How to fund Carney’s promises to keep the ‘Canadian covenant’ alive
Politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, have acknowledged that antisemitism is surging in Canada. Data from Statistics Canada shows police-reported hate crimes involving antisemitism occur at a disproportionate rate, while B’nai Brith documented 6,800 antisemitic incidents in its Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in Canada for the year 2025.
During a June 1 speech at the Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Carney outlined specific directions for the recently established Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion to address the specific challenge of antisemitism. These instructions include researching the nature and extent of antisemitism, developing policy solutions, and increasing the collection of data on hate incidents. But tangible solutions that impact the situation on the ground cannot be advanced without either expanding existing federal programs or creating additional ones.
B’nai Brith is especially concerned about the rise of hate and extremist content online, including social media and video games. Online incidents have accounted for most of the hate incidents tracked in our Annual Audit since the early 2000s. Online harassment targeting Jewish Canadians jumped 16.5 per cent from 2024 to 2025, according to our Audit. There are many causes of online hate, but one of them is that major technology platforms have, for years, failed to enforce their own codes of conduct or enact appropriate safety protocols. Many, moreover, have not developed appropriate policies or protocols to deal with hate disseminated on their platforms.
Addressing online harms, however, cannot only involve regulation or rely on the goodwill of tech platforms.
That is why B’nai Brith is championing the creation of a national digital youth literacy program. This concept, which we explain in our recent recommendations to the Department of Finance as it is preparing the government’s budget for 2026, would be the first such program in North America. It would inform children about online harms, which range from hate-driven radicalization to sextortion and financial exploitation.
This is essential considering the various challenges that youth are experiencing today amid rapid advances in digital technologies, social media, addictive gaming or gambling applications, and more. It would target the precursors to hate-driven extremism, giving youth effective tools to recognize when they are being manipulated, groomed, or radicalized online.
At the same time, it is essential to recognize that youth are becoming more hostile to Jewish people. This is not anecdotal: recent studies support the generalization that antisemitic attitudes have become normalized in Canada. During 2025, a survey suggested that about one-in-five young Canadians believe the Holocaust was “exaggerated.”
How can Canada preserve its social compact if the lessons of the Holocaust are not being communicated to the next generation? Canada, as a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), has a heightened responsibility to address this gap. The federal budget, B’nai Brith believes, is an opportunity to allocate funding for the development of a five-year plan to enhance familiarity with the IHRA working definition of antisemitism among young Canadians.
Funding for digital literacy and IHRA-related programming should, of course, fall within the “whole of federal government approach” Carney outlined during his June speech. But Canada already has a specific centre which is dedicated to fighting extremism.
The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and the Prevention of Violence, an institution within the Department of Public Safety, can accelerate its existing work with additional funding and support. B’nai Brith hopes the Canada Centre can expand its advocacy and increase engagement with grass-roots organizations, researchers, and affected communities across the country.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance has an immediate opportunity to make recommendations that include B’nai Brith’s proposals. During an Aug. 12 meeting, the committee will be preparing a report concerning pre-budget consultations. As the minister of finance is preparing the government’s budget for the year 2026, there is no better time than the present to ensure appropriate funds are allocated to the fight against hate, radicalization, and antisemitism.
Simon Wolle is B'nai Brith Canada's chief executive officer.
The Hill Times