A view of Toronto, which is home to Canada’s largest Jewish community. Photo: John Vetterli via Wikimedia Commons.

The number of antisemitic incidents in Canada hit a record high for a fourth consecutive year in 2019, according to a new study published on Monday.

The 2019 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents — commissioned by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada — showed 2,207 incidents of antisemitism took place last year, an increase of more than 8 percent from 2018.

“Assaults became more brazen and violent in 2019, with several occurring in broad daylight and some directly in front of eyewitnesses,” B’nai Brith Canada said.

Incidents highlighted in the report included an assault by a Montreal taxi driver on a visibly-observant Jewish man, a Toronto woman being spat on and subjected to antisemitic abuse by a neighbor, a group of Hasidic children in Montreal being sprayed with tar by a construction worker and a physical attack on two young observant Jews in a public park in the Toronto area, among others.

“There was an increase of more than 11 percent in anonymous online harassment, much of it advocating genocide and Holocaust denial,” B’nai Brith Canada further noted.

Michael Mostyn — chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada – stated, “The record numbers of incidents we have documented in recent years have become the new baseline for antisemitism in Canada — and they are alarming. These figures, and the brazenness of the incidents we are seeing, would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago. Instead, they have become a loathsome reality in this country. It is not only Jewish people who must be appalled by this pattern. It’s any law-abiding, decent human being.”

“B’nai Brith is urging government officials to promptly adopt the steps outlined in our Eight-Point Plan to Tackle Antisemitism in order to put an end to this abhorrent trend,” he added.