A new report on anti-Semitic acts in Canada shows the number of incidents has remained steady over the last decade, but more of them are taking place online.
About 1,200 anti-Semitic incidents take place per year, including verbal slurs, discrimination at work and in schools, hate propaganda and threats of violence.
There was a spike to 1,600 incidents in 2014, thought to be linked to the Israeli conflict in Gaza.
Last month, more than a dozen Nazi and other symbols were spray painted in a block of Chartres St. in Laval.
Corey Fleischer, who removes anti-Semitic and other offensive graffiti, says it was one of the worst incidents he's seen in the 25 years he's been cleaning off hate-filled graffiti
The report by Jewish organization B’nai Brith adds that last year, several cars in Montreal were vandalized with swastikas and they were left with envelopes containing bullets and the message 'You're going to get the next one in your head.’
This shows people must remain vigilant, said Bnai Brith league chair Allan Adel.
“Anti-Semitism is like a resistant, antibiotic resistant bacteria that it just doesn't go away,” he said. “You know, we come up with antibiotics, we fight the bacteria, then it morphs into something else and it comes back. We have to control it, be vigilant about it.”
B’nai Brith said there needs to be more done to educate people, and people should report suspected hate crimes.
