streets on Independence Day. But I never asked him. Our generation took independence for granted. And then one day it was too late to ask those who had witnessed it about it. An incredible spectrum The problem I realise is the way we are taught history. It's about very important men (and a few women) taking very important decisions around round tables. There are Wavell Plans and Cripps Missions and Dandi Marches. But the ordinary people are always the extras. Never at school did someone tell us, 'Go interview your grandparents about living through this period in history'. Their stories somehow never mattered. But what stories they had. Flower Silliman, who passed away last year, was one of the last members of the dwindling Jewish community in Kolkata. She once told me about how she had come upon a mob killing a man in the heart of Kolkata. When she tried to intervene, the mob politely told her this was not her fight. As a memsahib (white woman), she needed to stay out of it. Suddenly she realised that though she thought of herself as an Indian Jew, to many in the new India, she wasn't Indian at all. Jatra artist Chapal Bhaduri remembers peering out of the window of his home in North Kolkata and seeing someone hold another person by the throat and hack his head off with a chopper. In his book The Last Heroes, veteran journalist P. Sainath collects many such stories. The woman who cooked food for revolutionaries hiding in the forests of Purulia in West Bengal. The woman who at 13 was taking on the Razakars of Hyderabad with a slingshot. The student activist who could not give his final exam because he was in jail. 'Freedom was not brought to you by a bunch of Oxbridge Brahmin baniyas,' says Sainath. 'But by an incredible spectrum of diverse peoples — Dalits, Adivasis, women, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, OBCs, Brahmins, you name it. They participated.' The woman who cooked for Bose's INA thought she was just a cook, not a freedom fighter. Years later, when she was invited to hoist the flag, she was embarrassed. She worked as a domestic help and didn't have a decent sari. These people didn't get roads named after them. There are no statues to them. Memories on postcards It took Aanchal Malhotra finding objects like a peacock-shaped bracelet, a maang tika, a pocket knife, to realise they carried in them stories about her ancestors as they fled across the new border that separated India and Pakistan. That led to her book Remnants of Separation, an alternative history of Partition told through material memory. These stories were not really deemed worth of history books. But history needs to be freed from textbooks. DAG once organised an exhibit called March to Freedom at the Indian Museum in Kolkata. In it were dozens of handwritten postcards with people's memories of Independence. 'My grandmother's father was in the police but he still took part in the Swadeshi movement,' said one. Another said, 'My late grandfather's account of 15th August is rather funny. A bunch of village kids with no money or resources stole gamchas [cotton towels] and hoisted them on a bunch of sticks and ran through the rice fields overjoyed about a free India.' The letter writers (or their grandparents) had never met Gandhi or Nehru. But they too were part of the story of Indian Independence. The people's history of Independence needs to be preserved before it's too late. Sandip Roy, the author of Don't Let Him Know, likes to let everyone know about his opinions, whether asked or not.
News18
38 minutes ago
- News18
Gaza Cartoon Programme With Mickey Mouse Lookalike Taught Children To 'Kill Israelis': Report
Last Updated: Tomorrow's Pioneers was aired on Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV every Friday from April 2007 to October 2009, which encouraged anti-Jewish violence and martyrdom. Children in Gaza reportedly grew up watching a cartoon programme, featuring a Mickey Mouse lookalike, which encourages kids to 'kill" Israelis, hate Jews and embrace martyrdom. The show called Tomorrow's Pioneers was aired on Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV every Friday from April 2007 to October 2009. It includes Farfour, a costumed Mickey Mouse lookalike, and celebrates anti-Jewish violence and martyrdom, according to a report by the New York Post. Farfour promises the children of Gaza that they will oversee Islamic world domination and liberate Jerusalem from the 'murderers", while mimicking grenade-throwing and shooting an AK-47. Farfour was later shown beaten to death by Israeli soldiers and replaced with other characters. Farfour was replaced by a bumblebee with a squeaky voice named Nahoul, who preaches, 'We will liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews" and swears 'revenge upon the enemies of God". He is later shown getting sick and being denied a travel permit to seek treatment in Egypt before dying. Moreover, in one episode, children were invited into the studio to tell the hosts of their wish to die as martyrs, and then sing a song about it. 'It's a constant stream of horrific propaganda that is almost impossible for a child to break out of. And so the kids grow up thinking that every Israeli should be killed because every Israeli is bad and evil," said Mia Bloom, professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University. 'Directing Trauma In Children' Bloom said Hamas knew the children were already traumatised by the decades-long Palestinian conflict and sought to traumatise them further with Tomorrow's Pioneers to 'control the narrative" and 'direct the trauma" against Israel. 'This kind of layered trauma that you're deliberately exposing young Palestinian children to was not just a form of child abuse, but a long-term manipulation," she told the New York Post. 'It relates to October 7th. To have those resources and instead of making things better, you've just made things so much worse." The show's co-host, Gaza child star Saraa Barhoum, was around 10 years old when the show first aired, and the daughter of a university professor mother and a Hamas spokesman father. She revealed in a 2007 interview that she wanted to be either a doctor or a martyr when she grew up. Barhoum also launched a singing career, recording pop songs with lyrics like, 'raise your sail for the sailors, and let your lighthouse illuminate the sea of blood." The NYP report implied that the show demonising Jews played a role in the October 7, 2023, attacks, as many of the Hamas fighters who attacked Israel were aged between 16 and 35 years. view comments Location : Jerusalem, Israel First Published: August 14, 2025, 15:01 IST News world Gaza Cartoon Programme With Mickey Mouse Lookalike Taught Children To 'Kill Israelis': Report Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
News18
39 minutes ago
- News18
DRG Jawan Injured After IED Planted By Naxalites Explodes In Chhattisgarh's Bijapur
Last Updated: A DRG jawan was injured by an IED planted by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur during an anti-Naxal operation. The incident occurred in Indravati area. A jawan of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Naxalites exploded in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday, according to police. The incident occurred in a forest in the Indravati area during a joint anti-Naxal operation involving the DRG and the Special Task Force (STF), both units of the state police, a police official reported. The injured jawan is being evacuated from the forest after receiving preliminary treatment, he added. Maoists frequently plant IEDs on dirt tracks to target security personnel using these routes during anti-Naxal operations in forests. Civilians have also fallen victim to such traps in the Bastar region, which includes Bijapur district, according to the police. 2 Naxalites Killed In Encounter Two senior Naxalites, each carrying rewards totaling Rs 35 lakh, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district on Wednesday, according to police. The encounter occurred late in the afternoon in the Banda Pahad forest area under Madanwada police station jurisdiction, during an anti-Naxal operation by the District Reserve Guard (DRG), stated Superintendent of Police YP Singh. He further told PTI that the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) participated as a support unit in the operation. The operation commenced on Tuesday night following information about the presence of senior cadres in the region. On Wednesday, an exchange of fire began while security personnel were encircling the Banda Pahad area near Retegaon village amidst rainfall. After the firing ceased, the bodies of two Naxalites were found at the site. The deceased were identified as Vijay Reddy and Lokesh Salame, said Singh. Reddy, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Maoists, had a reward of Rs 25 lakh on him, whereas Salame, a divisional committee member, had a Rs 10 lakh bounty on his capture. view comments First Published: August 14, 2025, 15:01 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
