Features
The Astonishing Rise of Antisemitism in Canada
By HENRY SREBRNIK Anyone reading jewishpostandnews.ca knows full well the extent of antisemitism raging across Canada now. Not a day goes by when some horrific event isn’t reported, be it at a school, a university, outside a Jewish centre or synagogue, or on a sidewalk in front of a Jewish-owned business. Protestors in many cases openly call for the elimination of the state of Israel.
This is now commonplace and shows no signs of abating, with federal, provincial and municipal governments, as well as civil society organizations, including school boards, seemingly unwilling or unable to stop it.
Statistics show an unprecedented spike in Jew-hatred in Canada. A March 18 report from the police in Toronto, for example, indicated that of the 84 registered hate crimes in 2024, a startling 56 per were animated by antisemitism. The Vancouver Police January 16 revealed that the Jewish community experienced a 62 per cent increase in police-reported antisemitic hate incidents in 2023 compared to 2022. Most occurred after the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas.
The Jewish community in this country has been under siege, “confronting levels of antisemitism unseen since the Holocaust,” reported Richard Marceau, Vice President, External Affairs and General Counsel, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. This has included, he noted, “fire bombings of synagogues, community centers and Jewish-owned businesses; shootings and bomb scares at Jewish schools; harassment of community members; intimidation of Jewish students and faculty on campus; cheerleading of Hamas by unions; and many other hateful iterations.”
And it’s not just outright criminality on the part of hooligans that should worry us. There are other, more subtle, ways of making Jews feel they’re not really welcome. Plays are cancelled, speakers disinvited, and artists fired.
Vancouver photographer Dina Goldstein’s “In the Dollhouse” photo series was due to be exhibited at a toy-centred exhibition at the Vancouver Centre of International Contemporary Art. But Goldstein was born in Tel Aviv – so she was told by the organizer that she had got a complaint “from a group of Vancouver artists who didn’t think I should be showing because of the war in Israel and Gaza.” She feared vandalism.
Hamilton’s Playhouse Cinema agreed to be the venue for the three-day Hamilton Jewish Film Festival. But with only weeks to go, it abruptly told the festival they were no longer welcome due to “safety and security concerns at this particularly sensitive time.” They also cited “numerous security and safety related emails, phone calls, and social media messages.”
Sadly and ironically, the only connection to the Gaza war that they were screening was “The Boy,” the last film by Israeli filmmaker Yahav Winner, who was murdered by Hamas on October 7.
Cyclist Leah Goldstein had been invited to address a March 8 International Women’s Day event in Peterborough, Ont. The first woman to win the solo category of the Race Across America, a gruelling endurance race, she was scheduled to speak about overcoming “bullies, sexism, terrorism.” But they “discovered” she was raised in Israel, so was dropped “in recognition of the current situation and the sensitivity of the conflict in the Middle East.”
An obstetrics professor at McMaster University in Hamilton was removed from the editorial board of an academic journal after publicly criticizing his professional association for failing to condemn the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7. “I was waiting for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as soon as the stories of rape and sexual violence came out,” Jon Barrett told National Post.
Barrett saw political bias in Society President Amanda Black’s December 2023 public letter applauding the reporting of sexual assault perpetrated by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and highlighting the organization’s work advocating for women, alongside the association’s silence on Hamas’s atrocities against Israeli women.
I could provide all too many similar stories, but most of us already know this our new reality.
We know all about the university encampments, but worst of all is the effect this hatred is having in our primary and secondary educational institutions, where very young minds are being informed that Israel – and by implication Canadian Jews? — are evil.
In the official multifaith calendar for the York Region District School Board in Ontario, Jewish holidays this year were denoted with a small menorah, while the holidays of other religions had their usual representative symbols (a cross for Christians, the star and crescent for Muslims, and so forth). Why? A leaked e-mail revealed that administrators deliberately avoided using the Star of David, the traditional symbol of Judaism, lest it remind students of Israel.
On April 30, Shaked Tsurkan, a 14-year-old Israeli girl attending Leo Hayes High School, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, was followed and beaten up by an older student. It happened off school grounds during the lunch hour and other classmates gathered to watch. Someone even filmed the whole thing on their phone, later posted to social media. It was just one of many incidents, and her parents felt authorities were ignoring the antisemitic overtones to their daughter’s beating.
More recently, a Burlington, Ont. mother pulled her Jewish daughter out of high school, saying the school is allowing and encouraging pro-Palestinian activists to display and promote threatening antisemitic messages. “My child is not in school because she’s Jewish. That’s insane,” Anissa Hersh stated, after withdrawing her daughter from Burlington Central High School recently.
