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The House of Commons has recently been hearing testimony on M-103, MP Iqra Khalid’s private member’s motion, which is aimed at combatting Islamophobia and other unnamed forms of religious discrimination. ‎Disturbingly, some who have endorsed M-103 publicly have asserted that anti-Semitism in Canada is limited to the edges of society, in supposed contrast to Islamaphobia.

As the chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada, this country’s oldest national Jewish organization and a staunch defender of human rights, I feel obligated to set the record straight.

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Of course, every Canadian Jew, along with every decent Canadian, recoils from the gruesome anti-Muslim crimes that we have seen in recent years, including the deadly January 2017 attack on a mosque in Quebec City. Still, many members of our community remain wary of M-103 and its possible implications — and justifiably so.

Many members of our community remain wary of M103

In 2015, Statistics Canada reported that, in a trend that goes back at least nine years, Jews were the most targeted religious group for hate crimes. This, despite the fact that, in 2011, there were more than three times as many Muslims as Jews residing in Canada.