LILLEY: Carney offers words that head in right direction, but he must do more

Prime minister denounces the sharp rise in antisemitism, but critics say it's too little, too late

Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox

Published Jun 01, 2026  •  3 minute read

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at Holy Blossom Temple synagogue in Toronto on Monday, June 1, 2026. Photo by ERNEST DOROSZUK /TORONTO SUN

Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a renewal of Canada’s covenant as he denounced the sharp rise in antisemitism at a synagogue in Toronto on Monday. His repeated use of the word covenant, including in the title of the speech, was an obvious biblical reference to the covenant in the Old Testament between God and the Jewish people.

Article content

Carney’s words weren’t religious. Though he did invoke the prophets, including Isaiah and Amos, his words were aimed at assuring a community under attack.

Article content

Article content

“Antisemites in Canada have fired bullets at Jewish schools. They have thrown firebombs at synagogues and attacked community centres,” Carney told his audience at Holy Blossom Temple in the heart of Toronto’s Jewish community.

“They have targeted Jewish-owned businesses. Harassed Jewish patients at hospitals. Drove Jewish students from the common spaces on our university campuses. And desecrated our Holocaust memorials.”

Read More

1. 

   Groups question decision to end antisemitism, Islamophobia envoy positions

2. 

   Senate report on anti-Jewish hate calls for return of antisemitism envoy
3. 

   KINSELLA: Antisemitism continues to fester under Mark Carney Liberals

Dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents

Human rights group B’nai Brith Canada documents acts of antisemitism each year. In 2022, before the Hamas terror attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent response, they documented 2,769 incidents.

Article content

Article content

Last year, B’nai Brith documented 6,800 antisemitic incidents, a 145% increase, equaling more than 18 incidents per day. Statistics Canada states that 70% of police-reported religious hate crimes were committed against Jews despite Jews making up just 1% of the population.

The federal Liberals, long the political home for much of Canada’s Jewish population, have been criticized in recent years, and especially since Oct. 7. Their response to hate marches in streets across the country, to attacks on Jewish institutions and businesses, has been weak under both Justin Trudeau and over the last year under Carney.

Carney was under intense pressure ahead of this speech to deliver, to recognize antisemitism and not to engage in moral equivalency. At one point as Carney stated how antisemitism, Islamophobia, transphobia or church burnings all break the Canadian covenant, he said listing each of them didn’t make them the same.

“I want to be clear, particularly to the Jewish community: naming these assaults is not equivalence,” Carney said.

Article content

“The crisis of antisemitism in Canada today is specific, severe, and demands a targeted response. Our government is fully committed to that response.”

During his speech, Carney announced the creation of a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion chaired by Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with the audience after speaking at Holy Blossom Temple synagogue in Toronto on Monday, June 1, 2026. ERNEST DOROSZUK/TORONTO SUN

Too little, too late: Lantsman

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, a Jewish woman who represents the most heavily Jewish riding in the country, Thornhill, was critical of Carney’s speech. She said Carney’s words coming three years into a full-blown antisemitism is too little, too late.

“It should have been followed by concrete actions and concrete consequences for those doing the failing. Didn’t happen,” Lantsman said.

She described Carney’s council as a group that will be review previous reviews and study studies.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed the Liberals in part for the rise in antisemitism, saying it is the divisive policies of the Liberals that have stoked much of it.

Article content

‘Divisive rhetoric’ to blame?

“I would encourage Liberals to stop the divisive rhetoric and work on uniting Canadians,” he said.

While Carney denounced antisemitism, he didn’t denounce the anti-Zionist movement that so many pushing Jew hatred in Canada hide behind.

He did however warn people not to import foreign hate and foreign wars into Canada.

“We welcome the peoples of the world and their diversity in all its splendour. We do not welcome the world’s hatreds,” Carney said.

“When you come to Canada, you bring your faith, your tradition, your language, your story. You leave behind your wars and your animosities.”

As we’ve seen in the streets of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and elsewhere across the country, that is an ask that may be too big. Just this weekend, people carrying signs of Iran’s ayatollahs and a Palestinian flag were protesting outside a Jewish seniors home in Toronto’s north end.

The speech, much like Carney’s government, is dividing Canada’s Jewish community.

Carney said some nice words on Monday, it was a step in the right direction. But he and his government, like much of the country, have a long way to go on this front.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content