Antisemitism in Canada

Antisemitism in Canada has affected Canadian Jews ever since Canada’s Jewish community was established in the 18th century.

Between 1930 and 1939, Canada rejected almost all Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, taking in only 4,000 of the 800,000 Jews looking for refuge, as documented in the book None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948,co-authored by the Canadian historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper and published in 1983. The MS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg in May 1939, carrying 937 Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi persecution. The destination was Cuba, but officials in Havana cancelled Jewish passengers' visas. Jewish immigration was strictly limited in North America, so the passengers were denied entrance to Canada and the United States.

Outbreaks of violence against Jews and Jewish property culminated in August 1933 with the Christie Pits riots; six hours of violent conflict between Jewish and Christian youth in Toronto, Ontario. Swastikas and Nazi slogans began to crop up on Toronto’s eastern beaches, and Jewish swimmers were attacked.

In 1934, Adrien Arcand started a Parti national social chrétien in Montreal patterned after the Nazi party. His party’s actions resulted in anti-Semitic rallies, boycotts, propaganda and literature, and the inception of several other Nazi-like organizations throughout Canada. Also in 1934, all interns at Hôpital Notre-Dame in Montréal walked off the job to protest the hiring of a Jewish senior intern who had graduated from the Université de Montréal, Dr. Samuel Rabinovitch. The dispute was resolved after several days when the new intern resigned his position. The hospital administration did arrange another internship post for Dr. Rabinovitch in St. Louis, Missouri where he remained until 1940, after which he returned to Montréal and a medical practice.

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