Senator Yuen Pau Woo

Study on Antisemitism

Second Report of Human Rights Committee and Request for Government Response Adopted

The Senate proceeded to consideration of the second report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, entitled Standing United Against Antisemitism: Protecting Communities and Strengthening Canadian Democracy, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on April 21, 2026.

Hon. Paulette Senior moved:

That the second report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, entitled Standing United Against Antisemitism: Protecting Communities and Strengthening Canadian Democracy, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, be adopted and that, pursuant to rule 12-23(1), the Senate request a complete and detailed response from the government, with the Minister of Justice being identified as minister responsible for responding to the report, in consultation with the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.

Hon. Yuen Pau Woo: Will you take a question?

Senator Senior: Yes, I will.

Senator Woo: Let me start by thanking and congratulating you and the committee for this important work and for reminding us that one of the oldest forms of prejudice based on race and religion continues to persist in this country. The harms of anti‑Semitism and the fears of our Jewish brothers and sisters are real, and we must do everything we can to prevent “. . . discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews . . . .”

I have cited a definition of anti-Semitism based on what is called the Jerusalem Declaration because it is very precise about what anti-Semitism is, but there is confusion, I think, in this country as to what constitutes anti-Semitism.

I’d like you to tell us what the committee learned about whether certain acts constitute anti-Semitism. For example, is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israel for acts of genocide, apartheid, war crimes and crimes against humanity in its prosecution of war against Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank?

Senator Senior: Thank you for the question, senator. I think it illustrates some of the challenges we had in our committee deliberations. We heard several definitions of anti-Semitism in our committee. We realized that these definitions differ and were the cause of some division. Because our work was focused on identifying issues of anti-Semitism in Canada, we refrained from choosing what definition to go by. Instead, we decided to focus on the core issue of addressing what we heard from countless witnesses in terms of their experiences of anti-Semitism in Canada, whether that be at their work, in their communities, in their synagogues, at academic institutions, et cetera.

Senator Woo: Thank you for the answer. I am not really interested in definitions, but I’m interested in knowing if it is anti-Semitic for me to quote the UN and dozens of human rights organizations that say Israel is committing genocide, is an apartheid state and is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are important questions. I want to get some insight from you and the committee because there are Canadians who are saying these things in good faith in an attempt to try to stop the horror in Gaza and the West Bank. Are they being anti-Semitic?

Senator Senior: Senator, thank you for your question. You are asking me about the work of the committee, and I want to respond by saying that is not the work that the committee focused on. It is not for me to determine whether you are being anti-Semitic, senator. The work was based on looking at experiences of anti-Semitism. That is not a question that we examined. Thank you.

Senator Woo: The public is listening to this debate on a question as straightforward as mine, asking about documented and supported accusations of Israel’s war crimes, genocide and apartheid in Palestine, and this chamber cannot say clearly that these accusations are not anti-Semitic. Can you imagine the chill that puts on those who want to advocate for Palestinians? It appears that we are saying in this chamber that we don’t know whether we are able to say that there is a genocide taking place. It would seem that this committee is unwilling to deal with the issue and is now leaving us with the ambiguity that those kinds of statements may well be anti-Semitic.

I am going to try one more time to see if you can give us any guidance. There are individuals — Canadians in universities, students, faculty, teachers, people working in unions, doctors and lawyers — who have been persecuted, who have lost their jobs and who have been reprimanded because they have made claims about Israel that were said to be and held up as anti-Semitic. What can we tell these people — that they are anti-Semites?

Senator Senior: Senator Woo, I don’t have a different response for you. I think that I have answered the question as well as I can in the context of the report that the committee completed. Thank you.

Senator Woo: Let me take a slightly different tack, then. Do you feel that a vague definition of anti-Semitism, such as the one that the committee put a lot of emphasis on — the so‑called International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA, definition, which is very elastic and can be used to weaponize accusations of anti-Semitism against people who are critical of Israel — may cause more harm to the fight against anti-Semitism than benefit?

Senator Senior: This is the last question I will take on this matter. As I explained in my response earlier, we did not take a position on any definition, including the IHRA definition. We heard several definitions and noted them in the report very clearly. We thought that focusing on one definition over others would actually distract from the experiences of Jewish Canadians. That is the direction that we took in our report. Thank you.