For some Canadian Jews, rising antisemitism has reached the point where the question is no longer simply how to increase security—it is whether they should leave the country altogether. Sari Watson, a 39-year-old Ontario resident, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that fear kept her home from Yom Kippur services at her childhood synagogue in Belleville, where a gunman later opened fire on a police officer stationed outside while roughly two dozen worshipers were inside. Watson said her “internal alarm” has led her to think about escape routes and backup plans. In Calgary, Sheldon Shugal and his wife are researching how to move to the United States, while CBC journalist Neil Herland publicly said he obtained an Austrian passport as a precaution amid concerns about antisemitism. U.S. political figures, including President Donald Trump, Sen. Rick Scott, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, have floated the possibility of extending refugee protections to Canadian Jews who fear antisemitic persecution, though no broad refugee program for Canadian Jews has been established.
The anxiety follows a series of disturbing incidents involving Canada's Jewish community. B'nai Brith Canada recently reported a 9.3% increase in antisemitic incidents from 2024 to 2025, with Ontario recording the country's highest total. Several Toronto-area synagogues have been targeted by gunfire this year, while other visibly Jewish individuals have reportedly faced harassment and attacks. Florida immigration attorney Lauren Cohen told JTA that roughly half of her Canadian clients since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack cite antisemitism as a primary reason for considering relocation to the United States. But the picture is not uniform. Canadian Jewish MP Anthony Housefather argues that claims of a significant Jewish flight from Canada are exaggerated, and other Jewish Canadians interviewed for the report said they have no intention of leaving and do not regard the United States as a safer alternative. What cannot easily be dismissed, however, is that Jews in a modern Western democracy are once again discussing second passports, relocation plans, armed security, and where they might flee if conditions deteriorate further.
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