Letter from Evelyn Simon to Mayor Olivia Chow, May 12, 2025, expressing concern about the rising, unabated, uncontrolled antisemitism in Toronto

Dear Mayor Olivia Chow,

It was a pleasure to see you on Saturday night at the Grandmothers Partnering with Africa fund raising event. You spoke beautifully about equality and acceptance for all and I was wondering, does that include Jews because at the moment I do not feel the love or even welcome in the city of Toronto. There are constant marches down our streets and people using bullhorns to chant “From the River to the Sea” and even shouting “Jews will die!” in Jewish neighbourhoods. I do not feel this type of behaviour would be tolerated against any other minority. 

I was born in a DP camp in Germany after WWII and came to Canada in 1948 when I was six months old so my family had firsthand experience of living in countries where anti-semitism was out of control to say the least. Canada used to be a safe haven for Jews but times have changed and Canada has recently earned the title of the champion of anti-semitism in the Western world. The issue is not so much for me but for my children and grandchildren. What kind of world will they be living in and what challenges will they face because of their religion? When government is passive and does little or nothing to stop hate speech and intimidation, the haters feel that their actions are sanctioned by the government and the situation may escalate further. (People outside of Canada are saying the antisemitism is serious concern in Canada and a pogrom is a potential here. Ed.) Toronto being Canada’s largest city has had the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the country.

Why is more not being done to improve the situation?  We have laws in place but for some reason they are not being enforced. Do we need more legislation? Not doing anything is actually doing something. Please act now before violence erupts and your Jewish constituents are injured or killed.

Sincerely yours,

Evelyn Simon