Her daughter had artwork included in a school exhibit but the event seemed like a Gaza protest. “They had a huge booth, and it was labeled Palestine. There was a map: the state of Israel was relabeled as Palestine with the Palestinian colours on it.” The school permitted students to wear T-shirts and jewelry depicting the eradication of Israel. The school’s solution to her complaint? “The only thing they did was, they sent me information on how my daughter could finish school at home.”
Just sitting down at the computer every day, reading all these articles can make your head spin. One year ago at this time, we would have been scoffed at, called fearmongers, and delusional, had we said we felt uneasy about antisemitism in this country. Yet clearly it was all “out there,” ready to go, so to speak. Does this not in some way demonstrate how tenuous civil peace is, that it can turn so incredibly ugly so fast? Was this what it felt like in Berlin in, say, 1931 or so?
In fact a colleague who teaches European history answered by pointing out that antisemitism lurks often unnoticed within larger social movements, obscured by other issues, until an event comes along to trigger it, like the Gaza war, and then those of us look back and ask where did that come from? Call it the “Greta Thunberg Syndrome?” Even climate change activism has become tinged by Jew-hatred.
I think that since October 7 Canadian Jews are suffering from political vertigo. It’s as if a rug was suddenly pulled out from under us on an apartment balcony we assumed was safe, and we were tipped over and fell 12 stories to the ground below.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Features
Famous Gambling Scandals and Controversies: Allyspin Casino Opinion
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The Future of Casino Security and Fraud Prevention
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Cybersecurity plays an important role in online casino gambling. Modern sites implement the latest mechanisms to combat fraud, ensure fair gaming process and fully protect honest players.
Features
Canada Is Failing Its Students on Holocaust Education — Here’s What Must Change
By EMILY (surname withheld by request) We received the following article from a third-year Health Sciences student at Western University, who wrote that as “a Jewish student, I have seen firsthand how Holocaust education in Canada is falling short and how that failure is contributing to fear, misinformation, and rising antisemitism on campuses like mine.”
Despite curriculum requirements, Holocaust education in Canada is alarmingly inadequate. A recent survey found that nearly one in five young Canadians believe the Holocaust has been exaggerated. This highlights a dangerous gap in historical understanding, leaving students vulnerable to misinformation, denial, and rising antisemitism. If Canada is serious about combating hate, it must take Holocaust education far more seriously.
When asked whether Holocaust education in Canada is lacking, Professor Hernan Tessler-Mabe, historian and coordinator of Jewish Studies at Huron University, did not hesitate: “You are 100 percent correct.”
While most provinces claim to include Holocaust education in their curricula, the programming and implementation of curriculum tends to be inconsistent and inadequate. A student’s understanding of one of history’s greatest atrocities depends heavily on where they go to school, which teacher they have, and whether their school offers substantive instruction. The result is misinformation, denial, and rising antisemitism.
Avoiding Holocaust education allows dangerous myths and conspiracy theories to spread unchecked. Without an understanding of the Holocaust and the centuries of antisemitism that preceded it, students are ill-equipped to identify modern antisemitism in the world around them. This antisemitism manifests into everyday conversation, online spaces, and political discourse.
To address this crisis, Canada must act with urgency in three key areas. These include consulting experts, confronting difficult material, and properly training educators.
First, schools and provincial governments must consult those who specialize in Holocaust history and education. “It is the most important thing,” Dr. Tesler-Mabé, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Jewish Studies at Huron University says. He points out, “You cannot just throw it into a general history class and assume it will be taught well. You need people who understand both the history and how to teach it.”
Second, we must accept that the subject is deeply disturbing and cannot be made comfortable. Dr. Tesler-Mabé iterates, “We have to accept that parts of this will be traumatic or triggering.” “Obviously it depends on grade level, but if students do not feel disturbed by it, they will not understand it. That discomfort is part of the learning.”
Third, teachers must be prepared. Many educators may feel unequipped to teach this material and either gloss over it or skip it altogether. Training programs and partnerships are essential. In Ottawa, the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES) works to connect schools with survivor testimonies and support resources, but broader reach and investment are needed.
Dr. Tesler-Mabé explains, “We have to teach the teachers, especially now that we are losing survivors. That raises a whole new concern. How do you teach something this heavy, this complex, without first hand testimony? Educators need the tools, the background, and the sensitivity to do it well.”
