It took several decades but Canadians might, possibly, perchance, be losing faith in the institutions that have let them down so often:
Communities targeted by public disorder have “lost confidence” in police, prosecutors and the courts, Toronto’s Deputy Chief of Police yesterday told the Senate human rights committee. The testimony followed complaints of repeated, violent attacks on Jews: ‘When a Jewish school is shot at, social damage resonates widely.’
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Nearly half of Canadians surveyed distrust the federal government to “make good decisions in the public interest,” according to in-house Privy Council research. The study documented growing public skepticism: “On the whole, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way democracy works in Canada?”
Why could any of that be?:
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Some 82% of religion-motivated hate crimes in Toronto in 2025 targeted Jews, compared to 14 per cent that were anti-Muslim, according to annual hate crime statistics that the Toronto Police Service released on Thursday.
The department said that there was a 50 per cent decrease in reported hate crimes in 2025 (231) compared to 2024 (443) but that reported hate crimes are up 40 per cent so far in 2026 compared to this period last year. In 2023, there were 372 reported hate crimes, the department said.
In 2025, there was also a 37 per cent decrease compared to 2024 in the number of criminal charges (217) brought against the 73 people arrested for hate crimes. Those arrested for hate crimes in 2025 were likelier to be charged (32 per cent) than they were in 2024 (25 per cent).
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In a May 12 appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, Saad said he had accepted a post at the University of Mississippi. He said repeated death threats had made it untenable for him to continue as a marketing professor at Concordia University.
“I’m now leaving in large part because it became difficult for me, if not impossible, to be a high-profile Jewish professor who supports the right of Israel to exist,” he said.
Saad confirmed the move in a Victoria Day social media post, thanking Concordia “for the complete freedom that I was granted to pursue any research stream and any professional endeavour that I desired.”
He added, “I did face some difficulties over the past few years stemming from the unfolding realities in Montreal but I walk away with some sadness (I’m sentimental).”
Concordia University has long been a focal point of anti-Israel radicalism. As far back as 2002, an anti-Zionist riot at the school prevented a planned appearance by Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now prime minister.
More recently, the university was the scene of a November 2024 anti-Israel riot that saw the school’s main lobby dominated by masked mobs calling for Intifada and charging lecture halls to interrupt classes with bells and shouted slogans.
Saad told Joe Rogan that in 2017, online threats had forced him to follow a safety protocol in which he had to be escorted by security while on campus — and the doors of his classrooms locked to keep out potential assailants.
“I would lecture, I would be ushered out, my wife would be waiting for me and I would let out a deep sigh, ‘Thank God I survived another week,’” he said.
In 2022, Saad said he was walking with his nine-year-old son when a man asked him if he was Gad Saad, to which he replied that he was.
As Saad told Rogan, “then he kind of composes himself to deal with the hatred he feels and he goes ‘I’m not going to do anything to you out of respect for your son today.’”
Shortly afterwards, Saad took leave from Concordia in order to accept a post with the Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi.
Saad told Rogan he is in the United States on a work visa, but hopes to obtain permanent residency and ultimately citizenship. “Maybe we can turn the Saads into Americans,” he said.
Saad’s departure marks the second time in 16 months that an influential Canadian academic has left Canada for the United States, blaming local political conditions for hounding them into exile.
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Federal agencies have warned a mass attack targeting Canadian Jews may occur in coming months, the Senate human rights committee was told yesterday. Senators did not question the testimony: “This is not theoretical.”
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My former colleague isn’t alone. More and more Jews are leaving Canada for Israel. According to the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, Canadian aliyah rose a record 51 per cent in 2025 from 2023. They are leaving this country at record rates and many are relocating to the United States, as well.
My ex-colleague, Henry Topas, had been a successful businessman in Montreal and doubled as a cantor in one of the most hallowed synagogues in the city, Beth Tikvah. The synagogue was the target of antisemitic firebombing attacks — twice. Both attacks came after the Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Topas, now 75, and his wife had considered making aliyah even before October 7 because he has children and grandchildren in Israel, but the couple became so fed up with Montreal and Canada in general that they moved to the Jewish state permanently last March.
“I became increasingly disillusioned with the level of security for the Jewish community,” Topas told me from his new home in Israel. “It was extremely frustrating.”
No guff. Organizations have documented a rise in antisemitism — vile antisemitism, in Canada. Only last week, there were two more shootings outside synagogues in Toronto.
“The truth is, the wave of antisemitism in contemporary Canada is not only a matter of fearing for our safety in the synagogue,” said Sam Eskenasi, an Orthodox Jew in Thornhill, Ont., and a father of six. “It has much broader impact on us, as well. It has affected my family and me in the pocketbook. So are we thinking about moving to Israel? Absolutely.”
