Moss is one of a growing number of Canadian Jews who are packing their bags. Others include Gad Saad, a popular social commentator and author of the book Suicidal Empathy, who now teaches at the University of Mississippi. The sorry truth is that many Canadian Jews see no future for themselves in their home and native land. This should be a cautionary tale for other countries, not least the U.S.

Canada has the fourth-largest Jewish population on earth (some 400,000 people), trailing only Israel, the U.S., and France. Its Jews once thrived. Their story approximated that of American Jews. Many had fled the antisemitism of Eastern Europe for greener pastures on this side of the Atlantic. Accorded freedom and equality in Canada, they made significant contributions in medicine, law, education, the arts, and other fields. The community’s most prominent members include musician Leonard Cohen, journalist Morley Safer, and actor William Shatner. Jews were proud to be Canadians, and other Canadians were proud to call Jews their compatriots.

Jew-hatred killed that modus vivendi. By some measures, Canada has become one of the most antisemitic countries on earth. Just look at the data.

Last year, Canada saw a record 6,800 antisemitic incidents. In other words, there is roughly one antisemitic incident per 59 Jews. Compare that to the U.S., where the ratio is one antisemitic incident per 1,116 Jews — the American Jewish population is approximately 7 million people, and there were 6,274 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. last year. That means Canada experiences around 19 times as many antisemitic incidents as the U.S. on a per capita basis. For all the talk about surging antisemitism in the United States, the situation is far graver in Canada.

Antisemites have targeted synagogues and Jewish schools with alacrity. In June, Toronto’s police chief told the press that youth were being recruited to carry out attacks on Jewish institutions around the city. “It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” he said.

Toronto’s Jewish community, which accounts for roughly half all Canadian Jews, has been fearful for some time. In 2024, shots were fired on three separate occasions (including on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar) at Bais Chaya Mushka, an elementary school for girls.

Acts of Jew-hatred are hardly confined to Toronto. Over in Montreal, home to the second-largest Jewish population in Canada, Jews arguably have it worse. In June 2026, there was an attempted arson attack on Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, a Reform congregation in Westmount. In November 2023, Montreal’s Yeshiva Gedola, a school for young men, was targeted by gunfire two times in one week. In May 2024, the entryway of Vancouver’s Schara Tzedeck synagogue was set on fire. Synagogues elsewhere have been defaced with swastikas and other graffiti.

Canadian universities have experienced a groundswell of Jew-hatred as well. Since the October 7 attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, Jewish students have been harassed for simply being Jewish. As in other rich countries, activists professing to oppose “Zionists” invariably target Jews. Calls for “intifada,” meaning the death of Jews, have been omnipresent on Canadian campuses. Agitators have violently disrupted events hosted by Jewish students. Over 100 Jewish physicians at the University of Toronto said they would no longer list their institutional affiliation in their professional work as a result of the school’s “failure… to defend Jewish learners and faculty.” The exhortation “kill all Jews” was reportedly scrawled on a bathroom wall at Concordia University in Montreal. All of this was unthinkable in Canada just a few years ago.

As is the case in Western Europe, mass migration explains a great deal of Canada’s new antisemitism. The policies of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged millions to come to Canada, where immigrants now comprise 23% of the population, compared to 15% in the United States. Although many of these newcomers aren’t antisemitic, many are, and some put their hatred of Jews into action.

Canadian authorities have thwarted several terror plots by migrants against Jews. In 2024, they apprehended a Pakistani national in Quebec who intended to attack a Jewish center in New York City — the man later pleaded guilty in a U.S. district court. Last year, they arrested three young men who allegedly planned to kidnap Jews in Toronto, among other crimes. One of them, an Afghan national, is accused of having ties to ISIS.

As men like these have entered Canada, mass migration has been a boon to the country’s Muslim population. In 2001, there were 579,640 Canadian Muslims, representing 2% of the population. Twenty years later, there were 1,755,715 Muslims, or 4.9% of the population. Much of this growth has happened in cities.

Muslims are a significant percentage of the population in Montreal (11.9%), Toronto (9.6%), Edmonton (8.3%), Ottawa (7.8%), and Calgary (7.4%). The rapid growth of the Canadian Muslim population shows few signs of abating. Its median age is 30 years, compared to 41.2 years for the Canadian population as a whole. According to projections, Muslims will make up between 5.6% and 7.2% of the Canadian population in 2036. That’s roughly on par with the share of today’s British population that is Muslim. Like many Western countries, Canada is becoming more and more Islamic by the day.

