Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since Canada's Jewish community was established in the 18th century.
1800s
On April 11, 1807, Jewish politician Ezekiel Hart was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada over three other candidates, obtaining 59 out of the 116 votes cast. Hart refused to take the Christian based oath of allegiance and the legislature dismissed him. Hart petitioned the legislature, saying that, while he believed that he was justified in the law in taking a seat by means of the oath used by Jews in the courts, he was willing to swear the oaths used for those elected to the assembly. After some deliberation, on February 20, 1808, the assembly resolved by a vote of 35 to 5 that "Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote, in this House." The events of 1807–1809 are known to many as the Hart Affair (French: L'Affaire Hart).
On March 16, 1831, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly extending the same political rights to Jews as to Christians. The bill rapidly passed both the Assembly and the council and received the royal assent June 5, 1832.
Early 1900s
In 1910, Jacques-Édouard Plamondon encouraged the public to attack Jewish storekeepers and businesses in Quebec City. The shopkeepers took legal action against Plamondon, but were awarded minimal costs four years later.
1930s–1940s
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 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 Ontario, many restaurants, shops, golf clubs, and resorts would only serve non-Jewish clientele and signs like "No Jews Allowed" or "Gentiles Only" were found on many beaches as well. Many Jewish people faced discrimination in employment or in buying a house or a property.
In 1934, Adrien Arcand started a Parti national social chrétien in Montreal patterned after the Nazi party. His party's actions resulted in antisemitic 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, Dr Samuel Rabinovitch, who had graduated from the Université de Montréal. The four day strike, nicknamed the "Days of Shame", was resolved after several days when the new intern resigned his position after he realised that the other interns refused to "provide care to anyone, including emergency patients". 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.
In 1938, a National Fascism Convention was held in Toronto's Massey Hall.
Antisemitic residential segregation was also prevalent during the 1930s and 1940s, and was accomplished through restrictive covenants. These were agreements among owners of properties to not sell or rent to members of certain races, including Jews, or were clauses registered against deeds by land developers that restricted ownership based on racial origin. At the time, restrictive covenants could be enforced by the courts.
A 1943 Gallup poll put Jews in third place, behind the Japanese and Germans, as the least desirable immigrants to Canada.