The Toronto Liberal MP made his remarks after the North York synagogue and the nearby Beth Avraham Yoseph synagogue in Thornhill were both shot at in the early morning hours of March 7. Bullets also struck Temple Emanu-El in North York on the night of March 2. (No injuries were reported, but police said two people were inside the Thornhill synagogue when the shooting occurred.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFederal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen they attack a synagogue, they attack Canada,\u201d Anandasangaree told reporters last weekend as Jewish community leaders, local politicians and police looked on.
The Toronto human rights lawyer said Ottawa will drive forward its signature anti-hate bill, the proposed Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9), which would codify a definition of hate; make it illegal to intimidate and obstruct people from accessing places of worship, schools and community centres; and make it a crime to wilfully promote hatred against an identifiable group by publicly displaying certain terrorism or hate symbols.
Bill C-9, which was introduced last September, has been stalled for months in the Commons Justice Committee, but on March 9 and 10, MPs debated and passed the minority Liberal government\u2019s motion (supported by the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois), requiring the committee to move on with paused clauseby-clause review of Bill C-9 without further delay.
Bill C-9 has been filibustered by Conservative committee members opposed to Bill C-9\u2019s proposed removal of the existing \u201cgood faith\u201d religious expression defence to the crime of wilful promotion of hatred \u2014 a defence the Liberals point out has never been successfully relied on. However, the official opposition called for Bill C-9 to be withdrawn, arguing its provisions would impinge on Canadians\u2019 constitutionally protected freedom of religion and free speech and is apt to criminalize such sacred texts as the Bible, the Qur\u2019an and the Torah.
On March 10, Justice Minister Sean Fraser told the Commons that in order to \u201creflect the feedback\u201d the Liberal government has heard from some faith communities, it is amending Bill C-9 \u201cto make clear that the practice of one\u2019s faith will not be considered a crime in Canada. That is the position of the government.\u201d
Fraser\u2019s parliamentary secretary Patricia Lattanzio told the House of Commons the bill has had more than 30 hours of study. \u201cAfter six months of delay, it is time for Parliament to move forward,\u201d said the Montreal lawyer, who pointed to last week\u2019s synagogue shootings as \u201cliterally a reminder that Bill C-9 needs to pass, and to pass quickly, to send a strong message to Canadians that hate crimes are heinous and must be denounced.\u201d
\u201cThat is why we are acting on Bill C-9 to make it illegal to block or impede someone\u2019s access to their community or religious centre and create a new stand-alone hate offence so that these crimes are treated seriously,\u201d Lattanzio said.
On March 11, Anandasangaree announced \u201ca dedicated investment\u201d of up to $10 million for eligible organizations, through the Canada Community Security Program, to help Jewish communities improve security in their gathering spaces, including schools, daycares, overnight camps and places of worship. The money will go toward security equipment and hardware, such as protective barriers, \u201cminor renovations to enhance security-like reinforcements for windows and doors,\u201d security and emergency assessments and plans, \u201ctraining to respond to hate-motivated events and time-limited third-party licensed security personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding also aims to support the work of security operations centres to coordinate monitoring and security at Jewish institutions as well as projects supported through these organizations, the Department of Public Safety said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CIJA said, \u201cToday\u2019s announcement of emergency funding to address some of the immediate security
needs of the Jewish community is an essential and welcome step at a time when Jewish Canadians
face serious threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group called the level of security measures needed to protect Jewish Canadians in Canada \u201cshocking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese measures are necessary to ensure the safety of children going to school, families going to community centres and people visiting their elderly parents,\u201d CIJA said. \u201cMoving forward, we urge the government to quickly fulfil its commitment to improve and significantly enhance funding for the Canada Community Security Program overall. \u2026 It\u2019s not just the Jewish community\u2019s safety that\u2019s at stake, but Canada\u2019s national security and our Canadian way of life.\u201d CIJA added that along with the emergency boost in security funding, \u201cthese threats must also be addressed at their root, using every tool available. This includes enforcing current laws with consistency and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice, and advancing new legislation, including the [proposed] Combatting Hate Act and the criminalization of wilful promotion of terrorism, among other measures to protect Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Liberal government\u2019s current sense of urgency was shared by British Columbia\u2019s NDP government, which on March 9 introduced in the B.C. legislative assembly Bill 12, the Safe Access to Schools Amendment Act and Bill 13, the Safe Access to Places of Public Worship Act, a government spokesperson told Law360 Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The provincial government\u2019s accompanying announcement said the companion bills aim to protect unobstructed access to places of worship, such as mosques, temples, gurdwaras, synagogues and churches, and to renew similar existing protection for students, staff, parents and caregivers in respect of kindergarten to Grade 12 schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2023, there have been more than 40 \u201cprotest disruptions\u201d outside K-12 schools, with police called in on some occasions, the government pointed out.
However, the frequency of such incidents outside K-12 schools has fallen since the enactment of the Safe Access to Schools Act (SASA), which will \u201csunset\u201d on July 1, 2026. Bill 12 would extend SASA\u2019s life to July 1, 2028, while Bill 13 will be reassessed in 2030, the government said.
