Advocacy @ HBT: The week of March 18, 2026

Advocacy @ HBT: Fighting the Disease, Not the Symptoms  

Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) Chair, Mark Sandler, has recently authored an insightful and powerful article about the root causes of the antisemitic attacks against synagogues in Toronto. You can read what he has written here, and we strongly encourage you to share the article with your friends.  

Among Sandler’s arguments is that by underenforcing hate speech laws in Canada, our city and nation have empowered hateful speech to turn into violent action.  

“Thirty-six years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that hate speech marginalizes targeted communities and can lead to violence against them. For several years, I have warned about the consequences when incitement of hatred against Jews goes unchecked… we will not succeed in combatting violent antisemitism unless the police, prosecutors and governments correctly identify what contemporary antisemitism so often looks like and address the promotion and incitement of hatred through robust, consistent enforcement of criminal hate speech laws.” 

Sadly, it is on that note of hate speech that CIJA has forwarded a new action item related to the weekly protests at Bathurst and Sheppard. Many of you have seen images of the disturbing, nazi-inspired signs that protestors carried at the intersection. The people who displayed those signs were not arrested, nor did they face any enforcement of the law during the protest. While we are grateful to the TPS for their actions protecting our sacred spaces, it is important to demand action and investigation when hate speech is levelled against our community and is ignored.  

You can read more here and sign here. Warning: the reproduced images on this page are hateful and disturbing!  

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