Some may argue that Canada already does enough in this area. After all, Holocaust education is present in some curricula, and many students visit Holocaust museums or hear from survivors. But occasional exposure is not enough. The widespread prevalence of Holocaust denial and the proliferation of antisemitic conspiracy theories underscore significant shortcomings in current systems designed to combat such misinformation. A 2022 report by UNESCO and the United Nations, in collaboration with the World Jewish Congress, found that 16.2% of Holocaust-related content on major social media platforms either denied or distorted fundamental facts about the Holocaust. A standardized, rigorous, and mandatory approach is the only way forward.
Holocaust education is not just about history, it is about safeguarding the future and combating antisemitism in modern manifestations. When students understand how propaganda, scapegoating, and dehumanization led to one of history’s darkest chapters, they are better equipped to recognize and reject hatred in all its forms. Without a solid foundation in Holocaust education, antisemitism continues to fester, not just in online spaces, but within universities, workplaces, and public discourse. We are already seeing the consequences of unchecked Holocaust denial and rising antisemitism, from bias in professional spaces to hostility on university campuses. As a Jewish student at Western University, I have seen fear take hold among my peers. Friends who once wore Stars of David or spoke openly about their heritage now hesitate to do so. I have also begun to question whether it is safe to express my identity. With the last generation of Holocaust survivors passing, the responsibility to preserve their stories and the lessons they teach rests with all of us. If we do not confront this crisis at its root, we risk allowing history to repeat itself in new and dangerous ways.
Canada is failing its students. In doing so, it is failing the promise of Never Again. The question is not whether we should strengthen Holocaust education, but why we have not already.
Features
Anna Kaplan one of Winnipeg’s youngest personal trainers
By MYRON LOVE It is always uplifting to read (or, from my perspective, to write) about people who have been able to reinvent themselves – and even more so when such an individual can use her own transformation to inspire others. Such is the case with Anna Kaplan, a young (21) personal trainer whose passion for physical fitness grew out of personal troubles as a teenager.
“I had a feeling of being excluded,” says the daughter of Kevin and Roxanne Kaplan. “I was afraid that I was missing out. I was losing friends. I had developed some bad habits and was at a real low point in my life – at rock bottom.”
At 18, Kaplan determined to change her life. She began working with a personal trainer and going to the gym. She also changed her dietary habits.
“Before long, I was feeling better mentally and physically,” she recalls.
Two years ago, wanting to help others struggling to improve their lives, Kaplan opened A Plus Fitness. On her Facebook page, she notes that “When you sign up for online training with A Plus Fitness, you’re not just getting a workout plan — you’re getting full access to our all-in-one training app designed to support your transformation every step of the way.”
Kaplan started A Plus Fitness strictly as an online business for which she developed her own app. “I started building my client base initially by contacting friends and acquaintances via a social media platform to see what interest there might be out there,” she says.
With demand for her services growing, about a year ago she began working with clients in person out of a gym on Portage Avenue. In just two years, she reports, business has grown to the point where she has had to hire a second trainer.
“I work with people ranging from 18 to 65 plus,” she says. “The number of clients has tripled in the last year and I have been able to help over 100 clients to get into shape and change their lives.”
The reviews have been outstanding with many giving the young fitness trainer a 5 out of 5 rating. Says one client: ”I’ve been training with Anna for a while now, and it’s been an amazing experience! She really takes the time to understand my goals and pushes me in the best way possible. Since working with her, I feel stronger, more motivated, and more confident in my workouts.”
Adds another: “Over the past year, A Plus Fitness has completely transformed my approach to working out, helping me tone my body and build strength in ways I never thought possible. Anna’s guidance and personalized training plans have made a huge difference in my progress, pushing me to achieve results faster than I expected.”
Kaplan feels good that among those she has been able to help have been her own mother, Roxanne Kaplan, who says that ”I’ve always had some sort of fitness routine in my life. I followed along with the fitness videos with the weights that were recommended – I’d go through phases but never stuck to it. With Anna’s coaching and sticking to her program, I see muscle definition that I’ve never had before. I feel better, more confident, and well rested.”
Kaplan further points out that, in additions to helping people through her business, she is also community minded. “I have helped with several fundraising events in the Jewish community,” she reports.
Most recently, she helped raise money for the Reid Bricker Mental Wellness Fund in memory of a relatively young member of our community who struggled with mental health for several years before committing suicide 10 years ago. The fund aims “to increase the availability of mental health supports and education across the province while ensuring that individuals and families facing mental health challenges receive the support they need when they need it the most.”
Next for Anna Kaplan and A Plus Fitness is to open her own location at some point in the next few years.
Readers can contact Anna at 204 391-5832 or mail her at admin@aplusfit.ca.
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