After Belleville Attack, MPs and Jewish Leaders Urge Action on Antisemitism

Jewish leaders and Liberal and Conservative MPs called in Ottawa on Sept. 24 for joint federal and provincial action on antisemitism and hate, including on university campuses, four days after a shooter targeted a Belleville synagogue on Yom Kippur. The Globe and Mail

The Thursday news conference brought together Noah Shack, chief executive of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather and Conservative MPs, along with McMaster University student Kate Blumberg. Their message was that fighting antisemitism should be a priority for governments.

The Sept. 20 shooting at the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville was described as a hate-motivated crime. Housefather said it showed how serious the security threat is for Canadian Jews. Shack said the synagogue had only basic security, and he linked that weakness to the design of federal security funding.

Ottawa has set aside $75-million over five years, starting in 2026-27, for the Canada Community Security Program for communities at risk of hate-motivated incidents and crimes. Groups that use the fund must pay 30 per cent of project costs themselves, like a required down payment. Shack said that rule shuts out some small communities. The program covers work such as strengthening doors and windows. He urged Ottawa to favour flexible rules, saying better security for Jewish community buildings is urgent. Housefather went further and said governments should pay the full cost of security upgrades for synagogues and other community buildings, with more money from both Ottawa and the provinces.

Blumberg said Jewish students are being singled out in tutorials, shut out of groups and made to feel unwelcome in campus spaces. Parliament was already seized with the issue. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research, in Report No. 4 in the 45th Parliament, 1st Session, released Sept. 22, points to survey findings of widespread campus antisemitism and a failure by institutions to respond. House of Commons Universities Canada told the House Justice Committee in Meeting No. 106 in the 44th Parliament that it unequivocally condemns anti-Semitism and all forms of racism and discrimination.

A House of Commons electronic petition, e-7739, opened for signature on Sept. 21 at 2:56 p.m. EDT and closes Dec. 20, 2026. House of Commons Ministers Gary Anandasangaree and Sean Fraser presented a progress report on national commitments to combat antisemitism on Sept. 24. Public Safety Canada Federal policy now treats antisemitism as something that can involve national security.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new federal advisory council to combat antisemitism on June 1. Carney said Canada is failing the Jewish community and that Jews are being targeted. CIJA welcomed the creation of the Canada Community Security Program in September 2024. At the time, it said antisemitism had risen sharply in Canada over the past year and that Jewish schools had been shot at. In November 2024, it called for a National Forum on Combating Hate Crimes, Terrorism, and Antisemitism with federal, provincial and municipal participants. In January 2026, it urged Carney to act on resurging antisemitism and extremism as Parliament returned. Its long-standing position is that higher security costs during rising antisemitism should not fall on the Jewish community alone.

The broader context here is jurisdiction, or who does what in Canadian federalism. Ottawa can set national commitments and pay for physical upgrades to buildings, while policing, prosecutions and universities fall mainly to provinces, cities and self-governing institutions. A single 30 per cent cost-share is simple to administer. It follows normal Treasury Board rules for contribution agreements, the federal controls on grants. Small congregations face different math.

For what comes next, the practical questions are narrow. Will Public Safety adjust the cost-share, combine federal dollars with provincial programs, or create a separate stream for high-risk sites with little capacity. Will the advisory council and the progress-report process lead to enforceable standards for campuses, or stay at the level of commitments and condemnations. And will the response to Belleville go beyond building upgrades to prevention and enforcement.

The politics here are cross-partisan for now. That counts in a minority Parliament, where the government needs opposition votes to pass laws. It does not settle the federal-provincial funding negotiation Housefather raised, or the campus governance problem described by Blumberg and the committee survey. Costs are immediate. Construction takes months. The school year has already started.