Hate On the Rise

A Jewish human rights group is warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise across Canada, reporting that 2016 saw a record-breaking number of such incidents. However, there’s little evidence to prove that it’s linked to the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election in November.

According to a new report from B’nai Brith Canada based on calls to the group’s phoneline and police data, there were 1,728 recorded anti-Semitic acts last year, up from 1,277 in 2015. It’s the highest number the group has seen since it began monitoring anti-Semitism in Canada in 1982. Around 20 percent of those instances in 2016 involved Holocaust denial, which was seen in only five percent of anti-Semitic acts it compiled the year prior.

In Canada, reports of anti-Semitism decreased in the months around the election.

Incidents in Canada included a man with a knife throwing objects at congregants as they left a Toronto synagogue and numerous acts of vandalism involving swastikas. The group also describes an increase in anti-semitism on university campuses, including through certain guest lecturers and student groups.

Read more on VICE News.