Jewish Population in Canada 2026
Canada is home to one of the most vibrant, well-organized, and demographically complex Jewish communities in the world — and in 2026, the data behind that community tells a story that is richer, more nuanced, and more urgent than any single headline figure can capture. According to the 2021 Canadian Census, 335,295 Canadians identified as Jewish by religion, representing approximately 0.9% of the total national population — a figure that has grown modestly but consistently from 329,500 in 2011 and 310,960 in 2001. When the broader definition employed by demographers is applied — one that includes Jews who identify by ethnicity or ancestry without formal religious affiliation — the total Jewish population of Canada is estimated at approximately 393,500–410,000 as of 2025, with independent researcher estimates projecting a figure of around ~419,000 by 2030 if current growth trends hold. On a global scale, Canada ranks as the 4th largest Jewish community in the world — behind Israel, the United States, and France — and the JPR’s Law of Return population (those eligible for Israeli citizenship under descent-based rules) extends the broader count to 610,000 Canadians. Per Wikipedia’s 2026 updated estimate, Canada’s core Jewish population stands at 398,000, consistent with the trajectory projected from 2021 census data.
What defines Canadian Jewish demographics in 2026 is not just the absolute count but the confluence of powerful and sometimes contradictory forces shaping the community’s character and trajectory. On one hand, the community benefits from strong immigration inflows — particularly from Israel, France, the Former Soviet Union, and South Africa — a relatively low intermarriage rate compared to American Jewry, and a growing Haredi (strictly Orthodox) population concentrated in Montreal’s Outremont and Boisbriand neighbourhoods that is adding children to the community at a far higher rate than the non-Orthodox majority. On the other hand, B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents — released on April 27, 2026 — recorded a record-breaking 6,800 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the highest total in the audit’s 44-year history since 1982, averaging 18.6 incidents per day and representing a 145.6% increase from 2022. That convergence — a community that is demographically stable and institutionally robust, yet living through a historic deterioration in its security environment — is the defining tension of Jewish life in Canada in 2026.
Interesting Facts: Jewish Population in Canada 2026
Before getting into the section-by-section data, the table below captures the most critical, surprising, and important facts about Canada’s Jewish community that define the picture in 2026.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First Jewish Settlers in Canada | Arrived with British forces in 1760, after the conquest of New France; Jewish settlement had been banned under French rule |
| First Canadian Synagogue | Shearith Israel (Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), established in Montreal, 1768 — a full century before Canadian Confederation |
| First Jewish MP in Canada | Ezekiel Hart was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1807 but was initially denied his seat due to his religion |
| First Jewish Mayor in Canada | David Oppenheimer, Mayor of Vancouver from 1888 to 1891 |
| 2021 Census (Jews by Religion) | 335,295 people — 0.9% of Canadian population (Statistics Canada) |
| 2021 Census (Broader Definition) | ~393,500 including Jews by ethnicity/ancestry with no other religion (Prof. Robert Brym / University of Toronto) |
| 2025 Population Estimate | ~410,000 (Scribe Quarterly / demographer estimate, 2025) |
| 2026 Core Population Estimate | ~398,000 (Wikipedia / Della Pergola; JPR lists 4th in the world) |
| JPR Law of Return Population | 610,000 Canadians eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return |
| Canada’s Global Jewish Ranking | 4th largest in the world — behind Israel (7.76M), USA (6.30M), France (438.5K) |
| % of Canadian Population | ~1.1–1.2% (using broader definition); 0.9% by religion alone |
| Largest Jewish City | Toronto — home to approximately ~48–50% of Canada’s Jews |
| Second Largest Jewish City | Montreal — approximately ~22–23% of Canada’s Jews |
| Province with Most Jews | Ontario — 196,100 Jews by religion (2021 Census); over 58% of national total |
| Fastest-Growing Provincial Community | British Columbia — grew 16% between 2011 and 2021 |
| Only Province with Jewish Population Decline (2011–2021) | Quebec — declined 0.7% |
| Dominant Heritage | Community is predominantly Ashkenazi; Sephardic Jews (mainly from North Africa) make up ~10%, concentrated in Montreal |
| Former Soviet Union (FSU) Jewish community | ~91,000+ FSU-origin Jews (as of 2021); ~27% of all Jews by religion are immigrants |
| Haredi Population in Montreal | ~20,000 — more than one-fifth of Montreal’s entire Jewish population |
| Canadian Jewish Intermarriage Rate | 31.1% nationally (2021 Census) — far lower than US rate of ~50% |
| Jewish School Enrolment — Toronto | 40% of Jewish children in Jewish primary schools; 12% in Jewish high schools |
| Jewish School Enrolment — Montreal | 60% of Jewish children in Jewish primary schools; 30% in Jewish high schools |
| Antisemitic Incidents in 2025 | 6,800 — highest EVER recorded by B’nai Brith Canada since audits began in 1982 |
