Advocacy @ HBT: The week of July 23, 2025

Advocacy @ HBT: Deborah Lyons, Special Envoy Combatting Antisemitism, Steps Down

• Deborah Lyons steps down from her role as the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.  

Last week Special Envoy Deborah Lyons announced that she was stepping down from her position after two years. You can read the Canadian Jewish News coverage at this link.  

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the Special Envoy, and to her office, for her hard work and tireless efforts to safeguard the Jewish community of Canada.  

Over the last two years, and in a large part because of her hard work, the IHRA definition of antisemitism has received critical support and attention across Canada. The Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism is a pivotal project that helps the Jews of Canada, and our allies, effectively combat and define Jew hatred in our country and beyond.  

Irwin Cotler, and other leading Jewish voices, have praised Lyons’ dedication and hard work. Cotler writes “I regret that Deborah Lyons is leaving her post. She has been a very effective and engaged Special Envoy… I look forward to continuing to work with her in common cause.”  

Special Envoy Lyons visited Holy Blossom Temple in November of last year. You can watch her fireside chat with Advocacy Committee member Tom Friedland here. Her message from that evening is still vital and relevant today. Concerned citizens of this country must do everything in our power to combat antisemitism. 

Learn more about Advocacy@HBT here.