Noah Shack: After Belleville, it’s time to restore peace, order and good government

Bullet holes are seen in the stained-glass windows at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Sept. 24. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

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While Americans pride themselves on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Canada’s Constitution is grounded in “peace, order and good government.” Those words express a foundational Canadian promise: laws will be enforced consistently, institutions will uphold basic standards and disagreements will be resolved peacefully — not through violence.

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For Jewish-Canadians, that promise has too often fallen short over the past three years.

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The Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, not only marked the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, they unleashed a global wave of antisemitism on a scale not seen in generations. Here in Canada, the impact has been felt across the country and in every part of life.

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Jewish federal public servants are facing harassment and discrimination at twice the rate of other communities. Hateful protests feature open calls for violence and Nazi-era propaganda, while police look on. Jewish-owned businesses have been targeted.

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Almost every Jewish university student has experienced or witnessed antisemitism. The National Holocaust Monument was desecrated. Jewish workers face hostility from the very unions meant to represent them. Synagogues and Jewish schools have been firebombed and shot at.

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In many cases, a familiar pattern emerges. Governments, institutions and authorities fail to take responsibility, enforce their own rules or hold perpetrators to account.

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Too often, the response changes when an incident is wrapped in the language of criticism of Israel or the conflict in Gaza. Conduct that would be recognized as intolerable in any other context, or for any other demographic, is suddenly treated as acceptable.

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As Prime Minister Mark Carney stated in June, Canada’s civic compact — which holds our diverse, democratic society together — is failing Jewish-Canadians. He added that when our institutions fail to uphold basic standards for Jews, they fail all Canadians.

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While the prime minister never explicitly mentioned Zionism, he delivered the speech at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, with Canadian and Israeli flags behind him.

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For anyone who has been inside a synagogue, the scene was entirely familiar. The Jewish people’s connection to the Land of Israel is woven into our religious, social and cultural life.

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This is hardly unique to our community. Walk into a Greek Orthodox church and you will see the Greek flag. Visit a Ukrainian Orthodox church and you will see the Ukrainian flag.

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For those of us who are not Indigenous, it is the quintessential Canadian experience: our families came from somewhere else, bringing their own histories, traditions and connections to other lands.