| Daily Average of Antisemitic Incidents (2025) | 18.6 incidents per day (B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit, April 2026) |
| Increase from 2022 to 2025 | +145.6% — from 2,769 in 2022 to 6,800 in 2025 |
| % of Incidents Online (2025) | 91.9% occurred online (B’nai Brith Canada) |
| Canadian Jews’ Attachment to Israel | 79% have visited Israel at least once; 48% say very attached, 31% somewhat attached (2018 Survey) |
Sources: Statistics Canada Census 2021; Prof. Robert Brym / The CJN (Dec 2022); JPR Canada Profile; Wikipedia Jewish Population by Country (2026); B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit 2025 (April 27, 2026); Scribe Quarterly / The CJN (Aug 2025); 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada (Environics Institute); Jewish Independent / CJN census analysis; Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada; World Jewish Congress Canada
The sheer breadth of Canada’s Jewish population statistics in 2026 reflects both the community’s deep roots and its dynamic, immigrant-enriched present. From a founding population that arrived with British soldiers in 1760 and established North America’s second-ever synagogue in 1768, to a community that now spans every province and territory of the country, the 358-year arc of Canadian Jewish life represents one of the more remarkable stories of diasporic continuity and growth in the Western world. The 1871 Census counted just 1,115 Jews in all of Canada; by 2026, the community is more than 350 times larger, having grown through waves of Eastern European immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Holocaust survivor resettlement after 1945, Soviet Jewish immigration from the late 1980s onward, and more recent arrivals from France, Israel, Morocco, and South Africa.
The demographic projection that Canada’s Jewish population could surpass France’s and become the world’s third-largest within this decade is not merely a statistical curiosity — it reflects a genuine convergence of growth drivers that no other major Diaspora Jewish community can currently match: net positive immigration, a growing Haredi birth cohort, relatively low assimilation compared to the United States, and a strong institutional infrastructure that retains Jewish identity across generations. At the same time, the 6,800 antisemitism incidents in 2025 — characterized by B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO as a “national crisis” — cast a long shadow over what should otherwise be a story of community confidence and growth.
Jewish Population in Canada 2026: Census Data & Total Estimates
CANADIAN JEWISH POPULATION GROWTH (1871–2026)
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1871 ▌ 1,115
1901 ██ 16,401
1921 ████████ 126,196
1941 ██████████████ 168,367
1961 ████████████████████ 275,000
1991 ███████████████████████████ 356,315
2001 ███████████████████████████ 310,960 (by religion)
2011 ████████████████████████████ 329,500 (by religion)
2021 █████████████████████████████ 335,295 (by religion)
2021 ██████████████████████████████ ~393,500 (broader definition)
2025 ██████████████████████████████▌ ~410,000 (estimated)
2026 ███████████████████████████████ ~398,000 (core / Wikipedia)
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Law of Return Population: 610,000
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| Year / Source | Jewish Population | Definition / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1871 Census | 1,115 | Canada’s first census; 409 in Montreal, 157 in Toronto, 131 in Hamilton |
| 1901 Census | ~16,401 | Post-immigration growth from Eastern European pogroms |
| 1921 Census | ~126,196 | Community grew 7.5x during mass Eastern European immigration wave |
| 1941 Census | ~168,367 | ~65,000 in Montreal, ~53,000 in Toronto |
| 1961 Census | ~275,000 | Post-war peak of immigration including Holocaust survivors |
| 1991 Census | ~356,315 | Includes FSU immigration wave beginning late 1980s |
| 2001 Census | ~310,960 | By religion (Statistics Canada) |
| 2011 Census / NHS | 329,500 | By religion; broader estimate ~392,000 |
| 2021 Census (by religion) | 335,295 | 0.9% of Canadian population — Statistics Canada |
| 2021 Census (broader — Brym) | ~393,500 | Jews by religion + Jews by ethnicity w/ no other religion (U of T) |
| 2021 (Jews by religion + ethnicity combined) | ~282,015 | By ethnic/cultural origin only (separate from religion question) |
| JPR Core Estimate | ~398,000 | Wikipedia 2026; JPR lists Canada as 4th in world |
| 2025 Estimate (Scribe Quarterly) | ~410,000 | Based on ~0.4%/year growth rate projection from 2021 baseline |
| 2030 Projection | ~419,000 | If current growth rate holds (Scribe Quarterly / CJN, Aug 2025) |
| JPR: Population with Jewish Parents | Not separately published for Canada | — |
| JPR: Law of Return Population | 610,000 | All Canadians eligible for Israeli citizenship by descent |
| World Jewish Population (2026) | ~16.5 million | Wikipedia / Della Pergola — Canada = ~2.4% of world Jewry |
| Canada’s Global Ranking | 4th | Behind Israel (7.76M), USA (6.30M), France (438.5K) |
| Jews per 1,000 in Canadian Population | ~9.9–10.2 | Based on 398,000–410,000 / 40.1 million Canadians |
Sources: Statistics Canada Census 2021; Prof. Robert Brym, University of Toronto / The CJN (December 2022); JPR Canada Profile (2024); Wikipedia Jewish Population by Country (2026); Scribe Quarterly / The CJN (August 2025); History of the Jews in Canada Wikipedia (May 2026); Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada; World Jewish Congress Canada; Berman Jewish DataBank
