Tobin Ng holds a candle and sign during a vigil against anti-Semitism and white supremacy, in response to the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. Reports show the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada continue to increase. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Anti-semitism continues to fester in Canada

New statistics–both sickening and saddening–show the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada grew to an all-time high in 2018, increasing by 16.5 per cent over 2017.

The figures are contained B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit that tracks anti-Semitic incidents reported to police, media and the organization’s Anti-Hate hotline.

It was the fifth straight year that the number of incidents has increased and is highest number of incidents recorded since tracking began in 1982,

And for the first time since tracking began, the number of incidents topped 2,000, rising to 2,041.

The Prairie Region saw a 142 per cent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2018 over the previous year. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

The increase was most visible in Quebec, which saw the number of incidents rise to 709 last year from 474 in 2017.

Figures from the Prairies showed a 142 per cent increase in the number of incidents from 2017.

December 2018 was an especially hate-filled month, with a total of 349 reports of anti-Semitic acts, the most of any calendar month.

According to the audit, the vast majority (88.6 per cent) of the anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2018 involved harassment, which includes actions such as promoting hate propaganda or hate mail via social media, verbal slurs, stereotyping members of the Jewish community, discrimination in the workplace or at school, as well as verbal threats of violence.

There were 1,809 such acts reported in 2018, up from 1,409 in 2017.

Incidents of harassment have jumped 61.1 per cent in the three years since 2015.

Ran Ukashi is national director of the League for Human Rights at B’nai Brith Canada.

The report says the internet is playing an enormous role in anti-Semitic incidents: Of the total number of incidents reported across Canada, 80 per cent had an online component while 8.6 per cent of the harassment incidents reported occurred in person.

Ran Ukashi is the National Director of the League for Human Rights, B’nai Brith Canada’s advocacy arm.

I spoke by phone with him at his Winnipeg office on Tuesday.

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