As Jewish Canadians committed to justice, equality, and collective safety, we reject the premise that expanded policing powers and restrictions on expression will protect our communities. History shows that increasing surveillance, criminalization, and discretionary enforcement does not reduce hate, but actually exacerbates it, especially for marginalized groups.
Conflating antisemitism with political dissent not only weakens the fight against genuine hatred, it also erodes the democratic rights that protect all Canadians. By shielding those complicit in Israel’s crimes from scrutiny, proponents of this bill risk undermining those same rights for all. Criticism of state actions, including those of Israel, is not hate speech, and must not be treated as such under Canadian law.
Jewish communities are not monolithic. Many of us are deeply opposed to the use of our identities to justify repressive laws. We do not believe that expanding police powers around synagogues or other institutions will make us safer, especially when those same powers may be used to target peaceful protesters, including Jews decrying Israeli war crimes.
Protecting access to religious spaces must not come at the cost of silencing internal dissent or preventing communities from holding institutions accountable. When religious buildings are being used to host sales of stolen Palestinian lands, or speaking events of military officials who have directly participated in genocide, they should not be exempt from public accountability.
We are witnessing a troubling pattern in which governments expand legal tools that can later be used to suppress a wide range of social movements, from Indigenous sovereignty to climate justice to workers rights. Bill C-9 could be wielded as such a tool in Canada, and must be stopped.