The story of Canadian Jewish population counts is, at its core, a story about the complexity of identity — and how different measuring methodologies can produce figures that diverge by more than 75,000 people from the same underlying reality. The 2021 Census figure of 335,295 Jews by religion is the most-cited and most-comparable figure, representing those who explicitly identified Judaism as their religion. But as University of Toronto sociology professor Robert Brym has noted, this undercounts a substantial population of secular or culturally Jewish Canadians who identify with Judaism through ethnicity or ancestry without formal religious affiliation. Adding this group brings the total to approximately 393,500, which is the figure most demographers use as the working baseline for Canadian Jewry as a whole. The JPR’s core estimate of ~398,000 and the Scribe Quarterly’s projection of ~410,000 for 2025 reflect slightly different methodological choices but are all consistent with a community in the 390,000–415,000 range as of mid-2026.
What is genuinely striking about the trajectory is the modest but sustained growth the community has achieved over the past two decades — bucking the decline trend seen in many other Western Diaspora communities. Canada’s Jewish population has grown approximately 1.8% between 2011 and 2021 (by the religion count), driven primarily by positive net immigration and secondarily by the Haredi birth rate in Montreal and Toronto. The projection that Canada could surpass France to become the world’s third-largest Jewish community within a decade reflects both this momentum and the ongoing decline of French Jewry through emigration to Israel. That would be a remarkable demographic milestone — the kind that would have seemed implausible to the 1,115 Jews counted in Canada’s first census in 1871.
Jewish Population in Canada 2026: Geographic Distribution by Province & City
CANADIAN JEWISH POPULATION BY PROVINCE (2021 CENSUS — BY RELIGION)
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Ontario ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 196,100 (58.5%)
Quebec ████████████████████████ 84,530 (25.2%)
British Columbia ████████ 26,845 (8.0%)
Alberta ████ 11,565 (3.4%)
Manitoba ████ 11,390 (3.4%)
Nova Scotia █ ~2,000
Other Provinces █ ~2,865
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Toronto = ~48–50% of all Canadian Jews
Montreal = ~22–25% of all Canadian Jews
TOP 5 CITIES = ~87% of all Canadian Jews
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| Region / City | Jewish Population | % of National | Trend (2011–2021) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario (province) | 196,100 (by religion) | ~58.5% | +0.3% (very modest growth) |
| Quebec (province) | 84,530 | ~25.2% | −0.7% — only province to decline |
| British Columbia | 26,845 | ~8.0% | +16% — fastest growing province |
| Alberta | 11,565 | ~3.4% | +6% |
| Manitoba | 11,390 | ~3.4% | +2.5% |
| Saskatchewan | — | — | +17.5% — strong growth from small base |
| Atlantic Canada | ~2,000+ | ~0.6% | Growing — antisemitism incidents up +114.5% in 2025 |
| Toronto (Greater Toronto Area) | ~188,710–200,000+ | ~48–50% | Slight GTA decline, city core grew; still dominant centre |
| Montreal (CMA) | ~84,530–90,780 | ~22–25% | Stabilized after decades of decline; first gain since 1971 (2021) |
| Vancouver (Metro) | ~20,125 | ~6% | +7.4% (2011–2021); city of Vancouver +12.8% |
| Ottawa (CMA) | ~14,000–15,000 | ~3.5% | Growing — may have surpassed Winnipeg |
| Winnipeg (CMA) | ~13,690 | ~3.5% | Stable / slight decline |
| Calgary (CMA) | ~8,335–11,565 | ~2.5% | Modest growth |
| Edmonton | ~5,550 | ~1.5% | Stable |
| Hamilton | ~5,110 | ~1.3% | Stable |
| Cote St. Luc (Montreal suburb) | 18,180 | — | Highest single Jewish concentration in Canada; 53.9% of local pop. is Jewish |
| Hampstead (Montreal suburb) | — | — | 63.8% Jewish — highest Jewish density neighbourhood in all of Canada |
| Victoria, BC | 960 | — | More than doubled from 550 in 2011 |
| Kelowna, BC | 530 | — | More than doubled from 215 in 2011 |
Sources: Jewish Independent / The CJN census analysis (June 2023); Statistics Canada 2021 Census; Federation CJA Montreal Demographics 2021; History of the Jews in Toronto Wikipedia; B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit 2025 (April 2026); Canadian Jewish Population 2019, Berman Jewish DataBank (Shahar); Robert Brym / The CJN (Dec 2022)
The geographic story of Canadian Jewry in 2026 is one of extraordinary concentration in two metropolitan areas, with meaningful but slower-paced growth spreading westward. The dominance of Toronto and Montreal — together accounting for roughly 72–74% of all Canadian Jews — has defined the community’s structure for over a century and continues to do so, though the relative weight is shifting. Toronto overtook Montreal as Canada’s largest Jewish city in the 1970s, when tens of thousands of English-speaking Jews left Quebec following the rise of the Parti Québécois and the prospect of independence, and it has remained the undisputed centre of Canadian Jewish life ever since. The city of Toronto proper recorded 99,390 Jews by religion in the 2021 Census, with the broader Greater Toronto Area accounting for approximately 188,710–200,000 — nearly half the national total in a single metro region.
