A report published over the weekend shows record levels of antisemitism were recorded in Canada last year, with sharp increases in Quebec and British Columbia,
The annual audit by Jewish advocacy group B'nai Brith (buh-NAY' brith) found there were two-thousand, 799 anti-Jewish hate crimes, including beatings, vandalism of synagogues and swastikas in schools.
David Matas, senior legal counsel for B'nai Brith, says the Jewish community ``leads the list'' of minorities subjected to religious hatred.
B'nai Brith, which verifies incidents, found some Jewish candidates in the federal election, including Montreal-based Liberal M-P Anthony Housefather, had their posters daubed with swastikas.
Conservative M-P Melissa Lantsman says there is a ``rising tide of antisemitism in this country'' not just among the far-right but also among university faculty.
The most anti-Semitic incidents occurred in Quebec last year, which saw 828 incidents last year, up from 686 in 2020.
British Columbia saw a 111 per cent increase, to 409 incidents in 2021 from 194 in 2020, including 56 cases of vandalism and 296 incidents of online abuse and hatred.