After an outgoing federal envoy denounced some politicians for using antisemitism as a “partisan” prop, Jewish Canadian leaders are now calling on political parties to stop using it to score political points.
“It maddens me when they use Holocaust Remembrance Day as an opportunity to even advance positive actions for the Jewish people,” said B’nai Brith advocacy head Richard Robertson.
“It becomes a form of tokenization.”
In July, Deborah Lyons resigned early from her term as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. Canadian Heritage published her final report the following month.
In it, Lyons accused some political leaders of exploiting the threat posed by antisemitism for “political gain.”
“Canadian political parties need to refrain from making antisemitism a partisan issue,” she wrote.
“The desire to foster political gain on the backs of those suffering from hatred and discrimination is a serious dereliction of civic duty by political parties. It dishonours the communities impacted and it is a grave disservice to the fight against hatred.”
Lyons said the annual ceremonies held in Ottawa to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust have taken on an unacceptable partisan taint.
“National Holocaust Remembrance Day must remain apolitical, and attendance at commemoration events should have senior level attendance with a focus on the essence of the day,” she wrote.
Lyons did not respond when asked by The Canadian Press which parties or politicians she sees exploiting anti-Jewish hate and the annual Holocaust commemoration. But Jewish groups have their own examples.
“We’ve seen the NDP completely abandon anything resembling a commitment to fighting antisemitism, and that is deeply troubling,” argued Noah Shack, the head of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Robertson agreed, saying that in calling for Palestinian statehood and an arms embargo on Israel, the NDP hasn’t made it clear enough that Canadian Jews can’t be held responsible for the actions of a foreign government.
“These decisions are then weaponized by what we call the vitriolic fringe — the caustic, problematic voices that are responsible for a large amount of the increase in antisemitism that we’ve been seeing,” he said.
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The NDP did not respond to a request for comment.
Robertson said many Jews feel uncomfortable at Holocaust ceremonies when they hear politicians attempt to link the events of the Second World War to their own policies — or those of their opponents.
He cited federal Liberals touting government spending on safety measures for synagogues, or Conservatives blaming the government for the surge in hate crimes.
Liberal MP Rachel Bendayan, who is of Moroccan-Jewish origin and was associate public safety minister at the time, spoke at this year’s ceremony in Ottawa on behalf of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, who was visiting the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Bendayan outlined the government’s spending on Holocaust remembrance initiatives with a partisan tilt, and cited her efforts to pressure Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group accused of extreme rhetoric, to cancel a public event.
“Not knowing what, if anything, would come of it, I wrote a letter condemning Hizb ut-Tahrir in the strongest possible terms,” she told those gathered for the ceremony. “It was an important lesson for me, one that I promise you that I will not forget. The truth is each and every single one of us has the power to effect positive change.”
Addressing the same gathering moments later, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attacked what he called the government’s “obscene” approach to hate crimes and Iran-sponsored groups, and called for foreigners “carrying out violence or hate crimes on our soil” to be deported.
“We see on our own streets antisemitism, guided by obscene, woke ideologies that have led to an explosion in hate crimes,” he said.
Robertson argued the rhetoric coming from both parties distracts from “the sanctity of observing a day to commemorate” the unique horrors of the Holocaust.
Neither party responded to a request for comment.
“I don’t need to hear about a positive action on behalf of the Jewish people that’s being undertaken, at a ceremony which is meant to be one of remembrance and reflection,” Robertson said.
“There has been a tendency from some political parties to look at the approach to dealing with antisemitism either through an ideological lens or a pure partisan political lens — looking at where they might be able to gather votes.”
Shack said that while it would be “naive” to expect politicians to abandon politics, they can demonstrate solidarity with the Jewish community without exploiting the fight against hate.
“We have to guard against the impulse to make it either about boasting about one’s own party or taking a shot at another one,” he said.
“By representing core values and core beliefs that these leaders have, they can make it clear where they stand, and that should be squarely shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish community in these times.”
He said it’s particularly important that politicians show restraint now, given the rise in the number of young Canadians questioning the history of the Holocaust. A Leger poll conducted in May 2024 found that 18 per cent of Canadians between 18 and 24 years old say they believe the Holocaust was exaggerated.
Lawrence Greenspon, co-chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee, said he hasn’t felt the rhetoric at the annual commemorations has been overly political. If anything, he said, it’s important that politicians speak to the issues of the day.
“Incidents of violence, attacks on institutions, attacks on individuals … and many, many other, Jewish, monuments and statues, firing bullets at schools and institutions and synagogues — these are things that were the precursor to the Holocaust,” he said.
“When you’re looking over your shoulder or thinking that something might happen, that’s how it starts. That’s how it started in Germany.”
Politicians, he said, owe it to Canadians to explain the “actual steps” they’re taking “to stop these pre-Holocaust type incidents.” He said that should include watching their tone when commenting on the Israel-Hamas war and considering whether moves toward Palestinian statehood might “become the fuel for antisemitism.”
Greenspon’s co-chair Joel Diener noted that Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and then-NDP leader Jagmeet Singh were both absent from the 2024 and 2025 commemorative events in Ottawa, a point echoed by other advocates.
“The people that do not show up are politicizing our events,” Diener said.
Singh did not respond to a message on the X platform. Blanchet’s office wrote in French that while he was “unable to attend” both commemorations, he meets at least twice a year with the CIJA and addressed the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee at a conference last year.
Diener said Lyons should have clearly called out politicians and parties in her final report, instead of leaving Jewish groups to engage with the problem.
Robertson agreed. “She’s on her way out and had the opportunity to cut more to the chase,” he said.
Lyons and the advocates interviewed by The Canadian Press said those linking events in the Middle East with Jewish Canadians at home are driving acts of intimidation and harassment.
“If our rights are being threatened, every Canadian’s rights are being threatened. The integrity of our pluralistic system is being threatened,” Shack.
“It’s imperative that Canadians from all walks of life come together, to unequivocally say this is unacceptable.”