Montreal’s stabilization is one of the more encouraging demographic stories in recent Canadian Jewish history. After decades of continuous decline from its peak of over 100,000 in the 1960s, Montreal’s Jewish population registered its first net gain since 1971 in the 2021 Census — a slim increase of approximately 580 people (+0.6%). Two factors explain this reversal: the growth of the Haredi community to approximately 20,000 people (more than one-fifth of Montreal’s Jewish population), whose high fertility rate adds children faster than the non-Orthodox community loses members; and increased Jewish immigration from France, driven by that country’s elevated antisemitism environment. The dramatic geographic contrasts within Montreal are worth highlighting — Hampstead’s population is 63.8% Jewish, the highest Jewish density neighbourhood in all of Canada, while the Tosh Chasidic community in Boisbriand has a median age of just 14.7 years, the youngest Jewish community median in the country — a vivid statistical snapshot of the Haredi demographic reality.
Canadian Jewish Denominational Identity & Religious Profile 2026
CANADIAN JEWISH DENOMINATIONAL BREAKDOWN (2021 Census / Survey Data)
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"Just Jewish" (no specific denomination) ████████████████████████████ 29%
Conservative ████████████████████████ 26%
Orthodox █████████████████ 17%
Reform ████████████████ 16%
Other / Unsure ████████████ 12%
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JEWISH IDENTITY TYPE (2021 Census):
Jews by Religion ████████████████████████████████████ ~74% of Jews
Secular Jews (ethnicity, no religion) ████████████ ~18%
Jewish ancestry only █████ ~8%
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HAREDI SHARE:
Montreal Haredi ████████████ ~20,000 (~21% of Montreal Jewry)
Canada-wide Haredi ███ ~30,000 estimated (mostly in Montreal, some in Toronto)
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| Religious / Identity Metric | Figure | Source / Period |
|---|---|---|
| “Just Jewish” (no denomination) | 29% | History of the Jews in Canada / Wikipedia |
| Conservative | 26% | History of the Jews in Canada / Wikipedia |
| Orthodox | 17% | History of the Jews in Canada / Wikipedia |
| Reform | 16% | History of the Jews in Canada / Wikipedia |
| Other / Smaller Movements / Unsure | 12% | History of the Jews in Canada / Wikipedia |
| Jews by Religion (2021 Census) | 335,295 (~74% of Jewish-identified Canadians) | Statistics Canada 2021 |
| Secular Jews (ethnicity, no religion) | ~58,200 (~18%) | Prof. Robert Brym estimate (2022) |
| Jews identifying with non-Jewish religion but Jewish ethnicity | ~52,000 | Prof. Robert Brym — NOT included in standard count |
| Jews knowing Hebrew (2021 Census) | 83,205 Canadians | CJN / Robert Brym analysis |
| Jews knowing Yiddish (2021 Census) | 20,155 Canadians | CJN / Robert Brym analysis |
| Israelis by ethnicity in Canada (2021 Census) | 35,345 | CJN / Robert Brym analysis |
| Holocaust survivors remaining in Canada (est.) | ~7,000–8,000 | Robert Brym estimate (2022) |
| Montreal Haredi population | ~20,000 | Prof. Robert Brym / The CJN (2022); ~21% of Montreal Jewish population |
| Canada-wide Haredi (estimated) | ~29,000–30,000 | Mostly Montreal; Toronto second-largest concentration |
| Average haredi household size in Canada | 5.03 persons | vs. 2.65 for core Jewish population (Staetsky calculation) |
| FSU-origin Jews in Canada (2021) | ~91,000+ | ~27% of all Jews by religion are immigrants |
| Top immigrant source countries for Canadian Jews | Israel (19%), USA (12.6%), Ukraine (8.3%), Russia (8.2%), Morocco (7.8%), South Africa (6.8%) | Canadian Jewish Population 2021 (Brym/ResearchGate) |
| Canadian Jews who identify as visible minority | ~14,000 (~3.6%) | 2021 Census (Brym) — includes Sephardim, intermarried, etc. |
| Sephardic Jews as % of Canadian Jewry | ~10% | Concentrated in Montreal; World Jewish Congress |
| Jewish Agency estimate: Orthodox share | ~40% | World Jewish Congress (Jewish Agency estimate) |
| Jewish Agency estimate: Conservative share | ~40% | World Jewish Congress (Jewish Agency estimate) |
Sources: History of the Jews in Canada Wikipedia (May 2026); Statistics Canada Census 2021; Prof. Robert Brym / The CJN (December 2022); World Jewish Congress Canada Profile; ResearchGate: Canadian Jewish Population 2021 New Estimates; Federation CJA Montreal Demographics; Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada
The denominational makeup of Canadian Jewry in 2026 is notably different from that of American Jewry, and that difference has significant implications for the community’s long-term cohesion and continuity. The single largest self-identified group — at 29% — describes themselves as “Just Jewish,” a category that captures the substantial population of cultural, secular, or ancestrally-identified Jews who do not affiliate with any formal stream of Judaism. Combined with the 26% Conservative, 17% Orthodox, and 16% Reform streams, the picture is one of genuine pluralism, though the centre of denominational gravity has been shifting toward Orthodoxy as the Haredi birth rate steadily increases its community share. The Jewish Agency estimate that 40% of Canadian Jews are Orthodox — substantially higher than the census-based figures — likely reflects the agency’s inclusion of a broader definition of Orthodox-identifying individuals and the fast growth of the Haredi sub-sector.
