Housefather and other MPs issue call for action against rise of antisemitism

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather makes his way to the podium at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA — Nearly a fifth of the Liberal caucus has issued a letter calling for more to be done to address a rise in antisemitism after a Jewish woman in her 70s was stabbed at an Ottawa grocery store.

Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather posted the letter on social media he signed along with 31 other Liberal lawmakers that decries what the letter calls the “deplorable” rise in antisemitism, warning it is “becoming normalized” in Canada.

Ottawa police charged 71-year-old Joseph Rooke with aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon over the stabbing last week, and are treating the incident as a “hate-motivated crime.”

The grocery store is known for having a large kosher food section and the MPs said in their letter that Rooke was known for making “virulent antisemitic comments” on social media.

“Three years ago, such an incident would have been shocking. Today, much less so,” said the letter, posted Aug. 31.

“From attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools and monuments, Jewish-owned businesses, Jewish community organizations and lately individual Jews themselves, antisemitism is becoming normalized.”

The letter said the MPs support the recommendations from a House of Commons justice committee report published last year, which includes earmarking funds for policing and prosecution of hate crimes.

The letter also said the MPs stand behind the government’s “commitment to quickly bring forward changes to the Criminal Code this fall to prevent unlawful fear and intimidation outside places of worship, schools and community centres.”

But Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman criticized the federal Liberals on social media for what she described as a poor showing of support from within the governing party, which has 169 MPs in the House of Commons.

“The rest don’t see a problem -- or see votes,” she wrote in a post on X on Aug. 31.

“After ten years of power, your plea to ‘the government’ is pathetic. You are the government.”

The MPs’ letter said the spread of hate, which is flowing from the war in Gaza that broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, is a “call to action for all Canadians, all levels of government, law enforcement, schools, public institutions and places of work.”

The Liberal party’s platform included a pledge to make it a criminal offence to wilfully obstruct access to places of worship, schools, and community centres, as well as make it a criminal offence to intimidate or threaten people at those locations.

There were 920 police-reported hate crimes against Jewish people last year, according to data from Statistics Canada, part of a massive surge in recent years that eclipses hate-crimes against other religious groups.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday called the grocery-store attack “senseless” and “deeply disturbing.”

“To Canada’s Jewish community: you are not alone. We stand with you against hate and threats to your safety, and we will act to confront antisemitism wherever it appears,” Carney said in a post on social media on Aug. 29.

The call for action comes just ahead of an internal caucus gathering by the governing party next week and Parliament’s return on September 15.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2025.