Great Expectations: Mark Carney Finally Addresses Antisemitism in Canada

Keep your expectations low, and you’ll  never be disappointed. 

So it was for me on Monday evening, watching Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivering remarks on antisemitism in Canada. He was joined by Leslie Church, the MP for St. Paul's, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon, and Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree. 

Leslie Church deserves real credit. By all accounts, she is the one who pushed this up the Federal Liberal Party chain and made it happen. St. Paul's is one of the most Jewish ridings in Canada. The threat its constituents are facing right now are among the most serious of any area in the country. 

Church told an anecdote about her young daughter walking into a synagogue for the first time and being struck by the intense level of security. For diaspora Jews, that security is a benign fact of life - so familiar for so long that they have stopped noticing it at all. 

That apathy; the acceptance of a new normal, is exactly why Monday’s announcement matters. It is a signal that the needle might just be moving in a positive direction. 

So — did Carney deliver?

That depends entirely on what you were expecting.

If you tuned into the speech hoping for a rousing condemnation of Islamic extremism, a direct naming of anti-Zionism as antisemitism, or a pivot in this government's posture toward Israel - then you would be sorely disappointed. Mark Carney's Middle East politics, and that of the “New” Liberal government have been clear since he slipped up during the election campaign last year when asked about a Genocide in Gaza. If that hadn’t tipped you off, then his unilateral recognition of the state of Palestine should have clarified the matter. Evidently, a pivot with sweeping changes should never have been expected. None of that was coming, and none of it came.

But if you came in with reality top of mind, and understood where this government sits, then what happened Monday can be interpreted as highly meaningful. Carney said clearly that “Canada's civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians”. He cited the statistic that over two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes in this country are directed at Jews, who make up just one percent of the population. He said antisemitism has surged to levels not seen in the post-war period. He said these things out loud, at a synagogue, as Prime Minister. That is not nothing. Being noticed helps. It does not solve the problem, but it matters. 

There is a maxim in politics: identify where an issue is going, and get there as quickly as possible. The Liberals have been doing exactly that. That was the impetus for recognizing Palestine, a decision that drew considerable criticism from within the Jewish community as an abject betrayal. But understanding that decision is essential context for understanding Monday. The Liberals can see the Canadian demographics. They know that Muslims outnumber Jews by five to one. They see where the political centre of gravity has moved, and they have positioned themselves accordingly. That is politics, and it is fair to say so plainly.

Notably, Carney did not mention Israel once. That was deliberate, and it signals clearly that this government is not changing its foreign policy posture anytime soon. Those hoping for that pivot will be disappointed. Again, it all depends on expectations. 

The most predictable moment of the evening came about two-thirds of the way through Carney’s speech. To his credit, the Prime Minister held out longer than I expected. But eventually the magic words came out of his mouth: “mosque”, “transphobia”, and “Islamophobia”  in a speech that was supposed to be about antisemitism. He gave us that all too familiar eye roll moment that comes when Canadian officials bookend their condemnation of antisemitism with platitudes to other groups. He at least had the wherewithal not to take the opportunity to mention Anti-Palestinian racism on this occasion. 

Carney also called out immigration as a source of hate in this country. That was significant but I would have liked him to go one step further and name the problem more directly. I certainly did not expect him to. The political capital required for a move like that is far more than this government — or frankly most governments — would be willing to spend. 

The headline policy announcement was the creation of the “Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion”, to be chaired by former senator Marc Gold. It is yet another promise from Mark Carney. So the proof will be entirely in the execution. Antisemitism being the first order of business is encouraging, but we will have to wait and see.The optimist in me believes this might have the potential to mark a watershed moment in Canadian progressive politics. Jews have always been curiously omitted from woke culture, and from the concept of intersectionality. When the Prime Minister is setting up an entire council about inclusion with combatting antisemitism as the crown jewel, we might just be breaking new ground.

The other promise made was that of Bill C-9 — the Combatting Hate Act, currently before the Senate after passing the House in March. The internet is where antisemitism lives now. It is where it germinates and spreads, where it radicalises, and where it finds new and susceptible minds. Trying to do something about that is meaningful, even if the legislation is imperfect.

I have real concerns about the free speech implications of C-9, they are not trivial. But the impulse is right. There are assumptions baked into the Canadian social contract, and when those assumptions are constantly being trampled online, governments have an obligation to act. The West has been remarkably slow to try anything. This government is trying something, or at least promising to. I hope it is leveraged carefully, but I cannot fault the intention.

I think about antisemitism all the time. After listening to Carney’s speech twice, here is where I land:

I believe this Liberal government is finally listening to Canadian Jews. I believe they understand the severity of what is happening in this country. I believe they see the social fabric of the country eroding. I believe they want it to stop.

But whether they are willing to make the tough decisions that will inevitably be required is still an open question. Intentions and promises are not enough. Antisemitism is a millennia-old disease, and it will not be cured by an advisory council and a speech at a synagogue, however well-delivered the rhetoric. What is required now is leadership and courage - the willingness to name things directly, and to actually spend that political capital in the name of justice, morality, and Canadian values. 

Until then, the expectations of Canadian Jews should remain low.