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TL;DR

TORONTO — Prime Minister Mark Carney used a speech at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on June 1 to draw a direct line between Canada's immigration model and a rising crisis of antisemitism, telling newcomers they are welcome to bring their faith, language, and traditions but must leave "wars and animosities" behind.

The speech came as reported hate crimes across Canada have climbed steadily for six consecutive years, with Jewish Canadians bearing a disproportionate share. Carney called it a test of the country's 'covenant,' the unspoken deal that keeps a diverse society from coming apart.

Carney delivered the address in English and French at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto's oldest Reform synagogue and argued that Canada's founding logic rejects uniformity as a condition of unity.

"Canada was not founded on a single creed, race, language, or faith," Carney said. "Pluralism in Canada is not the exception to the framework. Pluralism is the framework."

He described a model of open secularism in which the state takes no side on belief, but religious identity is not confined to private life. "Faith, language, heritage, and tradition are not concessions to citizenship," he said. "They are expressions of it."

At the same time, he said that model carries obligations. "When you come to Canada, you bring your faith, your tradition, your language, your story," Carney said. "You leave behind your wars and your animosities."

Carney spent most of the speech on what he called a failure of Canada's civic contract toward Jewish Canadians. He cited government data showing that more than two-thirds of religion-motivated hate crimes last year targeted Jews, who account for roughly 1 percent of the population.

"Canada's civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians," he said. "Canadian parents are now having to ask themselves whether it's safe to send their children to a Jewish school."

According to Statistics Canada data reported by ThePrint, reported hate crimes increased 169 percent between 2018 and 2024, climbing from 1,817 incidents to 4,882. Antisemitic hate crimes nearly tripled during the same period, rising from 331 to 920. Anti-Muslim hate crimes rose from 84 to 229.

B'nai Brith Canada's 2025 audit, published in April 2026, recorded 6,800 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the highest total since the organization began tracking in 1982. Community incident audits and police-reported hate crime data measure different things, but both show increases.

Carney directed the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion to make antisemitism its first priority. The council, chaired by the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, includes seven members: Marc Gold, P.C.; Martine Roy; Catriona Le May Doan; Omar Alghabra, P.C.; Gary LaPlante; Dr. Aftab Erfan; and Avnish Nanda.

The council was first announced by Canadian Heritage on February 4, 2026, with a broad mandate to combat racism and hate, consult with communities, and advise the government. It replaced earlier dedicated envoy roles on antisemitism and Islamophobia, folding those functions into a wider rights and inclusion framework.

On June 1, Carney gave the council its initial assignment with four priorities:

The Prime Minister's Office also said the government has introduced six pieces of legislation over the past year to bolster public safety and combat hate.

Carney didn’t stop at Jewish communities. He said the covenant "runs in every direction" and named Islamophobia, church burnings, and transphobia as violations of the same covenant.

"Canada promises a country in which Indigenous Peoples, Muslim Canadians, Black Canadians, Sikh Canadians, Christian Canadians, Queer Canadians, every Canadian, can be visibly themselves without fear," he said.

He also acknowledged that policing and legislation alone are insufficient. "A country where Jewish schools require security guards, where synagogues need barriers, and where Jewish children attend schools within a protected perimeter is a country that protects its citizens but fails to uphold its civic duty," he said.

Jewish leaders offered a mixed response. The Canadian Jewish News reported that while community figures welcomed Carney's acknowledgment of the antisemitism crisis, some questioned why the speech did not mention Israel, Zionism, Hamas, the October 7 attack, or Iran. Others noted the advisory council has one Jewish member out of seven.

Mark Sandler of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) called the speech "a huge missed opportunity" for its omission of Zionism and anti-Zionism as factors in the current wave of antisemitic incidents.

Carney's speech sets the federal government's public position on what pluralism requires of newcomers: visible religious and cultural identity can be part of Canadian citizenship, while overseas conflicts should be left outside Canada's civic life.

If you're a newcomer active in diaspora politics, Carney’s speech says a lot about how the federal government may start treating that activity, even though it changes no law yet.

framing shapes how diaspora political activity is discussed at the federal level, even if it does not change any law on its own.

The advisory council's work on antisemitism could lead to changes in how hate crimes are reported, how religious institutions receive security funding, and how data on bias incidents is collected. If you're involved with a place of worship, community organization, or campus group, watch for council recommendations in the coming months. Better hate-crime data could also affect how other communities, including Muslim, Sikh, and Black Canadians, make the case for federal attention and resources.