Eskenasi revealed that, before the October 7 rapes and murders in Israel, he had a working relationship with a number of schools and community centres that expressed fondness for his plan to construct a portable museum. It was designed to educate Canadians about what Jewish life was all about, as many had, and still have, no frame of reference.
“Once the job was completed, and this was after October 7, the others decided to quietly back out. I was informed that there was reluctance because the museum was perceived by them as too much of a political statement. The museum is now sitting in my garage,” he said.
“So I’m sure you can see what I mean. Will I have to worry about my visibly Jewish children getting a fair shake in Canada?”
It is a fair question, really.
Jewish life in Canada, as we know it, is being systematically targeted by a number of vocal, anti-Israel groups who are campaigning to shut down Jewish schools and camps. And, as the National Post’s Tristin Hopper reported in March, eight Canadian Jewish non-profit organizations have been stripped of their charitable status by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Concerns about bias and political pressure in Canada on Jews are increasing daily. It is unfathomable that Jew hate of this magnitude is taking place in our country in 2026. It is maddening. It is depressing. And, what’s worse, it isn’t only in Canada. Nefesh B’Nefesh, a non-profit organization that facilitates aliyah from Canada and the United States, last year registered a worldwide surge in diaspora Jews planning to move to Israel, with a 70 per cent increase in both countries and a 400 per cent increase in France. Similar spikes occurred in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina.
While many Jewish-Canadians feel now is the right time to make aliyah by moving to Israel, countless other Canadian Jews are investigating the idea of moving to the United States, particularly Florida.
“I get at least five serious inquiries from Canadian Jews every day,” said Lauren Cohen, a cross-border investment and immigration lawyer who has held virtual town hall events and private counselling sessions for Jewish-Canadians pondering permanent moves to Florida. “The number of inquiries I am getting from Jewish-Canadians is unprecedented.”
Author of the book, “Finding Your Silver Lining in the Immigration Process,” Cohen moved from Thornhill to Boca Raton, Fla., 25 years ago. Not only Jews from Canada have been seeking her advice, she said, but non-Jews, as well.
“But so many are Jewish because they are looking for a safe place to reside, and Florida, for the most part, is pro-Israel,” she said. “Antisemitism in Canada has been manifesting under the Canadian governments the past 10 years.”
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Canada’s ports rarely make front-page news until something jams: a strike, a backlog, a tariff shock, or a container stuck between rail, road, and sea. Now Ottawa has put a far bigger question on the table: whether parts of Canada’s port system should be merged, restructured, opened to more private capital, or even divested.
The Carney government has not announced a port sale. But a new federal discussion paper says future recommendations could include the “amalgamation” of key ports and the “divestiture” of others. That single word matters. Ports are not just docks and warehouses; they are gateways for groceries, cars, grain, minerals, energy, construction materials, and the goods that keep Canadian households and businesses moving.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday proposed a trillion-dollar expansion of the power grid but would not say who would pay for it. Analysts have warned of substantially higher costs for ratepayers: “Get it wrong and Canadians will pay higher utility bills.”
(Sidebar: among other things.)
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Prime Minister Mark Carney called Honda’s decision not to move forward with its electric vehicle project in Alliston, Ont., a “disappointing decision.”
“It’s a decision that reflects the broader strategic position and financial position of that company,” said Carney, during a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday. “It’s part of a global series of decisions that they’ve taken.”
Carney said despite Honda’s decision, the shift to lower emission zero emission vehicles will likely continue to progress globally and here in Canada.
“But those are choices for Canadians,” said Carney, alluding to consumer sentiment in the car market.
No, those are things foisted on the Canadian public, things that no one asked for.
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Another sign of tension in the Canada-U.S. relationship emerged this week when Washington suspended its participation in a long-standing forum for discussing bilateral defence priorities.
The U.S. administration said the move stemmed from concerns that Canada is not meeting its defence commitments. But more could be at play given the current strained ties between the North American allies.
The announcement came by way of U.S. Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby in an X post on May 18. Colby said his department is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to “reassess” how the body benefits shared continental defence.
Colby also posted a link to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he used thinly veiled criticism directed at U.S. policies and called on middle powers to resist the “coercion” of great powers.
“We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality,” Colby said in his post, adding that “real powers must sustain our rhetoric with shared defense and security responsibilities.”
Although Carney dismissed the significance of Washington’s decision to suspend the board when commenting on the issue on May 19, it is unlikely he missed the signal. Whether it changes his calculus in managing the broader Canada-U.S. relationship, or affects the upcoming July review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), remains to be seen.
Carney does not care but he has another interested party waiting in the wings.
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