British Columbia\u2019s announcement was welcomed by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), which supports passage of Bill C-9 and has been campaigning for politicians and police to expedite needed law reforms and resources to help secure and defend Jewish communities across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHere in B.C., we have seen community institutions, including our places of worship, targeted by aggressive protesters, arson, vandalism and even firebombs,\u201d CIJA said in a statement. \u201cNo child, senior citizen or family should be unsafe in their place of worship or at school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFreedom of expression is a fundamental right, but it does not mean that communities should face harassment,\u201d CIJA added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address the alarm and frustration expressed by many Jews about the weak enforcement they see of existing hate crime offences in the Criminal Code, CIJA held a panel discussion on Feb. 10, which asked: \u201cWhy can\u2019t there be more consequences?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 700 people tuned in on Zoom, including many concerned members of Jewish communities, to hear the panel of three lawyers and a former Toronto police inspector give their views on when and how existing and proposed criminal prohibitions aimed at hatemongers can \u2014 and should \u2014 be enforced to protect Jewish people and places from the kinds of harassment, violence and hate speech they have been subjected to since the Oct. 7 mass murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among a number of scenarios that were put forward as examples of inadequate law enforcement was the Crown\u2019s withdrawal of an assault charge in favour of a six-month peace bond for an accused who spat at a Jewish videographer who was covering a demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rochelle Direnfeld, Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt would not be unusual for low-level offences to be resolved in this way, by way of a peace bond,\u201d remarked panellist Rochelle Direnfeld, senior criminal counsel with the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat makes this not a low-level offence is that it\u2019s hate-motivated \u2014 this spitting was accompanied by screaming at the victim \u2018Zionist pig,\u2019\u201d the former Crown explained. \u201cSo, if the Crown is not knowledgeable and hasn\u2019t been trained and doesn\u2019t understand that this actually is a hate-motivated offence, then they\u2019re going to be inclined to resolve this the way they would any other low-level offence, and that\u2019s the problem\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specialized training is needed to facilitate more and better enforcement of the hate crime offences, said panellist Mark Sandler, who with Direnfeld co-created a teaching module on antisemitism and hate crimes, which they have offered to more than 40 police services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing \u2026 the lights go on for a number of police services as we explained, not only the full tools that are available to them to enforce our existing laws, but how [Bill] C-9 can sharpen some of those tools,\u201d said Sandler, the senior Toronto criminal defence counsel with Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Schwartzentruber LLP, who also chairs the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Sandler, Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But that [training] has to be accompanied by that same kind of training for prosecutors,\u201d Sandler advised. \u201cWe need either specialized hate prosecutors in all jurisdictions, or we need robust training along the lines that, I like to say proudly, we are doing \u2014 so that [Crowns] actually understand what antisemitism looks like, how it is contemporarily expressed by those who hate us, and that they understand why a deterrent message has to be sent on a number of these cases. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re working on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on a scenario of a public demonstration involving chants of phrases such as \u201cfrom the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,\u201d \u201call Zionists are racist,\u201d \u201call Zionists are evil\u201d and \u201call Zionists are child killers,\u201d Sandler highlighted misconceptions he sees about what constitutes criminal hate speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are all things that have been said in the course of protest activity, and there\u2019s an inclination on the part of some to isolate individual statements and ask whether they constitute a violation of the hate speech laws,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the training he and Direnfeld provide asks police to take a \u201cholistic\u201d approach, Sandler said, \u201cbased upon being informed about the meaning of some of these phrases and their historical significance, but also based upon a likelihood of success in prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo \u2018From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free\u2019 \u2026 those of us in the Jewish community are all too familiar with this phrase, all too familiar with the origins of the phrase, and all too familiar that it has been utilized to express a genocidal intention to kill all Israelis and to kill Jews,\u201d Sandler remarked. \u201cSo, for us, it is a highly inflammatory and highly problematic statement to be said at a protest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn the other hand,\u201d he continued, \u201cand I don\u2019t always say what the community wants to hear, \u2026 we\u2019ve seen too many examples of people, when confronted with chanting this expression, don\u2019t know which river they\u2019re talking about, which sea they\u2019re talking about, and seem to provide some more benevolent explanation for what it is that they mean, at least when they\u2019re chanting this expression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandler said he has no illusions about what protest leaders mean by this chant, but \u201cin terms of criminal prosecution, it\u2019s important for police to accumulate evidence of the totality of what is being said, because ultimately, they have to demonstrate that the intention is to wilfully promote hatred or genocide directed against Jews or Israelis,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo, if you have \u2018From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free\u2019 as the only chant that\u2019s being expressed, it\u2019s doubtful that that\u2019s going to result in a successful criminal prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If that chant is combined with other phrases, such as \u201cWater to water, Palestine shall be Arab,\u201d \u201cSinwar, Sinwar, we have bullets for you\u201d or with \u201cBy any means necessary,\u201d then \u201cthe genocidal intention, and therefore the wilful promotion of hatred, becomes more apparent \u2014 or the public incitement of hatred likely to lead to a breach of the peace becomes more apparent,\u201d