Ottawa council to vote on supporting campaign to ban Nazi symbols in Canada

The sign outside City Hall in Ottawa (CTV News Ottawa)

College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson will be introducing a notice of motion at city council this week that calls on the City of Ottawa to support a campaign to ban Nazi symbols nationwide.

B’nai Brith Canada is petitioning the federal government to enact a ban on all symbols and iconography associated with Nazis, such as the Nazi swastika, also known as the Hakenkreuz or “hooked cross.”

Johnson says College Ward is home to Ottawa largest Jewish community.

“We’ve seen increasing incidents of antisemitism in our neighbourhoods. It’s time to push back,” Johnson wrote in a news release Monday.

“In recent years, Nazi iconography has surfaced with alarming frequency in the public sphere, used by an increasing number of groups and individuals to promote hate and instill fear within Canadian society,” B’nai Brith Canada says.

“Since the atrocities of WWII, the Nazi hooked cross (Hakenkreuz) has become universally synonymous with systematic violence, terror and hate. Its growing presence in our country poses a threat to every single Canadian citizen, undermining the core values of equality, diversity, and inclusion that define our nation.”

Johnson’s motion was seconded by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. It calls on the City of Ottawa to endorse the B’nai Brith Canada campaign to ban Nazi iconography in Canada, calls on the city clerk to write to the prime minister, the justice minister, and local MPs to express the city’s support for the ban, and to seek the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ endorsement of the campaign.

It will be introduced Wednesday and likely debated at the April 16 council meeting, Johnson says.

The Ottawa Police Service said that the hate and bias crime unit dealt with 467 incidents in 2024, a four per cent decline from the year prior. Jewish residents were targeted by hate-motivated crimes more than any other minority group in Ottawa last year, with 113 reported incidents.

Nazi symbolism is banned in several countries around the world, including much of Europe, as well as Australia, Brazil, and Israel.

While Canada does not have specific legislation banning Nazi iconography, wilful promotion of antisemitism, wilful promotion of hatred, and public incitement of hatred are indictable offences under the Criminal Code.