The secular Jewish identity question is one of the most pressing long-term challenges facing the community. The ~58,200 Canadians who are Jewish by ethnicity but identify with no religion represent a segment of the community that is important to any meaningful count but that is also, by definition, less connected to institutional Jewish life — synagogues, Jewish schools, community organisations, and federation structures. The fact that more than 40% of Canadian Jews have attended Jewish day schools (according to the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada) is one of the strongest indicators of institutional investment in continuity — and the gap in school enrolment rates between Montreal (60% in Jewish primary schools) and Toronto (40%) reflects both the strength of Montreal’s community infrastructure and the legacy of the city’s French-English cultural dynamics, which have historically incentivised Jewish families to invest in private Jewish education rather than the public sector.
Canadian Antisemitism Statistics 2025–2026: B’nai Brith Canada Audit
ANNUAL ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS IN CANADA (B'nai Brith Canada Audit)
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2019 ██████████████████████ 2,207
2020 ████████████████████████ 2,610
2021 ████████████████████████████ 2,799
2022 █████████████████████ 2,769
2023 ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 5,791 (+109% from 2022)
2024 █████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 6,219 (+7.4%)
2025 ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 6,800 (RECORD — +9.4%)
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2025 Daily Average: 18.6 incidents/day
2022 Daily Average: 8 incidents/day
Increase 2022 to 2025: +145.6%
===================================================================
Breakdown of 2025 incidents:
Harassment ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 6,491 (95.5%)
Vandalism ██ 299 (4.4%)
Violence ▌ 10 (0.1%)
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91.9% of all 2025 incidents occurred ONLINE
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| Antisemitism Metric | Figure | Period / Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total Antisemitic Incidents 2025 | 6,800 | Record high — B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit (April 27, 2026) |
| Previous Record (2024) | 6,219 | B’nai Brith Canada — itself a record at the time |
| Increase 2024 → 2025 | +9.4% (also cited as +9.3% in some sources) | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Increase 2023 → 2024 | +7.4% | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Total 2023 | 5,791 | B’nai Brith Canada — +109% jump from 2022 |
| Total 2022 | 2,769 | B’nai Brith Canada (pre-October 7 baseline) |
| Increase 2022 → 2025 | +145.6% | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Daily Average of Incidents (2025) | 18.6 per day | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Daily Average (2022) | 8 per day | B’nai Brith Canada (for comparison) |
| Harassment incidents (2025) | 6,491 | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Vandalism incidents (2025) | 299 | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Violence incidents (2025) | 10 | B’nai Brith Canada |
| % of incidents online (2025) | 91.9% | B’nai Brith Canada — digital remains primary driver |
| Ontario incidents (2025) | 3,194 | +79.2% from 2024 — almost half of all national incidents |
| Atlantic Canada (2025) | 384 | +114.5% from 2024 — more than 2023 and 2024 combined |
| Provinces with decreases in 2025 | Alberta, Quebec, Territories, “Canada-Wide” online category | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Record months in 2025 | November: 982; December: 1,404 | December figure alone would have been exceptional annual total in mid-2000s |
| Notable incidents — 2025 | Vandalism of McGill with “Kill all Jews”; desecration of National Holocaust Memorial; Halifax synagogue attacks; ISIS-inspired plots against Canadian Jews | B’nai Brith Canada / JNS / The CJN |
| Ottawa Police data | Jews = most frequently targeted identifiable group in Ottawa hate incidents in 2025 (73 incidents) | Ottawa Police / THEJ.CA |
| Audit history | B’nai Brith Canada has tracked antisemitic incidents since 1982 — 44-year record | B’nai Brith Canada |
| Jewish community’s characterisation | B’nai Brith Canada CEO: “national crisis” — antisemitism increasingly “normalized” | B’nai Brith Canada press conference, April 27, 2026 |
Sources: B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2025 (released April 27, 2026); The CJN (April 28, 2026); JNS (April 27, 2026); Jerusalem Post (April 2026); The Hub (April 30, 2026); THEJ.CA (April 28, 2026)
