Antisemitism increasingly ‘normalized’ on Canadian campuses, report finds

OTTAWA — Open hostility toward Jewish students has become a “normalized and systemic feature of campus life” at Canadian postsecondary institutions, according to a new report commissioned by Heritage Canada.

The Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences (CASE) report, released on Wednesday, finds that more than nine in 10 Jewish students have experienced or seen antisemitism on campus over the past year.

The report draws from a survey of 900 Jewish students, and 755 students from the broader campus population, at more than two dozen colleges and universities across Canada.

“(Our) findings indicate that many Jewish students experience widespread and persistent antisemitism on Canadian campuses as a defining feature of postsecondary life that shapes their behaviour, their ability to fully participate in campus life, their safety, and their wellbeing,” write co-authors Jack Jedwab and Paul Holley, both with the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute .

Jedwab and Holley write that the CASE report “provides the most comprehensive national evidence to date on antisemitism in Canadian postsecondary institutions.”

Seventy-one per cent of Jewish students reported seeing antisemitic graffiti on campus. More than one in five said they witnessed physical violence targeting Jews. Students also reported targeted incidents like mezuzahs being torn from the doors of Jewish dorm rooms in residence halls.

Jedwab told National Post that the report’s findings underscore a systemic crisis of antisemitism on Canadian postsecondary campuses.

“My sense is that, when you see such a high level of reporting of antisemitic incidents, the only way to describe it is systemic,” said Jedwab.

One of the report’s key insights is that Jewish students aren’t just facing antisemitism from classmates, but also from professors and other university employees.

Seven in 10 Jewish respondents said their institution does not take antisemitism seriously. Faculty were cited in 18 per cent of antisemitic incidents reported in the survey. A further 14 per cent of incidents involved either teaching assistants or non-teaching staff.

Thirty-six per cent said they’d encountered antisemitic or biased course content or classroom discussion, while 34 per cent said a professor brought up Jews, Judaism, Israel, or Zionism when unrelated to the course subject.

More than three in 10 said they’d considered dropping a course or leaving their program because of antisemitism from professors or other students.

Jay Solomon, a senior executive with Jewish student network Hillel Ontario, said the study confirms much of what he’s been hearing from students at the nine Ontario universities he works with.

“What this study has confirmed is that Jewish students are being targeted simply for being Jews, and that is completely and utterly unacceptable,” said Solomon.

Solomon said he hoped the findings would be a “wake-up call” for college and university administrators across Canada.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B’nai Brith Canada, and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center echoed this sentiment in a joint statement.

“At a time when synagogues, Jewish schools, and Jewish-owned businesses are being shot at and firebombed, and when Jews are disproportionately the victims of hate crimes, this report makes clear that antisemitism has also taken root in our public institutions—including our universities,” reads the statement.

Federal Heritage Minister Marc Miller called the report’s findings “alarming” in a written statement.

“(The findings) echo what we are seeing across Canada. Statistics Canada’s most recent data shows that 71 per cent of all police-reported religion motivated hate crimes targeted Jewish Canadians,” said Miller.

The Jewish student survey used by the study was fielded from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19, 2025, using an unweighted sample of 900 students recruited through Jewish student organizations, community networks, and related channels.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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