With more Muslims has come more antisemitism. Although not all Canadian Muslims bear Jews ill will, many do. A 2024 survey by sociologist Robert Brym found that antisemitic views were significantly higher among Canadian Muslims than among others. For instance, 50% of Canadian Muslims agree that “Jewish people don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind” (compared to 16 percent of all non-Jewish Canadians), 41% of Canadian Muslims agree that “It is appropriate for opponents of Israel’s policies to boycott Jewish-owned businesses in Canada” (compared to 16% of all non-Jewish Canadians), and 45% of Canadian Muslims agree that “Jewish people have too much power in our country today” (compared to 13% of all non-Jewish Canadians). Canadian Muslims are disproportionately hostile to Jews.

While Canada imports more antisemitism, the country is increasingly captive to theories of “intersectionality” that have little sympathy for Jews. The Liberal Party, which has governed the country since 2015, hews closely to this ideology. Jews, who are socioeconomically successful, are at the bottom of the intersectional totem pole. Above them are the “oppressed” groups. Many on the Canadian Left are deeply uncomfortable with the fact that Muslims are a massive source of antisemitism. Others don’t mind. In their eyes, this is an example of an “oppressor” group getting its just deserts.

Canadian Liberals are also loath to acknowledge that antisemitism is a singular problem. They prefer addressing it in the context of other forms of bigotry. In November 2023, while he was still prime minister, Trudeau called out “a rise in antisemitism that is terrifying.” But in almost the same breath, he denounced “the expression of hate against Muslims, against Palestinians.” To discuss antisemitism on its own is to recognize that the unique evil of Jew-hatred. In 2023, 70 % of all police-reported religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews, even though they make up 1% of the Canadian population.

Until Canadians admit that there’s something particularly awful about Jew-hatred, they will be unable to combat the epidemic. The political class mostly talks a good game but refuses to act. “As antisemitism surges in Canada, we are taking decisive action to ensure no Canadian community is driven from our shared public institutions by hatred,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “We are building a country where Jewish Canadians can be visibly, fully, and joyfully Jewish in public life.” Tell that to those who have borne the consequences of being visibly, fully, and joyfully Jewish in Canada: increased security measures around schools and synagogues, verbal abuse on the streets, and the unmistakable conclusion that they are no longer valued citizens.

As Canada turns its back on its Jews, the U.S. should extend its hand. It should offer asylum to Canadian Jews who, per U.S. law, have a credible fear of persecution on account of their faith or ethnicity. Canadian Jewish migration would be a net benefit to the U.S. The demographic is highly educated (37% of Canadian Jewish adults have postgraduate degrees), well-earning, and English-speaking. It’s also intimately familiar with the American way of life and would integrate with ease. Canadian Jews are the kind of prospective immigrants President Donald Trump, who has said he wants more “nice people” in the U.S., and all other Americans should welcome into the country.

The U.S. government should also be more selective about which immigrants it admits. As the Trump administration is doing, potential migrants should be rigorously vetted for extremist views, including antisemitic ones. Federal authorities should also deport visa and green card holders like Mahmoud Khalil who spew unvarnished Jew-hatred.

Lastly, the U.S. must defend its Jews where Canada has failed to do so. Synagogues and Jewish schools should be sufficiently protected. Americans should be reminded — at home, at school, in the workplace, and in church — that Jew-hatred is a poison. There should be concerted efforts to stamp out antisemitic views among younger Americans, who are less friendly to Jews than older generations.

Could the U.S. follow Canada down the road of Jew-hatred? It’s true that things are much better for Jews in the U.S. right now. The American Jewish population is large and organized enough to stand up for itself. Traditionally, the critical mass of the U.S. population has been deeply philosemitic in a way that the Canadian population hasn’t. And it remains a badge of dishonor to be an open antisemite. But there’s no guarantee that Jews will always be welcome in the U.S.    

TUCKER CARLSON’S ANTI-ISRAEL OBSESSION HAS BECOME DANGEROUS

Widespread antisemitism is an indication that things are going terribly wrong. A vibrant, healthy society, as Canada used to be, treats its Jews well. A degrading society does the reverse. Although Americans can benefit from Canada’s spiral by taking the country’s Jews, there will be costs to the U.S. Americans have an interest in ensuring that Canada, a NATO ally with whom we share a 5,500-mile border, is prosperous, secure, and free. A Canada unsafe for Jews likely won’t be.

Canada is going down a risky path. It’s losing considerable human capital as Jews like Dr. Moss leave. It’s also imbuing an ancient hatred that has been the bane of many societies. History has been unkind to those who mistreat their Jews. Canadians would do well to remember as much.

Daniel J. Samet is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.