The B’nai Brith Canada 2025 antisemitism data represents the most alarming benchmark in the organization’s 44-year history of tracking anti-Jewish hate — and the numbers need to be understood not just as a statistical record but as a description of daily life for Jewish Canadians. The 6,800 incidents equate to 18.6 events every single day of 2025, compared to just 8 per day in 2022. The fact that incidents continued rising in 2025 even after an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is the finding that has most troubled analysts and community leaders. As B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research Richard Robertson told reporters at Parliament Hill: the antisemitism surge “is so widespread it can’t be attributed to a single cause.” The rate of growth actually accelerated slightly between the 2023-to-2024 period (+7.4%) and the 2024-to-2025 period (+9.4%), which argues against the narrative that this is a temporary conflict-driven phenomenon that will naturally recede.
The geographic and typological breakdown adds important context. Ontario alone accounted for 3,194 incidents in 2025 — nearly half the national total, up a staggering 79.2% from 2024, reflecting the community’s enormous concentration in the Greater Toronto Area and the intensity of campus and online activism in Ontario’s university ecosystem. The 91.9% online rate is both a statistical reality and a methodological challenge: it means the vast majority of documented antisemitism in Canada takes place in digital spaces — social media platforms, messaging apps, online forums — that are largely outside the reach of traditional law enforcement intervention. The December 2025 figure of 1,404 incidents in a single month would, as The Hub notes, have constituted an exceptional annual total as recently as the mid-2000s — a comparison that dramatically illustrates how profoundly the ambient environment for Canadian Jews has changed in just twenty years.
Canadian Jewish Community: Education, Social Profile & Intermarriage 2026
CANADIAN JEWISH INTERMARRIAGE RATE BY CITY (2021 Census / 2020 data)
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Montreal ████████████ 19.2% (lowest in Canada — Haredi influence)
Toronto █████████████████ 17.3% (lower due to large community size)
Winnipeg ████████████████████████ 24.9%
Calgary ██████████████████████████████████████ 38.3% (highest major city)
Canada avg ██████████████████████████████ 31.1%
USA (comparison) ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ~50%
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CANADIAN JEWISH ATTACHMENT TO ISRAEL (2018 Survey):
Very Attached ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 48%
Somewhat Attached ████████████████████████████████ 31%
Not Very Attached ████████████ 11%
Not At All ████████ 8%
79% have visited Israel at least once
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| Social / Educational Metric | Figure | Source / Period |
|---|---|---|
| National Jewish intermarriage rate | 31.1% | 2021 Census (Canadian Jewish Studies journal) |
| Montreal intermarriage rate | 19.2% — lowest in Canada | Federation CJA Montreal Demographics (2021) |
| Toronto intermarriage rate | 17.3% | Springer Nature / Canadian Jewish Population 2020 |
| Winnipeg intermarriage rate | 24.9% | Springer Nature / Canadian Jewish Population 2020 |
| Calgary intermarriage rate | 38.3% — highest among major cities | Springer Nature / Canadian Jewish Population 2020 |
| Vancouver intermarriage trend | High — city is most religiously/ethnically assimilated | 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada |
| Married Jews with a Jewish spouse | 77% of married Jews | 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada (Environics) |
| 18–29-year-olds with Jewish partner | 84% | 2018 Survey — highest of any age group |
| Children of intermarriages raised Jewish | ~64% of couple families with one Jewish member raising youngest child Jewish | Canadian Jewish Studies journal (2021 Census) |
| Jewish primary school enrolment — Toronto | 40% of Jewish children | Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada |
| Jewish high school enrolment — Toronto | 12% of Jewish children | Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada |
| Jewish primary school enrolment — Montreal | 60% of Jewish children | Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada |
| Jewish high school enrolment — Montreal | 30% of Jewish children | Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada |
| Jews who attended Jewish day schools | >40% of Canadian Jews | 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada |
| Median age — Canadian Jews | ~40.5–41.6 years | Slightly older than national average (Shahar / Federation CJA) |
| Median age — Montreal Jews | 39.6 years | Federation CJA Montreal 2021 Census |
| % of Montreal Jews aged 65+ | 24.1% | Federation CJA — higher than Montreal overall (16.7%) |
| Montreal Jewish children aged 0–14 | 18,785 (increased from 17,580 in 2011) | Federation CJA — driven by Haredi growth |
