The Jewish community has the right to practice their faith and culture, and to live their day-to-day lives without fear, intimidation or violence. Mayor Olivia Chow stands firmly against antisemitism.
Toronto is an important global centre of Jewish cultural life. As we have seen repeatedly, antisemitic incidents increase as international events unfold. It is never acceptable to target the Jewish community. And it is appalling that Jewish families face fear when attending synagogue and community centres, and when sending their kids to school and childcare.
Mayor Chow has been clear: antisemitism is a scourge. Those that commit hate crimes must be brought to justice.
Actions to protect the Jewish community from hate
Over the past 3 years, Mayor Chow has invested City resources in safety measures to support the Jewish community and keep people safe:
- Police support in neighbourhoods: Mayor Chow has funded and supports the Toronto Police Service’s work establishing command posts and increasing round-the-clock police presence in Jewish neighbourhoods, near Jewish schools, places of worship and other community spaces.
- Hiring more front-line police officers: Under Mayor Chow, the Toronto Police Service has their first-ever multi-year hiring plan that will put more frontline officers on the street. See here.
- Investigating hate crimes: With the Mayor’s support, Toronto Police have increased the number of officers in the Hate Crimes Unit. Further, they have brought together the Guns and Gangs Unit, the Hate Crime Unit and local police division investigators to investigate major incidents, like the horrific overnight shootings at North York synagogues, to find those responsible and bring them to justice.
- Hostile vehicle mitigation grants: The Mayor announced a new stream of funding for Jewish and other faith organizations to pay for barriers and other safety infrastructure to help protect their institutions from attacks using vehicles. See here.
- Safe access to faith institutions: City Council passed a bylaw creating safe access zones so that people cannot be blocked from going into places of worship or faith-based institutions. See here.
- Anti-hate campaigns: The City hosted the Strong Cities Network Sixth Global Summit, which brings together Mayors from around the world to share practices relating to social cohesion and community safety. Through Toronto For All, the City has launched anti-hate advertising and social media campaigns. The Mayor helped bring together arts organizations to launch TOgether Through Arts, to foster more unity through artistic expression.
- Hearing directly from Jewish community leaders: Mayor Chow has held meetings with community leaders and the Chief of Police to address safety needs and concerns. She has attended memorial events held by the community, exhibitions, and rallies against antisemitism.
Mayor Chow will continue to speak out against antisemitism, invest in concrete actions that make communities safer, and advocate to the provincial and federal government to join the City of Toronto in this work.