Sandler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Neuberger, Canadian Jewish Law Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panellist Joseph Neuberger of Toronto\u2019s Neuberger and Partners, who chairs the Canadian Jewish Law Association, said that distinguishing between criminal hate speech and criticism of Israel, and its government, policies and conduct, is a legal issue that comes up in the context of public protests and demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the only communication during this protest, whether vocally or in writing, is that \u2018Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; end the genocide by Israel; Israel killing machine,\u2019 \u2026 these types of public statements will not constitute a criminal offence of public incitement of hatred or wilful promotion of hatred,\u201d the senior criminal defence counsel said. \u201cNo matter how deeply disturbing we find it or how false we find it, \u2026 it is criticism of the State of Israel, its policies, its military conduct, political objectives, and is protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandler pointed out that the working definition of antisemitism (which is not legally binding), as adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016, recognizes that criticizing Israel in the same way as other countries are criticized is not antisemitic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt becomes antisemitic when it involves a double standard applied to Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in the criminal context, police are reticent to lay charges, and prosecutors are reticent to prosecute cases that aren\u2019t the obvious \u2018Kill all the Jews\u2019 [communication] where \u2018Jews\u2019 are actually used as part of the nomenclature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, public expressions such as \u201c\u2018All Zionists are racist. All Zionists are evil. All Zionists are child killers\u2019\u201d go beyond criticism of Israel, Sandler said, \u201cbecause those are characterizations that, in effect, label over 90 per cent of Jews, \u2026 without distinction, as evil, as child killers, as genocidal. And for me, that constitutes hate speech, when viewed cumulatively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that \u201cthe challenge for us is to explain, sometimes through expert evidence and sometimes through education and training of police and prosecutors, why this crosses a threshold from criticism of Israel and its policies to hatred directed against the vast majority of Jews and against Israelis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panellist Hank Idsinga, a retired Toronto Police Service inspector, described himself as \u201cpretty critical of how, especially in Toronto, police have been handling some of the protests on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on hate crime enforcement challenges for police, especially at protests, Idsinga said there are many existing legal tools, but those at the grassroots level mostly lack specific training on how to use those tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPolice are very well-trained when they go through the police college on their powers of arrest and giving [accused their] rights to counsel and caution,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to get into the nitty-gritty of the actual laws that are out there leaves something to be desired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Idsinga said some online training is available nationally, as well as training modules on the foundations of Judaism, understanding antisemitism and on police responses to hate crimes<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, really they are depending on these modules for learning how to recognize hate and terror symbols,\u201d Idsinga said. But \u201cwhen these symbols are displayed at some of these protests, sometimes I look at them and I have no idea what they are until somebody analyzes it and says, \u2018You know, that\u2019s what that is.\u2019 I would think your average police officer probably isn\u2019t going to know what, for example, the ISIS flag looks like, and that needs to be cleared up in training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Idsinga also noted that police rely on a \u201ctop-down command structure.\u201d \u201cBut if everybody in the command pillar isn\u2019t on the same page, it\u2019s simply not going to happen,\u201d he said. The rank-and-file police officers will \u201cbe dissuaded from taking action, and they really need that willingness to enforce the existing laws, right from the chief [of police] all the way back down to the rank and file, who are the ones out there on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Idsinga advised, \u201cWe need a lot more senior leaders, if they are well versed in the laws and the powers, to really be out there at these protests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re simply not seeing that,\u201d he remarked. \u201cSo really, it has to be a zero tolerance towards these offences and unfortunately, \u2026 as of October 8, 2023, [police leaders] were taking a real hands-off approach, and I think it\u2019s really made the problem worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuberger said, \u201cWe also need to focus on the willingness of our political leaders to ensure that the laws are enforced\u201d \u2014 a willingness that has not been apparent in many hate crime situations<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe vilification and hatred directed at the Jewish community is like no other,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cI encourage everybody to be literate and active and engaged in your politicians from the municipal level, provincial and federal,\u201d Neuberger added. \u201cA lot is being done by everybody here to make change with the police, to make sure that laws are being enforced. But we still need to be politically active. It\u2019s a key component, and I encourage everybody to be fully engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before MPs returned to the House of Commons on March 9 after a week-long break, CIJA urged the Liberal government and all parliamentarians to build cross-party consensus and \u201cact now by providing clear direction for authorities to enforce existing laws, strengthening Bill C-9 through targeted amendments \u2014 including a new offence for the wilful promotion of terrorism \u2014 and pass this important legislation that enhances existing laws and provides additional tools for law enforcement and prosecutors to utilize to keep our communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canadianjewishlawassociation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Rochelle-Direnfeld-Alliance-of-Canadians-Combatting-Antisemitism.jpg\")
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\u201cFolks on the front line may be more than willing to arrest people and do some enforcement at some of these protests or some of these other scenarios,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI encourage everybody to not let the politicians off the hook,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n