| Very attached to Israel | 48% | 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada |
| Somewhat attached to Israel | 31% | 2018 Survey — total 79% attached |
| Canadian Jews who have visited Israel | 79% | 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada |
| Poverty rate — Canadian Jews nationally | ~14.6% | Berman Jewish DataBank (Shahar) |
| Poverty rate — Calgary Jews | 10.9% | Lower than national Jewish average (Shahar) |
| Canadian Jews who define identity by culture | 22% | 2018 Survey |
| By ancestry | 15% | 2018 Survey |
| By religion | 12% | 2018 Survey |
| By all three (culture, ancestry, religion) | 33% | 2018 Survey — largest single group |
| 20 Jewish newspapers / journals in Canada | Including Canadian Jewish News, Jewish Tribune | Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada |
Sources: Federation CJA Montreal Demographics 2021; Springer Nature / Canadian Jewish Population 2020 (Shahar); Canadian Jewish Studies intermarriage study (York University, 2021 Census); 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada (Environics Institute / University of Toronto / York University); Berman Jewish DataBank / Canadian Jewish Population 2019; Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada
One of the most studied and debated dimensions of Canadian Jewish demographics is the intermarriage rate — and the Canadian picture in 2026 stands in striking contrast to the United States. While the 2013 Pew Research Center survey found the American Jewish intermarriage rate had reached approximately 50%, Canada’s national rate of 31.1% tells a story of considerably greater social cohesion, driven by the community’s urban concentration, strong institutional infrastructure, and the outsized influence of its Haredi and highly Orthodox urban enclaves. The fact that 84% of Canadian Jews aged 18–29 report having a Jewish partner — the highest of any age group — suggests that the communal structures investing in young adult Jewish identity (Jewish day schools, Hillel, B’nai Akiva, camp programs) are having a measurable effect on in-marriage rates in precisely the age cohort where intermarriage rates tend to be highest in other Diaspora communities.
The education data is equally striking. Montreal’s 60% Jewish primary school enrolment rate — the result of a decades-long investment in Jewish day school infrastructure combined with Quebec’s distinct linguistic and cultural dynamics — is among the highest of any major Jewish community in the Diaspora world. The comparison with Toronto (40% primary, 12% high school) and with the broader data showing more than 40% of all Canadian Jews attended Jewish day schools speaks to an unusually high collective investment in Jewish education as a continuity strategy. This investment carries real costs — Jewish day school tuitions in Canada are substantial — and the community’s federation structures, philanthropic foundations, and government funding relationships all play a role in making this level of enrolment possible. It is, in the judgment of many community leaders, the single most important reason why Canadian Jewry’s intermarriage rate remains well below the American level and why Jewish identification remains strong across generations.
Canadian Jewish History & Key Milestones: 1760–2026
CANADIAN JEWISH POPULATION AT HISTORICAL MILESTONES
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1760 ▌ First Jewish settlers arrive with British forces
1768 ▌ Shearith Israel synagogue founded in Montreal
1807 ▌ Ezekiel Hart elected to parliament (later denied seat)
1832 ▌ Jews gain full rights in Lower Canada (Quebec)
1871 ▌ 1,115 Jews — Canada's first census
1880–1930 ████ Mass Eastern European immigration
1941 ██████████████ 168,367
1961 ████████████████████ 275,000 (Holocaust survivor immigration)
1976 █████████████████████ Exodus from Quebec begins
1990s ████████████████████████ FSU immigration wave
2001 ████████████████████████████ 310,960 (by religion)
2021 █████████████████████████████ 335,295 (by religion) / ~393,500 (broader)
2025 █████████████████████████████▌ ~410,000 (estimated)
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| Year / Period | Key Milestone | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1760 | First Jewish settlers arrive in Canada | Jews arrived with British forces after conquest of New France; Jewish settlement had been banned under French colonial rule |
| 1768 | Shearith Israel Synagogue founded | Canada’s first synagogue, established in Montreal by primarily Sephardic Jews; still active today as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue |
| 1807 | Ezekiel Hart elected to parliament | First Jew elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada; initially denied his seat due to his religion; a landmark civil rights moment |
| 1832 | Jews gain full rights in Lower Canada | Full legal rights as British subjects granted; one of the earliest Jewish emancipation events in North America |
| 1858 | Jews allowed to sit in the Canadian legislature | Constitutional amendment removes remaining barriers to full Jewish civic participation |
| 1871 | Canada’s first census records 1,115 Jews | 409 in Montreal, 157 in Toronto, 131 in Hamilton |
| 1875 | B’nai B’rith Canada formed | One of Canada’s oldest Jewish fraternal and advocacy organisations, founded as the community began to grow |
| 1880–1930 | Mass Eastern European immigration | Millions of Jews flee Russian pogroms; Canada receives hundreds of thousands; Jewish population grows from ~2,500 to over 155,000 |
| 1897 | First Jewish MP federally | Henry Nathan elected to the House of Commons; first Jewish member of the Canadian federal parliament |
| 1930s–1945 | Canada largely closed to Jewish refugees | Canada accepted fewer Jewish refugees per capita than almost any other Western nation during the Holocaust; “None is too many” — the infamous phrase attributed to a Canadian immigration official |
| 1947–1952 | Holocaust survivors resettled in Canada | Canada’s gates reopened in 1947; approximately 35,000+ Jewish Holocaust survivors settled in Canada between 1947 and 1956 |
| 1961 | ~275,000 Jews in Canada | Peak of post-war growth; Montreal remains the country’s largest Jewish city |
| 1970s | Parti Québécois rise — great Jewish exodus from Montreal | Election of the PQ government in 1976, prospect of Quebec independence, and Language Law drove tens of thousands of English-speaking Jews to Toronto; Canada’s Jewish epicentre shifted permanently |
| 1980s–1990s | Former Soviet Union immigration wave | Largest single wave of recent Jewish immigration to Canada; ~91,000+ FSU-origin Jews now in Canada; ~70% settled in Toronto |
| 1982 | B’nai Brith Canada begins Annual Antisemitism Audit | Now the most authoritative independent survey of antisemitism in Canada; 44 years of continuous tracking |
| 2001 Census | 310,960 Jews by religion | First census with reliable religion question data |
| 2011 Census | 329,500 Jews by religion | +6% increase; GTA overtook Montreal as dominant Jewish centre a generation earlier |
| 2021 Census | 335,295 Jews by religion; ~393,500 (broader) | Montreal stabilizes for first time since 1971; British Columbia fastest growing |
| October 2023 | Hamas attack on Israel triggers antisemitism surge in Canada | Antisemitic incidents jumped from 2,769 in 2022 to 5,791 in 2023 — a +109% increase in one year |
| 2024 | 6,219 antisemitic incidents | Previous record at the time; +7.4% from 2023 |
| April 27, 2026 | B’nai Brith Canada releases 2025 Annual Audit | 6,800 incidents — highest ever in 44-year history; 18.6/day; +145.6% from 2022 |
| 2026 | Canada projected as world’s 3rd largest Jewish community within a decade | If current growth and French Jewish emigration trends continue (Prof. Robert Brym / CJN) |
Sources: History of the Jews in Canada Wikipedia (May 2026); Canadian Museum of History; Sephardic Genealogy; The Times of Israel (Shearith Israel history); B’nai Brith Canada Annual Audit 2025 (April 2026); Prof. Robert Brym / The CJN (December 2022); Commonwealth Jewish Council Canada; JNS (April 2026); The Hub (April 2026)
The history of the Jewish community in Canada is inseparable from the history of Canada itself — a story of a nation being built by successive waves of immigrants, each negotiating their place in a society that was simultaneously welcoming and, at various points, actively hostile. The 1768 founding of Shearith Israel — Canada’s first synagogue — occurred a full century before Canadian Confederation in 1867, making Jews among the most historically rooted of all non-indigenous communities in the country. The dark chapter of the 1930s and 1940s, when Canada turned away Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution — epitomized by the infamous phrase attributed to a senior immigration official, “None is too many” — sits in profound tension with the country’s self-image as a haven for immigrants and a model of multicultural tolerance. That history is not forgotten within the community: it provides the emotional backdrop against which the current antisemitism crisis is understood — not as an aberration but as a recurrence of a pattern that Canadian Jews know from lived experience.
The 2026 moment is therefore one of genuine paradox. The Canadian Jewish community is, by objective measures, more integrated, more educated, more institutionally embedded, and more numerically stable than at almost any previous point in its history. The projected trajectory toward 400,000+ people and possibly toward the world’s third-largest community status within a decade represents an extraordinary institutional success story. And yet the 6,800 antisemitic incidents of 2025 — 18.6 every day, 91.9% online, with incidents spiking even as a ceasefire took hold in the Middle East — describe a community whose members are navigating a daily reality of hostility, harassment, and fear that no amount of demographic success makes easier to bear. That is the complete, unvarnished picture of Jewish life in Canada in 2026.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
